FEATURE

Autoclave liberation
gathers pace
The search for viable alternatives to autoclaves has been underway for
some time. George Marsh assesses where progress has reached and
finds that some high profile projects are leading the way.

T
he ability of autoclaves to impart
closely controlled cure profiles that
include high consolidation pressures
and high curing temperatures have made
them the gold standard for achieving
top quality levels in high performance
composites. However, autoclaves tend to
be large, bulky and expensive to acquire
and operate. The larger ones are difficult to
move by road, take up substantial factory
real estate and consume copious amounts
of electricity, nitrogen inerting gas (to
minimise fire danger) and other ancillaries.
So, for some time there has been a quest
for viable alternatives.

This search has intensified as the sizes of

manufactured composite products have
increased (witness aircraft wings and
fuselages, wind turbine blades etc.), as
items are produced in higher volumes
and at higher rates (automobile parts
for example), and overwhelmingly as
determined efforts are made across all
application sectors to reduce the costs of
composite fabrication. In many instances,
autoclave processing has simply become
either impractical, too expensive or both -
so much so that freedom from autoclaves
has become something of a liberation
theology.

Examples show that progress is being

made, even in applications where the
Composite cryogenic tanks are being specified for a number of rockets including NASA’s own new heavy-lift highest quality levels are crucial. Nowhere
Space Launch System. is this more evident than in space, where

14 REINFORCEDplastics NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 0034-3617/14 ©2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
 FEATURE

structural challenges and the costs of failure

are both enormous.

Game changer
A drive in lightweighting launch vehicles
so that larger payloads can be carried is
to produce their cryogenic fuel tanks in
composite materials rather than metal.
Reducing the costs of access to space in
this way could prove to be a game changer,
according to experts with NASA who hope
for a 25% cost reduction along with a 30%
weight reduction from such tanks compared
with metal tanks used today.
Composite cryogenic tanks are being
specified for a number of rockets including
NASA’s own new heavy-lift Space Launch
System and, intriguingly, a Falcon-1 class
launcher being developed by youthful
commercial enterprise Firefly Space Systems,
which aims to reduce space access costs.
Their affordable system has a novel aeros-
pike engine fuelled by methane and oxygen
which are stored in liquid form at cryogenic
temperatures. In order to make the fuel
tanks as light and strong as possible, as
well as absolutely leak tight, they are fibre
wound by Boeing, using polymer materials
and processes not too dissimilar from
those the airframer uses for the pressurised
fuselages of its B787 commercial jets.
However, to avoid the need for autoclaves
large enough to house tanks several metres
in diameter, Boeing migrated to an out-of
The Space Ship 2 for the Virgin Galactic space tourism venture.
autoclave (OOA) cure for a prototype tank it
built for the Composite Cryogenic Technology
Demonstration project in the USA. As a cost
cutting and quality consistency measure
it used automated fibre placement (AFP)
to wind the tank, which at 5.5m diameter is
one of the largest composite cryotanks so far
built. An oven cure followed. The completed
tank was this summer taken to NASA’s
Marshall Space Flight Center where it was
successfully tested at temperatures down
to -253°C.
According to John Vickers, project manager
for the Demonstrator programme: “This
evaluation was the culmination of a
three-year effort to design and build a
high-performance tank with new materials
and new processes and to test it under
extreme conditions.”
Vickers also quoted an Airbus assertion that
30% of the energy cost normally incurred in
producing composite structure is due to the
use of autoclaves.
Largest OOA aerospace structure
The space frontier further serves to illustrate
the vital importance of material develop-
ment to OOA processing. In particular, the
state of the art in pre-impregnated materials
is advancing fast, this material form being
favoured for the high and consistent fibre
volume fractions that it facilitates, with
freedom from dry spots and resin rich
areas that can occur with infusion, plus the
fact that the structure fabricator does not
have to master challenging impregnation
processes since these become the province
of the material manufacturer.

