No-Oven, No-Autoclave
Composite Tool
Fabrication
Ben Dietsch
President
dietschb@nonacomposites.com
937-490-4817
Make your composite parts faster, larger, and with more operational flexibility
• Epoxy Resins
• Tooling, Parts, and Curing Systems
• Process Engineering Services
A new company…..with 200+ years of composite experience
• Founded 2013 as a spinoff of Cornerstone Research Group (Dayton, OH)
• Core team brings 40+ years of composite material, processing, and industry experience
• Sales team brings an additional 100+ years of composite experience
• Advisory team brings 60+ years of composite experience
Resin Systems | Tooling and Parts Manufacturing| Process Engineering
Ogive Tool for NASA
Panel Tool for NASA
Our goods and services enable significant production cost (20+%) and time
(30+%) savings, manufacturing flexibility, and tens of thousands, even
millions, of dollars in capital savings for our customers
Get the fundamentals here…..
www.sme.org/uploadedFiles/Events/Webinars/layup_tooling.pdf
Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CRFP) tooling considerations
Prepreg & Autoclave/Oven Cure
Infusion & Oven Cure
Pros
Quality is less process-dependent
Less complicated process
Better dimensional control with masters
Lower cost material
Longer “out time”
Can use less expensive foam masters
Cons
Shorter out time
More expensive masters
Higher cost material
Process-dependent quality
Process is more complicated
More challenging dimensional control with foam
masters
Some
options
Cytec Cycom LTM
Airtech Toolmaster, Beta
Airtech Toolfusion
PTM&W (various options)
Out-of-Autoclave M&P is good, but what about manufacturing really large, high Tg structures?
Launch
Vehicle
Structure
Design Concept
Size
Dia x length (m)
Atlas V
Interstage
GrEp/Al core
3.8 x 4.5
Fairing
GrEp/Al core
5.4 x 26.5
Interstage
GrEp/Foam core
5.1 x 6.5
Fairing
GrEp/Foam core
5.1 x 19.8
Interstage
GrEp/Al core
-
Fairing
GrEp/Al core
5.4 x 17.0
Interstage
GrEp/Al core
10.0 x 14.5
Fairing
GrEp/Al core
10.0 x 22.0
Delta IV
Arianne V
Ares V
Shuart, M. SME Composite Manufacturing 2010
Increasing
Diameter
Processing technology suite – not just a new resin system
• Proprietary two-part epoxy
• Commercially available master materials
Aerospace-grade composite (not toughened)
• >390°F Tg
(defined at onset of softening in storage modulus)
• >55% fiber volume (<0.5% voids)
• Comparable to Cycom 5215
(CAI, OHT, OHC, SBS, in-plane shear)
• Demonstrated with aluminum honeycomb
core
Infusion process
• Viscosity <500 cPs at room temperature
• Pot life ~1 to 2 hrs
• Opportunities for future research
with prepreg or uni tape format
No heat added
• No heat input of any kind
(cure is self-generated)
• No post-cure required
• 95-98% degree of cure in 1 to 2 hours (typical)
• 1 to 4-hour cool-down period
Fiber volume typically 54-58%
Void content less than 0.5%
Demonstrated curved surfaces
Carbon and glass
Varying thickness
• Thinnest: 4 plies (0.05")
• Thickest: 288 plies (~2")
• Can infuse with open cell core
Varying area
• Smallest: 4" x 4"
• Largest: 50 ft2
Foam Tool
Layup
Resin Infusion
Self-Curing
NONA process features:
Fewer steps
Lower cost tooling board
Quicker cure
Benefits: Cost and time savings
De-mold Tool/ Part
Take away:
Vitrification
Tgel = 69 °C
(tanδ = 1)
Tvitrification = 92 °C
(onset η*)
Part has locked in shape
before tool heats up
(and tries to change dimension)
Tools for NASA 1/10th scale 8.4m diameter SLS
Fairing petal – ¼ section of ogive and upper barrel
• 84cm diameter upper barrel, 2m length
Nose cap
• 25cm diameter, 7cm height
•
FR-4718 foam master (General Plastics)
•
Duratec coating (Hawkeye Industries)
•
28 ply, quasi-isotropic layup, 3k 2x2 twill
•
Bagged to steel plate
•
NONA Composites RT-177 resin
•
Room temp infusion, ~45 min
•
Max temps – 120 ºC – 180 ºC (60 ºC delta)
•
Max temp avg 158 ºC +/- 15 ºC
•
Time between max temps – 30 min
•
Nose and tail cured 20-30 min after
majority of part had vitrified
•
Cracking of master surface during demold
(thermal shock)
•
Visible porosity & failed leak check
•
Secure master to substructure
•
Tooltec (Airtech) on repaired Duratec
surface
•
Facesheet edge protection
•
Heavier carbon fabric – 12K, 2/2 twill
•
Divergent resin flow setup
•
Improved insulation
•
Dimensional tolerance measurement
•
Max temps – 151 ºC – 169 ºC (18 ºC
delta)
•
Max temp avg 163 ºC +/- 4 ºC
•
Time between max temps – 12 min
•
Good overall wetout
•
Some fabric wrinkles
•
Overall thickness 0.96 cm (0.38 in.)
