Pre-fabricated vacuum bag and vacuum bag process to externally reinforce structural members with advanced composites

摘要

A structural member is reinforced by applying an adhesive material between a reinforcement surface of the structural member and an adhesion surface of a support plate, positioning a vacuum assembly adjacent to an exposed surface of said support plate so as to create an inner space between an exterior surface of said vacuum assembly and said reinforcement surface, and creating a partial vacuum in said inner space so as to force said vacuum assembly and said plate towards said reinforcement surface. A prefabricated vacuum assembly is a vacuum assembly comprising a flexible porous film, a flexible non-porous film, and a flexible sheet of breather material positioned between said porous film and said non-porous film.