Cost Effective Ceramic and Organic Composite Fasteners

Until recently, organic composite and ceramic composite attachment devices were extremely expensive one-of-a kind research articles. Unit fabrication costs in excess of $2000 per fastener for ceramic composite fasteners was not unusual for the first generation CMC fasteners developed under the NASP program. Refractory Composites, Inc. has developed organic and composite fastener fabrication approaches that promise to revolutionize the cost of organic and ceramic composite fasteners for low temperature corrosion resistance driven and high temperature oxidation and strength driven applications. one of the keys to this revolutionary reduction in manufacturing cost is the very large number of identical manufacturing steps shared by both OMC and CMC fasteners. In this Phase I program, RCI will demonstrate the essential manufacturing elements and generate both OMC and CMC fasteners of nominal 1/411 size. Mechanical properties will be characterized and sufficient fasteners delivered to the U.S. Navy for galvanic corrosion and hot structure durability testing.