Mechanical Comparison of Out-of-Autoclave Prepreg Part to Conventional Autoclave Prepreg Part Caroline Dang1, Karl Bernetich1, Erika Carter2,

Geoff Butler2
1

Boeing Research and Technology Philadelphia The Boeing Company Rotorcraft Systems Philadelphia, PA 19142-0858
2

Boeing Research and Technology Seattle The Boeing Company Developmental Center Seattle, WA 98124-2207 Caroline.Dang@Boeing.com

ABSTRACT Advances in vacuum bag, oven-cure only prepreg material systems allow composite manufacturers to produce detail parts using out-of-autoclave processes that are mechanically equivalent to those of 90 psi autoclave prepreg systems. A well-established baseline exists for a composite structural component fabricated from IM7/8552 autoclave material systems. This detail part was re-made using CYCOM 5320/T40-800B out-of-autoclave prepreg. All mechanical testing, including short beam shear, combined loading compression, open hole compression, tension and flange bending specimens showed that the out of autoclave system is mechanically comparable to that of the IM7/8552 system. Glass transition testing in two separate areas met the 5320 data sheet requirement of 310F. Resin content testing in one area of the web showed that the resin content was close to the nominal cured resin content of 33 wt%, at 32 wt%. However, in the flange the resin content was significantly lower, at 27 wt%. Laminate quality of the part is acceptable, with no observed ply wrinkling, voids and resin pooling.

INTRODUCTION Advances in vacuum bag, oven-cure only prepreg material systems allow composite manufacturers to produce detail parts using out-of-autoclave processes that are mechanically equivalent to those of 90 psi autoclave prepreg systems. A well-established baseline exists for a composite structural component, fabricated from IM7/8552 material and autoclave processing. This same detail part was also fabricated using CYCOM

5320/ T40-800B out-of-autoclave prepreg (OoA). Mechanical testing of laminate properties, including flange bending, short beam shear, tension and compression was conducted on the OoA laminate and compared to the autoclave cured systems. Physical property tests, including resin content and glass transition, were also performed, and cross sections of the part were visually inspected for laminate quality. This paper compares the mechanical testing values, physical properties, and laminate quality of the out-ofautoclave material and process to the legacy autoclave material system for a one-to-one comparison.

Presented at the American Helicopter Society 67th Annual Forum, Virginia Beach, VA, May 3-5, 2011. Copyright 2011 by the American Helicopter Society International, Inc. All rights reserved.

PROCEDURE CYCOM 5320/T40-800B out-of-autoclave prepreg was used to fabricate a structural test article for mechanical and physical property comparison to the autoclave processed part. The baseline autoclave part is fabricated using IM7/8552 prepreg, 190 gsm uni tape. The T40800B/5320 prepreg was available in Boeing Seattle at the same ply areal weight. This allowed the OoA part to be fabricated with no modification to the existing ply table. The collaboration among Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T) in PHL and SEA enabled the OoA material and process comparison. This paper focuses on two autoclave methods of fabrication. One method used ply-byply, hand layup on an aluminum layup mandrel (LM) and a steel bonded assembly jig (BAJ). The aluminum LM is used for layup and consolidation. After consolidation, the prepreg stays on the aluminum LM and together, the composite and the LM are positioned into a BAJ for final cure. Expansion of the aluminum LM and autoclave pressure provide for laminate compaction during cure. This method provides a final detail with two tooled surfaces to aid in fit up at next higher assembly. The current production part uses this qualified fabrication process and IM7/8552 material system. A second method of fabrication evaluated for automated layup was hot drape forming of the plies onto a male tool and final cure of the part on the same tool. For this fabrication method, the plies are laid up flat and an automated hot drape forming machine forms the flat charge into the final c-channel part. A Torr Technologies, Inc., re-usable vacuum bag was used to bag and cure the part and also served as an elastomeric caul to improve the surface finish for assembly. Throughout the paper, the reader will see comparisons to both fabrication methods for the autoclave part. The OoA part used the ply-by-ply, hand layup fabrication method and the part was cured on the male tool using the Torr re-usable vacuum bag. Figure 1 shows the BAJ and Torr re-usable vacuum bag. The OoA article was laid up in Boeing, SEA using the T40-800B/5320 prepreg and CYCOM 5320 recommended bagging

procedure as shown in CYCOM 5320Rev1-3 material and process data sheet. Full vacuum using a dedicated mechanical vacuum pump was held on the part overnight. A vacuum leak check was performed prior to the overnight vacuum hold. The part passed a leak rate of not more than a 2 in Hg (50 torr) vacuum loss in 5 minutes. A minimum vacuum level 27.5 in-Hg or higher was held for the duration of the vacuum hold and cure cycle. The part was cured using CYCOM 5320 recommended combined cure cycle: Ramp Rate:1-5F/minute (0.6 2.8 C/minute) Cure Temperature: 250 10F / 350 10F (121 6C / 177 6C) Cure Time: 1 hour @ 250F / 2 hours @ 350F

