Processed fiber for emission of energy into a medium and method therefor

A method for adhering a sealant material to a structure comprising:

• fabricating the sealant material from a material selected from the group consisting of thermoset polymer and thermoplastic polymer;
• embedding a continuous fiber in the sealant material such that the fiber disburses electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the fiber;
• processing the fiber prior to said embedding step, said processing selected from the group consisting of bending, scratching, etching, doping, coating, crimping and combinations thereof;
• disposing the sealant material on at least a portion of the structure;
• supplying electromagnetic energy to the continuous fiber from a source selected from the group consisting of CO2 lasers, Nd:YAG lasers Ho:YAG lasers, diode lasers, Er:YAG lasers and ruby lasers to the fibers;
• disbursing the electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the one or more fibers throughout the sealant material thereby curing the sealant material such that the sealant material fixedly adheres to the structure;
• and
• propagating excess electromagnetic energy through the sealant material without substantial absorption of the excess electromagnetic energy by the sealant material.

A method for adhering a sealant material to an aircraft structure comprising:

• disposing the sealant material on at least a portion of the aircraft structure, the sealant material having a continuous non-metallic fiber embedded therein;
• providing electromagnetic energy along the length of the continuous non-metallic fiber;
• and
• disbursing the electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the fiber into the sealant material thereby curing the sealant material such that the sealant material fixedly adheres to the structure.