Automated lay-up of a preform by Coriolis using Hexcel’s HiTape. GKN using HexPly® M56 OOA prepreg.
(Photo courtesy of Coriolis) (Photo courtesy of GKN)

www.reinforcedplastics.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 REINFORCEDplastics 15

 FEATURE
HiTape® aircraft fuselage panel made by Hexcel in partnership with Aerolia and Coriolis Composites.
A notable example is the MTM45-1 prepreg
from Umeco’s Advanced Composites Group
(ACG), used as the material basis for the
remarkable White Knight 2/Space Ship 2
aircraft/launcher combination produced by
Scaled Composites for the Virgin Galactic
space tourism venture. (NB: UK headquar-
tered Umeco PLC was acquired by Cytec
Industries Inc. in 2012). This novel air/
space craft is claimed as the world’s largest
OOA cured aerospace structure, given the
White Knight’s 140ft wing span. Typical void
content for the cured material, according
to ACG, is less than half a percent, enabling
it to compete with autoclave-cured
competitors for quality.
ACG has been a prime mover in the devel-
opment of OOA prepregs with its VTM®
and MTM® systems offering variable and
medium-temperature moulding capability
respectively whilst overcoming earlier limi-
tations of short prepreg outlife. Its carbon
prepregs are also being used for OOA
processed structures as various as large
yachts, where sheer size is the issue, and
supercars where cycle rates appropriate for
series production are sought. Advances in
resin chemistry have led to prepregs which,
when moulded under atmospheric pressure
16 REINFORCEDplastics NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
(vacuum bags only), can deliver high
mechanical properties and good surface
finish quality. ACG’s VTM series, for instance,
secures Tg values up to 170°C after a suit-
able post-cure, while thermal performance
is higher still for the MTM series.
Meanwhile Hexcel Corporation, too, has been
active on the oven-curable prepreg front. It
announced at JEC 2014 its new HexPly®M92
prepreg intended for aerospace structures. A
high hot wet Tg performance of 115°C allows
cured laminate to operate at higher service
temperatures from a lower-cost 125°C cure
than existing materials. Low exotherm, a
long out/tack life, vacuum bag cure and
fire resistance are among claimed benefits,
while self-adhesion to honeycomb makes
the product suitable for sandwich as well as
monolithic structures. HexPly M92 is available
in a range of woven and UD tape forms.
A new product for wind blade and marine
applications is HexPly®M79, developed
as a faster and lower temperate curing
prepreg for thick laminates. It has been
evolved from an earlier HexPly, the long-
established M10, but can be cured in eight
to ten hours at 70°C or even faster (4-6
hours) at 80°C. HexPlyM79 has an out-life
at room temperature of at least six weeks,
ample time for thorough vacuum bagging,
checking and other pre-cure operations
to take place. At JEC, Hexcel exhibited a
carbon prepreg laminate an impressive 695
plies and 400mm thick that was cured in
just six hours at 80°C. Ability to increase
temperature rapidly in the mould is thanks
to M79’s very low exotherm.
At the same time, Hexcel is supporting OOA
infusion technology, a competitor to OOA
prepregs, with its Hi Tape® and Hex Flow® prod-
ucts. Together, the tape and the infusible resin
enable parts up to 30mm thick to be produced
with up to 60% fibre volume content.
Cytec Industries Inc. was already pursuing
OOA options before its acquisition of
Umeco and hence ACG in 2012. Its Cycom®
5320-1 product, for instance, used on the
extensively composite Learjet 85 busi-
ness jet, combines high performance with
OOA processing capability. Handling like
a standard prepreg, it can be cured under
vacuum bag only to deliver parts having
very low porosity and hence quality rival-
ling that of autoclaved items. Ability to cure
at temperatures down to 95°C facilitates
oven cure and the co-curing of integrated
structures, such as wing skins complete with
ribs and other stiffeners. Following up with
a freestanding post-cure can secure a wet Tg
of around 165°C. Cytec says that this tough-
ened epoxy prepreg is absolutely compa-
rable with autoclaved prepregs in terms of
performance and helps reduce the cost of
primary aerostructure. A shelf life of at least
30 days at room temperature minimises the
need for refrigerated storage.
MTM 23 is Cytec’s prepreg optimised for the
serial automotive market. This hot-melt vinyl
hybrid resin woven glass reinforced material
can, says the company, be press moulded
in less than five minutes at 150°C. Low
exotherm, lack of volatiles, self-releasing and
an out-life of 50 days for the initial prepreg,
