Vacuum Injection in Aviation Manufacturing Processes

Abstract

Application of composites in the aircraft industries is becoming common use. The production techniques often applied are wet hand lay-up for smaller aircraft and high cost techniques for application of composites in civil and military aircraft. Within the family of Resin Transfer Moulding theVacuum Injection production method has been developed as a promising low-cost high quality production technique. Vacuum Injection has been developed for application of large maritime structures and other non-aerospace applications. In this study the application of Vacuum Injection in the aviation industry, focussing on general aviation industry, is investigated. Part of the studywas the production of a full-scale vertical rudder. This rudder has been produced and the Vacuum Injection technique is found to be very suitable for application in general aviation industry.

Keywords

vacuum injection resin transfer moulding general aviation composite airframe

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