https://www.lamborghini.com/sites/it-en/files/DAM/lamborghini/forged/Forged presentation_EN.pdf
I don’t know if this would even be possible for us but, it’s just something different that I found.
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What Lamborghini does is they make this composite and then, they just position the material made onto a mold and then they compress it with a matched mold and heat, this process is said to make the material more resistant and lighter although I don’t know if this process would be possible.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/lamborghini-forged-carbon-fiber-manufacturing-process/
This is an article on it if you want to read up on it. If you want me to look into this process a bit more, I can.
The company Carbon Marine is a Canadian boating company that produces carbon fiber boats. They indicate that they use the same methods as F1, supercar and aerospace manufacturing which they indicate is prepreg. That’s not any new information but, on their website, they do indicate that they take free consultations so I don’t know if this is something we want to pursue but, we can make contact and get an expert opinion for our needs.
https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/carbon-fiberepoxy-in-production-boats-
This article outlines why the company Scout makes its boats using resin infusion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8YqLVcw-mw&feature=emb_title
This video is the CEO explaining why they use infusion which he sort of says vaguely but from what I got from it, he says that it does make the part stronger. From the things I find it doesn’t seem as if many companies actually use carbon fiber in the boating industry.
The article also indicates the company Hinckley Yachts use resin infusion to “ securely bond its carbon and KEVLAR hull to the structural grid” I don’t really know how to interpret that but maybe you do.
This website is on carbon fibre in the F1 industry. It indicates that F1 teams make their main chassis out of around 8 panels which are obtained from molds, they then use around 5 layers of prepreg carbon fiber and cure it in an autoclave. They then say that after the fiber is cured, they fix a honeycomb layer of aluminum onto the outer skin by a sheet of resin so that the panels stick together and they then put one more layer of prepreg and cure it again in an autoclave. The method we will be using for MSXIV will be Prepreg, although resin infusion is a viable option, it is a nightmare to set up and we have been advised against using it.
For more information on prepreg, visit this confluence page: Basic Composites Knowledge.
Although prepreg is the optimal method, we must take the following things into account for making a perfect part:
The cost as a lot of the equipment needed for this method is specialized and can be quite expensive
Being able to control temperature and pressure since they’re paramount for prepreg components
Temperature and pressure can be easily controlled by an autoclave but, campus autoclaves most likely won’t be large enough and those machines come at a very high cost
The following research I have conducted aims to combat these issues and find cheaper ways to do prepreg that we could easily emulate for MSXIV.
Ovens
The first method I found was the use of an oven in place of an autoclave. Although an oven can’t directly control the pressure of a part, there are two ways we can go about this. The first is by vacuum bagging our carbon fiber panel and putting it into the oven without an active vacuum connection and the other is by doing the same thing but, with an active vacuum connection.
The following information was summarized from this Beginner's Guide to Out-of-Autoclave Prepreg Carbon Fibre.
Process:
Perform a normal prepreg setup
Perform a vacuum leak drop-test
After we’re done setting up our prepreg part, we switch off the vacuum pump and close the vacuum valve on the bag and wait 30 minutes
After 30 minutes we should see how the bag feels and it should feel perfectly tight
Then switch the vacuum pump on with the vacuum valve on the bag closed, familiarize yourself with the tone of the pump and then open the valve on the bag. If the tone of the pump changes that means you have a leak, if not then you have a perfect and can go straight to curing.
If you aren’t using a vacuum connection while curing, preheat the oven to 80 degrees C and place the part into the oven for 8-10 hours.
If using a vacuum connection, run a silicone hose through a hole in the oven and connect it to the vacuum bag and run it throughout the curing process
Once the curing process is done, let it sit for a couple of hours to cool down to room temperature before de-molding.
The final step is finishing the part if the panel doesn’t come out with a high gloss finish.
No vacuum connection:
This method involves the normal setup for a prepreg part but then we just put it in an oven.
Pros:
Relatively easy on paper
Need less specialized equipment
Cons:
Need to be perfect while sealing our vacuum bag as one leak could ruin the part
Overall could be riskier than just using a vacuum connection
With a vacuum connection:
This method is identical to the method without a vacuum connection but, during the curing process, we have a hole in the oven that we feed a vacuum silicone hose into that can compensate for small leaks in the vacuum bag.
The reason we use the silicon hose is that with a standard PVC hose, at 100 degrees celsius, the hose will soften and collapse at elevated temperatures whereas a silicone hose will not.
Pros:
Much safer than the other method
We don’t need to be as meticulous with sealing our vacuum bag
Cons:
Need to make a hole in an oven
Needs more equipment than the previous method