combined with a service temperature in the
finished item of 60°C, make the product a
flexible choice for use on vehicles. Note that
press moulding, typically between matched
metal dies that are internally heated, is
a viable alternative to autoclaving where
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item size and contours permit. Cytec also
supports RTM, an established OOA process,
with specific resin systems. Its XMTR50, for
one, is an epoxy resin designed for high-rate
component manufacture using high-pressure
RTM (HP-RTM) and permits manufacture of
components in three minutes at 120°C.
In a recent technical presentation,
Alexander Aucken, Cytec’s global automo-
tive market sector manager, addressed the
affordability of continuous fibre compos-
ites for high-volume production saying:
“Cost effective mass-produced composites
requires composite design for manufac-
ture, automation, rapid cure materials and
textile formats, along with a competent and
commercially mature supply chain.”
The company is making a multi-million
dollar investment in expanding its
Application Centre at Heanor, UK, to
support further development of novel
materials, design and process technologies.
A major focus is to be rapid-cure OOA
systems.
Innovation
An innovation by Swiss headquartered Gurit
AG is proving useful in removing air from
an item undergoing cure so that it cannot
produce voids in the finished product.
Airstream™ is a surface coating which, when
applied to each face of a prepreg, provides
pathways via which trapped air can escape
during the cure process. This promotes the
OOA agenda by minimising the need for
de-bulking. The coating, which becomes
absorbed into the laminate during cure, also
makes it easier to handle the base material
by reducing tack.
Airstream can be used with multiple Gurit
materials, including a number developed
recently in the quest for OOA nirvana. One
such is a rapid-cure variant of its SPRINT™
‘semi-preg’ suitable for structural applica-
tions. ST160 can be cured using compres-
sion moulding, vacuum bag processing,
or autoclave if desired. It offers a flexible
cure envelope and can be cured in 15
minutes at 165°C. Easy handling facilitates
fast lay-up and the material has a shelf life
www.reinforcedplastics.com
of at least eight weeks at 21°C. It is said to
deliver superior mechanical performance in
high-quality laminate.
SparPreg™ is an 80°C curing unidirectional
prepreg suitable for thick structural sections
such as those found in wind turbine blade
spar caps. Used with Airstream, it requires
minimal or no debulking. Other OOA-
orientated products include SE200, a system
optimised for rapid-cure press moulding at
200°C, and SC110, a high-strength prepreg
resin system providing flexible curing
options at temperatures as low as 85°C.
Velinox is a modified epoxy that cures
rapidly at 100°C, with minimal exotherm
- an important attribute for wind turbine
blade manufacture.
Six minutes
In the automotive field, production cycle
times are a vital determinant of whether
a composite solution can be adopted
or not. Here, Gurit has developed a
product that can be cured in a mere six
minutes, down from the ten to 60 minutes
typically required hitherto. This is the CBS
(car body shell) 200 prepreg developed
by Isle of Wight, UK based Gurit Automo-
tive, along with an accompanying press
process. CBS 200 is a SPRINT derivative that
delivers the light Class A carbon fibre body
panels already obtainable with the previous
Aston Martin uses Gurit automotive panels on its flagship Vanquish model.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
FEATURE
CBS96 material, which is curable in 80°C
ovens. However, with a Tg of 200°C, the
new material, when cured, can survive the
high-temperature paint lines used by vehicle
manufacturers. This alone should make
carbon body panels far more acceptable
to vehicle OEMs but Martin Starkey, Gurit
Automotive’s managing director says that, as
well as higher Tg and faster cure, the system
provides better fibre wet-out and lower
exotherm than its predecessor.
Starkey asserts that CBS200 takes Class A
automotive parts production to the next
level. Because a constant moulding tempera-
ture of 200°C is maintained inside matched
metal dies at a relatively low pressure,
complex cure profiles can be avoided and
press tools therefore simplified. But the main
benefit is the closer alignment of part cycle
time with overall vehicle production rates.
Starkey estimates that, assuming a 10 minute
cycle time, the CBS200 process is capable
of producing as many as 40,000 parts per
year per tool set. Moreover, cured body
panels can be assembled to a vehicle’s shell
