One-day course
This course is designed for the student who wants to learn more about joining and bonding advanced composite structures. This course assumes that the student has some experience with composites materials or has attended the "Introduction to Composites" course as a prerequisite. In this course we examine different materials, methods, hardware, methods, and techniques employed in bonding and fastening composite structures.
- Bonding vs. Fastening a composite structure: examining the pros and cons
- Typical joint designs
- Drilling composite structures: tools and techniques
- Fasteners/fastening composites
- Structural adhesives: properties and characteristics of different chemistries and forms
- Failure modes of adhesively bonded joints
- Surface preparation: metals Vs plastics, peel ply surfaces and abrasion techniques
- Cleaning freshly energized composite surfaces
- Bondline thickness control: using carriers and microbeads
- Methods for obtaining uniform clamping pressure at the joint
- Curing the adhesive: fundamentals of time and temperature processing