Development of heat-activated joining technology for composite-to-composite pipe using prepreg fabric
- Specialty Plastics, Inc., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
- Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
The use of heat-activated thermal couplings is a quick and cost-effective joining method for composite-to-composite materials. In this study, a prepreg laminate which contains thermoset resins and fiberglass reinforcements is wrapped around the ends of components which are to be joined. A shrink tape, made of thermoplastic material, is placed over the prepreg laminate. When curing the shrink tape and the prepreg laminate, the shrink tape shrinks and compresses the prepreg to obtain good adhesion and the required mechanical properties. The mechanical strength of the heat coupling joint in bending increased by 29% over the currently used butt-weld method. To optimize the curing process, a finite element model was also developed to show the temperature distribution of the heat coupling joint during the curing process. Based on the tested prepreg material properties and model, the finite analysis temperature distribution differed less than 10% from that of the experimental data.
- OSTI ID:
- 485101
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970146--; ISBN 1-890277-03-7
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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