structure so that the combined result can
be run through subsequent manufacturing
and finishing processes as a complete unit.
Consequent cost savings should benefit not
only new clients but also existing customers
such as British premium car maker Aston
Martin which uses Gurit Automotive panels
on its flagship Vanquish model.
REINFORCEDplastics 17
 FEATURE
Use of heated presses to provide compres-
sion at cure temperature is also attracting
vehicle manufacturers elsewhere as an
alternative to autoclaving. One such is
General Motors in the United States, which
forms the CFRP hood of its 2014 Chevrolet
Corvette Stingray in a combined thermal
RocTool’s induction alternative
US company RocTool Inc. featured at JEC
Europe this year its latest induction-based tech-
nology for the rapid moulding of plastic and
composite items. Existing systems, which are
licensed to fabricators in consumer, automotive,
aerospace and other applications, enable small
to modestly sized items to be produced in
high quality at high cycle rates without the use
of autoclaves. Instead, pressure moulding takes
place in metal tools that are heated inductively
at high speed.
In a variation of its existing 3Tech® system
which utilises matched metal tooling, RocTool
has introduced light inductive tooling tech-
nology (LIT) that relies on a two-part mould,
one part being metal and the other silicone.
This light mould set with its low bulk and low
thermal inertia requires less power to heat and
cool them than existing tools. Heat provided
inductively via integrated elements is comple-
mented by liquid cooling. Smart features
provide zoned temperature control for complex
parts. As a result, the LIT presses can provide
closely controlled cure regimes economically
and fast.
Suitcase shell manufactured with natural fibres, Out Of Press, using an autonomous tool and heating by
induction. (Photo: ©RocTool)
18 REINFORCEDplastics NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
and compression cycle that lasts for 17
minutes, though cycle time down to 10
minutes is possible. The technology has
been developed by Plasan Carbon Compos-
ites of Vermont, the presses having been
built by Globe Machine Manufacture of
Washington state.
As Jose Feigenblum, technical director, tells
Reinforced Plastics: “Our aim is to reduce steps
and cycle times in the production process, and
this Out of Autoclave technique is the best
option. Fibre reinforced [prepreg] materials,
either unidirectional or woven, are placed in
the female metallic mould. Then the male
mould in silicone is closed and air is injected
to a pressure of up to 420psi. The system can
then be heated tο some 280°C in 45 to 90
seconds, depending on the part being manu-
factured. No pre-heating is required.”
LIT is said to provide a smooth aesthetically
satisfying resin-rich surface without further resin
injection.
RocTool specialises in innovative mass
production technology for plastic and compos-
ites fabrication. Parts can be made with either
thermoset or thermoplastic resins reinforced
with glass, carbon or other fibres. Moulds
are heated by induction in seconds, allowing
production of composite parts with high surface
quality. Licensees are using RocTool processes in
consumer, automotive and aerospace applica-
tions where high production rates are required.
Bombardier is using a low-pressure oven-cured
OOA carbon product from Cytec as the material
basis for its Learjet 85 fuselage.
Airframer impetus
On the customer side, all the leading
airframers are keenly interested in develop-
ments leading to OOA processing. Airbus,
for one, has started to use OOA prepregs;
for instance, under a contract placed with
Umeco/ACG, the latter’s MTM44-1 tough-
ened epoxy prepreg is being used for
trailing edge panels on the wings of the
latest Airbus, the A350XWB (extra wide
body) currently under development. GE
Aviation is responsible for manufacturing
the honeycomb sandwich structures and
adopted the OOA technique following
its successful use in a demonstration
programme led by Airbus and Dassault Avia-
tion aimed at validating designs and tech-
nologies for lower-cost aircraft structures.
Umeco MTM 44-1 has been optimised for
low-pressure vacuum bag processing and
to provide the internal void content level
of zero to 1% required by aerospace fabri-
cators, who are at the pinnacle of quality.
This equates to performance comparable
with that delivered by standard autoclave
curing systems. Airbus holds that, as well
as reducing processing and capital equip-
ment costs, OOA moulding can facilitate
the manufacture of larger and more inte-
grated structures than could be made using
autoclaves.
www.reinforcedplastics.com
 FEATURE

