Filament Wound Resin Transfer Molded Composite Pressure Vessel

Advanced fiberous composites offer potential weight savings compared to metallic materials for application to aerospace vehicle pressure vessels. Current manufacturing processes such as wet resin or preimpregnated tow winding have significant limitations that inhibit material selection and design flexibility and subsequent weight and cost savings. The proposed program will investigate the feasibility of combining two proven low cost processes, filament winding and resin transfer molding (RTM), to fabricate very high quality, low weight composite pressure vessels. Specific improvements obtained by combining these two processes would include enhanced design flexibility by permitting the utilization of specialty woven or braided performs and the use of toughened resin systems. Part quality would also be greatly improved because RTM parts typically have very low void contents and superior fiber/resin distribution homogeneity.