Contact:
Alfred Loos
Department of Engineering Science and Mathematics
Virginia Tech
320 Norris Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Tel: (540) 231-4713
aloos@vt.edu

High-specific strength and stiffness make composite materials ideal for aerospace applications. However, widespread use of composite materials for these applications has been limited due to high manufacturing costs. Current autoclave methods for manufacturing reusable aerospace structures are time-consuming, expensive and unreliable. Additionally, these methods are not conducive to the manufacturing of new "smart" composite materials with embedded sensors. Non-autoclave processes that reduce material and assembly labor costs must be developed in order for composites to effectively compete with traditional materials.

Image right: A representation of On-line Composite Consolidation Process.

The overall objective of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University's work in the area of "Non-Autoclave Processing and Manufacturing of Large Reusable Aerospace Structures" is to investigate the use of cost effective, non-autoclave manufacturing techniques for fabricating large, reusable composite structures for aerospace applications. Over the course of this three-year initiative, three parallel tasks will be integrated to achieve the project objective:

• First, develop non-autoclave processes for manufacturing composite materials.
• Second, realize an intelligent manufacturing system for composite materials and structures.
• Third, develop innovative manufacturing methods for NDE and enhanced reliability.

Composite fabrication is a complex process with numerous physical phenomena occurring simultaneously, including: heat transfer, resin flow, ply compaction, resin cure kinetics, void growth and collapse. The Virginia Tech interdisciplinary research team will develop comprehensive models for composite manufacturing; develop new sensor materials for non-destructive evaluation of composite systems; and, explore variable- and fixed-frequency microwave processing of polymer matrix composites.