Autoclave Processing Advantages And Disadvantages

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Autoclave processing is widely used for producing high quality thermoset composites, these are used in various industries to process a wide variety of thermoset and thermoplastic materials [10]. Almost any shape of the composite parts can be cured in autoclaves as the gas pressure is applied isostatically, the only limitations is the size of the autoclave and require high capital to install autoclaves. Autoclaves are normally pressurized with inert gas like nitrogen or carbon dioxide and air, but air is prone to danger of a fire within the autoclave during the elevated cure temperatures. It is observed that the heated pressurized gas strikes the front door and flow back down the center of the vessel to heat the part, as the gas strikes the door it produces considerable turbulence in the gas flow which results in higher velocities and stabilizes as it flows towards the rear of the autoclave. At present autoclaves are manufactured with the use of sophisticated technologies to operate and control the cure cycle parameters in auto mode which made operators life easy to interact and monitor the cure process efficiently and safely[11]. In future the …show more content…

This vacuum system is used to monitor the vacuum under each bagged part assembly, by means of process vacuum transducers. The two set of vacuum lines are the 1.Source lines and 2.Static lines. The source lines are connected to the plant vacuum pump and apply vacuum to the bagged parts and assemblies loaded in to the autoclave. The gauge lines or the static lines are also connected to the bagged parts and are equipped with transducers that measure the applied vacuum. Generally the modern autoclaves are designed with advanced vacuum sensing and failure warning /protection systems to alert the autoclave operators to take necessary actions and to prevent the composite parts from improper

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