Cost Effective Processing Equipment for Large Composite Parts

Reduced mass materials are critical to the success of aerospace systems. Thus, large air and space structures can benefit from lightweight composite materials. However, their adoption is impaired by the lack of a robust, cost-effective fabrication process, principally because the autoclaves used to consolidate composite laminates are so expensive for large parts. This program develops for US aerospace companies the processing equipment that avoids the autoclave. In particular, this program will develop in situ deposition heads that can fit on aerospace company's existing placement machines so that air and spacecraft composites can be fabricated out of the autoclave.In phase I, the deposition head concept designs will be prepared and reviewed with leading aerospace industry contacts who we know from working with them on a multitude of non-autoclave processing programs in the past. There, we will get feedback for our head concept designs suitable for fabricating the thermoset and thermoplastic composite parts that they need. In phase II, we will complete the design, fabricate, and prove-out the head equipment. We then will provide in situ deposition heads to the industry that they can use for in situ consolidation of large composite parts.