Electrical curing of composite structures
AssigneeAurora Flight Sciences Corporation
InventorsKonstantine Fetfatsidis, Daniel Reagan, Denis Tolmachov, Kyle Breingan, Darlene Hemstreet
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Abstract
A composite structure cured by the process of: electrically coupling a first lead to a first portion of said composite structure; electrically coupling a second lead to a second portion of said composite structure; and using an electric power source to pass electric current through said composite structure from said first portion to said second portion, wherein passing said electric current through said composite structure causes the temperature of at least a portion of said composite structure increase to a predetermined temperature.
Claims25
A composite structure cured by a process comprising the steps of:
- electrically coupling a first lead to a first portion of the composite structure, wherein the composite structure comprises two layers of pre-impregnated carbon fiber 0° laminate material;
- electrically coupling a second lead to a second portion of the composite structure;
- passing an electric current through the composite structure from the first portion to the second portion using an electric power source to increase a temperature of a portion of the composite structure to a predetermined temperature;
- and
- subjecting the composite structure to pressure using a vacuum when the electric current passes through the composite structure.
A composite structure comprising:
- a composite laminate comprising a first material ply and a second material ply, wherein the composite structure is cured by a process comprising the steps of:
- passing an electric current through the composite structure from a first portion of the composite structure to a second portion composite structure using an electric power source to increase a temperature of a portion of the composite structure to a predetermined temperature, wherein an electrical contact is positioned between the first material ply and the second material ply at each of the first portion and the second portion to improve conductivity across the composite structure;
- and
- subjecting the composite structure to pressure using a vacuum while the electric current passes through the composite structure.
A composite structure comprising:
- a composite laminate comprising a first material ply and a second material ply, wherein the composite structure is cured by a process comprising the steps of:
- passing an electric current through the composite structure using an electric power source to increase a temperature of a portion of the composite structure to a predetermined temperature, wherein the composite structure does not comprise a carbon nanotube material;
- and
- subjecting the composite structure to a vacuum pressure while the electric current passes through the composite structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.