Aug 1, 2004
Aerospace grade curing at low cost
QUICKSTEP Technologies Pty, Australia, says that its new composite manufacturing process will enable marine and automotive manufacturers to produce aerospace-quality parts at low cost and under automated conditions.
Quickstep™ was developed to enable the production of carbon, Kelvar® and Nomex® honeycomb composite parts to autoclave standards and better but without the high equipment costs and long cycle times associated with autoclaves. In addition bringing high quality parts to automotive and marine manufacturers, the company says that the process will substantially reduce costs fo aerospace manufacturers.
Compared with traditional autoclave, vacuum and atmospheric curing, the company says that components made using Quickstep™ have improved strength, stiffness and appearance with void contents of less than 2%. On aerospace components, cycle times can be as fast as 45-60 minutes instead of the usual 8-16 hours, with lower pressures and labour costs than alternative aerospace grade production systems. The technology also allows curing of components for improved structural integration.
Quickstep™ works by using a fluid filled, balanced pressure, floating mould technology to produce parts with thermoset or thermoplastic prepregs, or wet resin/dry fibre. The mould set consists of two pressure chambers that each contain a circulating heat transfer fluid and are clamped together during processing.
A free floating rigid mould is attached to the bototm pressure chamber with a flexible support, and a a flexible membrane is bonded to the top chamber. During processing, the laminate is trapped between the rigid mould and the membrane while heat is rapidly applied to injecting hot fluid into the cavity. THe fluid allows the temperature of the laminate layers to be increased from 20°C to 100°C in less than one minute while protecting the laminate from stress and distortion. Balanced pressure and vibration within the fluid removes air and then compacts and heats the laminate to cure the part. The company says that cure exotherma nd cure differences between thick and thin sections in complex parts are not a problem as the transfer of heat to and from the liquid is very efficient.
Quickstep™ currently has patents registered in Australia, USA and Europe. More details will be covered in Reinforced Plastics' feature on the technology next month.
Quickstep Technologys Pty Ltd; tel: +61-8-9364-8270; fax: +61-8-9316-0920; email: info@quickstep.com.au; website: www.quickstep.com.au