REPAIR OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

摘要

Existing aerospace composite repair methods include pre-cured patch fabrication followed by adhesive bonding or bolting as well as in-place, wet layup repairs. Both methods have been in use for many years but have issues with the time required for effective implementation or substandard quality, or both. A fast, high quality composite repair would allow for greater utilization of aerospace vehicles and provide operational and financial value to the system owners and operators. A novel repair system was evaluated towards this goal. The use of resin infusion processing with a fast-curing, 180°C capable, no-oven no-autoclave (NONA) epoxy resin system was demonstrated in a start to finish repair scenario within an 8 hour window. The initial physical and mechanical test results indicate performance that is better than wet layup and is within the expected range of existing prepreg and adhesively bonded pre-cured systems. Variation in mechanical performance of the tested samples was observed to correlate to resin curing parameters and bondline wetting. A description of the repair testing methodology in relation to past work is provided.