Large Component, High-quality Composite Fabrication Using Nanocarbon Heating Films

Autoclaves are typically used to fabricate high-quality composite components with acceptable thermal properties and low void volume. They provide elevated temperature processing cycles and external pressure required for adequate compaction to achieve these desired properties. However, autoclaves represent large capital and energy investment while limiting the size of fabricated parts and production flexibility. Advanced Out-of-Autoclave (OOA) methods are required to effectively apply heat and compact the resulting composites to meet stringent specifications of structural aerospace components. The use of heating films/blankets is an attractive option for OOA applications. A potential improvement to this process would be to use heating elements based on carbon nanotubes, such as those being developed by our partner at North Carolina State University (NCSU). As demonstrated during a previous joint Luna/NCSU Navy SBIR Phase I program, these systems have the potential to provide excellent temperature distribution across the composite while using less energy than conventional ovens/autoclave. Engineers at Luna Innovations have developed novel OOA technologies, which have demonstrated low-porosity composite fabrication using simple vacuum bag pressure for compaction. Luna will combine our OOA composite fabrication expertise along with scaled-up novel nanoheating systems at NCSU to develop efficient, OOA technology for the fabrication of large aerospace-quality composites.