•
Leak rate 0.46 torr/min (0.018 in Hg/min)
NONA Composites trial
4 ply infused part – vacuum only, 350 F cure
Good surface, no leakage
NASA MSFC trials
Prepreg cauls – 80 psi, 350 F cycle (3x)
Core part – 40 psi, 350F cycle
Good surfaces, no leakage.
Oven-cycled compared to as-fabricated
Hand benching, multiple oven and autoclave cycles
and transportation compared to as-fabricated
-0.008 in to 0.006 in across the part area
(average absolute deviation of 0.003 in)
-0.001 in to 0.004 in across the part area
(average absolute deviation of 0.002 in)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Machines well with diamond
based cutters
Cooling fluid recommended
Follow standard carbon
composite machining best
practices
Compatible with standard
polished surfacing options
Spring-in compensation for material cure and master effects during cure
Approximately 0.5 degrees spring-in compensation calculated for 0.42m dia arc segment
Customer proprietary
Small tool - ~0.17 ft2
NASA SLS 1/10th scale ogive petal tool - ~50 ft2
12
Tool for OOA epoxy
10
Industry standard
acceptable leak rate*
Tool for Autoclave BMI
Leak rate (Pa/sec)
8
Take away:
6
NONA process maintains vacuum
integrity through >60 part build cycles
4
2
0
0
10
20
30
40
Number of parts
*MTM 45-1 Tech Sheet recommends <2 in Hg per 10 min (11.3 Pa/sec)
50
60
Tool surface baseline
64 epoxy parts oven cured on NONA tool
MTM45-1 / AS4-GP-145 OoA epoxy prepreg
Oven cycle 130˚C for 2 hours, 180˚C for 2 hours
19 BMI parts autoclave cured on NONA tool
CycomTM 5250-4 / AS4-3K-70PW
121˚C /15 psi/45 min and 177˚C /100 psi/180 min
Tool surface after Part 59
• Vacuum integrity maintained
• Surface roughness: Ra < 0.5 μm and Rz < 2.0 μm for
both tools
System
Master Cost
($/ft2)
Material
($/ft2)
Consumables
($/ft2)
Oven/Autoclave
Op Cost
Labor cost
($/ft2)
Total Cost
($/ft2)
Fabrication time
LTM Prepreg
Autoclave cure
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
Toolfusion3
Oven cure
85%
34%
113%
20%
100%
79%
100%
PTM&W
Oven cure
85%
28%
113%
40%
120%
86%
167%
NONA RT-177
93%
55%
125%
0%
89%
79%
67%
All options have pros and cons
NONA resin and processing is a good option for the tooling engineer
But…..NONA’s real benefit is in the flexibility it delivers
Are you one of these people?
I machine masters and want to make composites but I don’t have an oven or
autoclave…
…So with this I can learn infusion and now make composites in my shop
without additional capital investment
…Or, maybe a NONA team can come to my shop, make the part on the master
I machined, and then leave
I have an oven/autoclave already but they’re always tied up for production…..
…So I like this as an option for making parts off to the side
I currently do infusion but the curing process takes too long…
…So with this I can get quicker turn time on my molds
My oven is my single biggest bottleneck…
…So with this I can manufacture in parallel lines or even in the field
I just installed a large oven/autoclave and now we are being asked to bid a
slightly bigger part…..
…So I’d like to never deal with this situation again!
Top 10 Failed NONA Slogans
10. No shirt, no shoes, no oven, no autoclave,
no problem
9. I got 99 problems but an oven ain’t one
8. NONA means NONA
7. There’s no business like NONA business
6. Bravely charging into the un-NONA
5. NONA….definitely not NANO
4. Autoclaves – Ain’t nobody got time for
that!
3. No oven, no autoclave, no you didn’t!
2. NONA, No Doubt
1. You’ve lost that oven heating…woa that
oven heating. You ‘ve lost that oven
heating now it’s gone, gone, gone………
NO-O-O-O-NA