Figure 1. Male BAJ Trial Part and Tool

After fabrication of the part in BR&T SEA, the part was sent to BR&T PHL for testing. The OoA part was compared to a full scale longeron drawing, as shown in Figure 2, and coupons were marked off in areas similar to what had been done under previous longeron destruct tests. Because the OoA test part was shorter in length than a full size 14 longeron, additional specimens were extracted along the inboard flange and web, in areas with similar thicknesses as had been done previously. The test part with coupon mark ups is shown in Figure 3. Physical properties include resin content (RC) and glass transition temperature (Tg). Mechanical testing included open hole compression, short beam shear, combined loading compression, tension and flange bending. In addition, two C-channel cross sections on the part were polished to view laminate quality.

placed on a heat plate, covered with watch glasses and heated to about 300F. When the solution began to steam, 30% hydrogen peroxide was added to the solution until the solution turned clear. The contents of the beakers were individually filtered and rinsed several times with water and once with acetone. The remaining fiber was dried and weighed. Manufacturer densities and the weight measurements were used to calculate the fiber volume.

Figure 3. Received destruct test article The Tg was measured per the Flexure Method of BSS 7307. Scrap pieces from cutting the longeron were used for specimens. Areas were tested from the web and inboard flange. Several of the outer plies were removed from the part sections with a hammer and chisel and were discarded. One ply of tape was then removed from the internal plies of laminate. The plies were cut to roughly 0.4 long by 0.05 wide specimens. Care was taken not to include any cross fibers in the specimens. A TA TMA Q400 was used to ramp the specimen temperature at 10C/min to 250C. The slope intercept of the resulting deflection versus temperature plot was reported. The thickness of the inboard flange, outboard flange and web were measured and recorded between ply drops using a micrometer. The results were compared to the drawing reference.

Figure 2 Schematic of coupon locations. Note: drawing not to scale

Physical Properties Test Procedure The resin content coupons were cut to 0.25 x 0.500 and the outer plies of fabric were planed off. The samples were then dried for several days at 160F. The specific gravity of each specimen was then measured per ASTM D792. The epoxy matrix was removed from the fiber per the Sulfuric Acid Digestion Method of ASTM D3171. Several different beakers of sulfuric acid were

Mechanical Properties Test Procedure Open Hole Comression (OHC) coupons were fabricated and tested in accordance with ASTM D6484. The part sections were cut to 12.00 x 1.500 coupons and a 0.250 diameter hole was drilled using a Brad point bit on a drill press. Each coupon was centered using a jig and drilled with a sacrificial laminate backer to prevent delamination of the back plies. The coupons were tested in an OHC fixture. A torque wrench was used to tighten the bolts to 60 in-lbs torque. The assembly was end loaded with flat loading plates. The tests were conducted with a deflection rate of 0.05 in/min. Short Beam Shear (SBS) coupons were fabricated and tested in accordance with ASTM D2344. The coupons were cut to 1.500 x 0.500, opposed to the ASTM recommendation of 6 times the thickness by 2 times the thickness, due to the large number of coupons and the thickness variation between them. The test span was 4 times the coupon thickness and was adjusted for every coupon. The tests were conducted with a deflection rate of 0.05 in/min. Combined Loading Compression (CLC) coupons were fabricated and tested in accordance with ASTM D6641. The coupons were cut to 5.500 x 0.500. No tabs were used. A torque wrench was used to tighten the fixture bolts to 80 in-lbs opposed to the recommended 24 in-lbs. This was done to avoid invalid failures (foot failures) that occurred during previous testing. The tests were conducted with a deflection rate of 0.05 in/min. Tension coupons were fabricated and tested in accordance with ASTM D3039. The coupons were cut to 10.00 x 1.000. Gage blocks were used to center the coupons within the grips. The tests were conducted with a deflection rate of 0.05 in/min.
Table 1 Comparison of Physical Properties

Flange bending coupons were also fabricated and tested. Due to limited area on the out-ofautoclave part, the flange bending specimens were extracted from an area with reference flange thickness of 0.2892. Flange bending specimens were extracted from other areas in previous destructs. In the Hot Drape Formed destruct, specimens were extracted from an area with reference flange thickness of 0.2742. In both the IM7/8552 Al Plug test part with radius wrinkling in flange bending specimens, and IM7/8552 Al plug flange specimens without radius wrinkling, specimens were extracted from an area with a flange thickness of 0.2892. The coupons were cut to a 4.0 long web section by the as-received flange length by 1.000 wide. The base of the flange bending fixture was mounted to a steel pedestal, which was in turn mounted to the test machine. The upper load pin fixture was secured to a load cell. The center of the load pin was 1.4 from the back of the fixture. The web of the coupons was secured to the fixture and the flange was placed over the loading pin. The radius of the coupons was above the backing plate by approximately the thickness of the flange. The tests were conducted with a deflection rate of 0.05 in/min. RESULTS Physical Properties and Thickness Results of physical property testing are shown below in Table 1. Glass transition temperature passed the 5320 resin requirement of 310F. Resin Content of the specimen from the web was close to prepreg nominal cured resin content of 33 wt%. However, resin content in the flange at St. 655 was low with an average of 27.2 wt%. Resin Content and Glass Transition data is shown in Appendix A and B, respectively. Inboard thickness difference from reference, based on drawing requirements for an IM7/8552 autoclave cured test part, is 7.8%. The outboard
IM7/8552 HDF Test Longeron Results MELR 09-948 445 / 434 (2.4) /3 450 / 449 (0.5) /3 35.5 / 35.2 (0.9) /3 35.3 / 35.1 (1.3) /3 5320 Out-ofAutoclave MELR 10-1322 418 / 413 (0.9) /3 425 / 421 (1.0) /3 27.2 /26.3 (3.3) /3 31.5 / 32.3 (5.4) /3

