Patent — available for licensing
AERoBOND: Large-scale Composite Manufacturing
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
NASA Langley Research Center has an improved method for making composite structures. Industrial composite manufacturing is primarily accomplished through three methods: co-cure, co-bond, and secondary bond processes. Co-cure produces predictable structures and joint properties but is costly and challenging to implement on large, complex structures. Co-bond and secondary bond processes have greater applicability to complex structures but produce unpredictable material interfaces and properties. NASAs AERoBOND technology presents a method for manufacturing composites at scale with the reliability of co-cure in a bonded assembly process. AERoBOND utilizes novel epoxy and barrier ply layers with optimized chemical and physical properties to enable the bonding of large, complex composites with the advantages of co-cure assembly but without the need for redundant fasteners, thus reducing assembly time and cost.