Boeing was pursuing the OOA option

at least as far back as 2007 when it was
engaged with the Non-Autoclave (Prepreg)
Manufacturing Technology initiative as one
of five selected ‘disruptive’ manufacturing
technologies to focus on. This led, via a
number of demonstration projects, to the
development by the industry of materials
able to rival autoclave quality when proc-
essed in ovens under vacuum bagging only.

Bombardier, too, is in the hunt and is using

a low-pressure oven-cured OOA carbon
product from Cytec as the material basis for
its Learjet 85 fuselage.

Tier one suppliers are, naturally, following the

airframers’ lead. In addition to the GE Avia-
tion example just quoted, another leading
partner to airframers is GKN Aerospace, UK,
which has espoused microwave curing as
a way to reduce OOA processing costs. It
claims that the method can reduce cure GKN Aerospace has used microwave curing as a way to reduce OOA processing costs. (Photo courtesy of GKN)
cycle times by up to 80% as well as energy
consumption and capital expenditure. GKNA
sees this autoclave-free system as enhancing
manufacturing flexibility by avoiding queues
for autoclaves and argues that it will be
essential for the next generation of narrow-
bodies (chiefly A320 and B737 successors)
for which 60% or 70% composites content
is anticipated. GKNA has also invested in
fluid or electrically heated tooling as a more
conventional alternative to autoclaves.

Last year the British company also

completed a composite manufacturing
and assembly research programme using
OOA processes and woven preforms,
again targeting next-generation airliners.
In the programme’s second phase, a light,
blended aircraft wing box was produced A light, blended aircraft wing box was produced with integrally stiffened skins, complex contours and four
with integrally stiffened skins, complex stringer shapes using OOA processes and woven preforms. (Photo courtesy of GKN)

contours and four stringer shapes. Vacuum

bag technology and low-cost tooling were
able to be used, thanks to a resin having
the required combination of properties,
including a relatively low cure temperature.
Continuing ‘liberation’
Clearly OOA manufacturing, given
continuing advances in both materials
and processes, is gaining a foothold in
high-performance application areas. No
longer is it axiomatic that top laminate
quality, with void levels approaching
or below the significant 1% level, can
be achieved only by using autoclaves.
However, for the foothold to become a
significant penetration of the mainstream,
more technical development is required
along with design and user experience,
approved fabrication routes and overall
confidence. Autoclaves will always have a
place but, given the ever growing demand
for high-performance composites there will
come a time when there simply cannot be
enough of these high-expenditure items to
cater for all manufacturing needs. Hopefully,
the ‘autoclave liberation movement’ will by
then have progressed far enough to avoid
the otherwise inevitable constriction of
supply. ■

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