Co-Cure Stave Construction 11/10/2010

Co-Cure cables should have flashbreaker tape still covering the surface for this process. SO - don’t remove the tape from the composite lay-up Procedure. I do not have photos of the first few steps. Only after the first side of honeycomb is applied.

-The honeycomb needs to have one side ground/sanded flat prior to bonding on the first co-cure cable. Can be ground on a surface grinder using thick “Airtech” double sided tape. Or as we did if a grinder is not available at the time. Flat Mic6 plate and two spacer blocks. Sandpaper is applied to one side of the mic6. Then honeycomb is sanded flat

Each piece of honeycomb (HC) is dipped into a thin pool of epoxy and let sit for 30 seconds to allow the epoxy to wick onto the HC. Its then positioned onto the co-cure cable that is securely held down flat by the vacuum chuck. An aluminum plate with a silicon sheet is placed on top the HC and left overnight to cure. You can see the aluminum plate w/silicon and epoxy pool in the next slides.

Red Silicon and aluminum plate. Left to cure overnight.

This first side with bonded HC is held flat by vacuum. Second side HC (exposed) is then surface ground or sanded.

Completed Honeycomb side.Epoxy Pool for dipping Honeycomb. The entire stave will be set into the pool for 30 sec then placed on top the 2 nd co-cure facesheet that will be held flat by the vacuum chuck

Align top co-cure to bottom co-cure. Place aluminum plate with silicon sheet on top. Add additional weight as needed. Red silicon can be seen under the alum plate.

After minimum of 24 hour cure can be remover from fixture. Hysol EA 9396 epoxy has 80% cure at room temp in 24 hours. 100% cure room temp 72 hours.