Researchers Explore Nanotubes for Composite Manufacturing
MIT researchers think they have found a way to make large, composite primary aerostructures without the use of an autoclave.
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a method to use carbon nanotubes to produce aerospace-grade composites without an autoclave, researchers announced in a paper published yesterday in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces. “If you’re making a primary structure like a fuselage or wing, you need to build a pressure vessel, or autoclave, the size of a two- or three-story building, which itself requires time and money to pressurize,” said MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics Brian Wardle. “These things are massive pieces of infrastructure. Now we can make primary structure materials without autoclave pressure, so we can get rid of all that infrastructure.”
