Manufacturing study on CFRP rear pressure bulkhead using vacuum assisted process (VAP)

Abstract

Vacuum infusion processes for industrial applications still involve a high amount of expertise, manual skills and iteration steps to reach a more or less reproducible product quality. At the DLR Center for Lightweight Production Technology, in Augsburg, process criteria, failure causes and effects of defects are investigated as a baseline for automated infusion techniques. In the context of an internal manufacturing study, a full-scale demonstrator of an airplane rear pressure bulkhead has been manufactured. The results illustrate in detail the strong impact of slight variations in process conditions. Thereby, a fundamental understanding of the impact of process conditions on the reliability and reproducibility in industrial environments is given. Finally, this study points out the main process criteria of optimized vacuum infusion processes and sets the baseline for ongoing developments on closed-loop process control applications.