Physical Properties Glass Transition (F) Resin Content (wt %)

Coupon Set Flange Web Flange Web

IM7/8552 Al Plug 90 psig Results MELR 09-791 451 / 438 449 / 439 35.0 /34.4 36.0 /35.8

thickness difference from reference, based on drawing requirements for an IM7/8552 autoclave cured test part, is 8.3%. The average web difference from reference is 7.3%. T40800B/5320 is slightly less thick than the IM7/8552 Grade 190 tape with a cured ply thickness of 0.007 inches rather than 0.0073, while the T650-35 PW fabric has a cured ply thickness of close to 0.0078 inches. Thicknesses along the length of the part are shown in Appendix C. Mechanical Testing The results of mechanical testing along with a comparison of the results with the previous IM7/8552 test parts are shown in Table 2. Based on the testing, the out of autoclave material demonstrates equivalency to the IM7/8552 system for all tests. Results are based on nominal specimen dimensions for all testing, with the exception of short beam shear, where stress results are based on actual dimensions. HDF and OoA
Table 2 Comparison of Mechanical Properties

results are compared against results from the IM7/8552 test part laid up in production on a male Al mandrel and cured in an autoclave. Mechanical results of the out-of-autoclave system appear to be equivalent to the IM7/8552 Grade 190 system. The out-of-autoclave flange bending specimens do appear to have a lower average load than IM7/855 flange bending specimens with the same flange thickness and without radius wrinkling. The flange bending results for the test population OoA material set falls in the lower end of the control population (IM7/8552). Therefore, the two data sets are statistically equivalent. The statistical analysis is shown in Appendix D. It should be noted that the out-of-autoclave flange bending specimen thicknesses were slightly lower than the IM7-8552 flange bending specimen thicknesses without radius wrinkling, which may contribute to the lower loads.

Mechanical Properties

Coupon Set

Open Hole Compression (ksi) Short Beam Shear (ksi) Combined Loading Compression (ksi) Tension (ksi)

Flange at Ends Web Flange at Ends Flange Web Location 1 Web Location 2 Flange Web Location 1 Flange Web

(Control) IM7/8552 Al Plug 90 psig (% ) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

IM7/8552 HDF Test Part Comparison against Control (% ) 98 85 100 95 87 90 99 83 96

5320 Out-ofAutoclave Test Part Comparison against Control (% ) 99 92 108 109 111 95 104

IM7/8552 Al IM7/8552 Al Plug 90 psig Plug 90 psig 0.2892" flange 0.2892" flange thck. thck Flange Bending (lbs) (Exhibited (Without radius radius wrinkling) wrinkling.) (% ) (% )
88 100

IM7/8552 HDF Test Article 0.2742 flange thck (% )

88

5320Outof Autoclave 0.2892flange thck. (%)

89

Laminate Quality Two cross sections were analyzed for laminate quality; several areas from one of those locations, St. 675, are shown below in Figure 4. Overall laminate quality is acceptable with no observed ply wrinkling, voids and resin pooling. CONCLUSIONS All mechanical testing, including short beam shear, combined loading compression, open hole compression, tension and flange bending specimens showed that the out of autoclave system is mechanically comparable to that of the IM7/8552 system. Glass transition testing in two separate areas met the 5320 data sheet requirement of 310F. Resin content testing in one area of the web showed that the resin content was close to the nominal cured resin content of 33 wt%, at 32 wt%. However, in the flange the resin content was significantly lower, at 27 wt%. Laminate quality of the part was acceptable, with no observed ply wrinkling, voids and resin pooling.

Figure 4 Laminate quality from Station 675 of test part. (A) Outboard radius (B) Inboard radius (C) Web (D) Outboard flange (E) Inboard flange

APPENDIX A

Nam e : Date : MELR # : Material Description:

Jim Kohlbrenner 12/15/2010 10-1322 OOA Longeron

Fiber : T40/800 Fiber Density : 1.79 g/cc Resin : Resin Density : Water Tem perature: 5320 1.31 21.5

g/cc C

Raw Data
Weight of Thickness Sam ple Dry (in) (g) 0.24 0.237 0.24 1.56800 1.57750 1.53830 Buoyancy of Sam ple in Water (g) 0.98200 0.99050 0.96740 Water Density (g/cc) 0.99800 0.99800 0.99800 Weight of Weight of Crucible & Crucible, Resin Filter Filter & Fiber Weight (g) (g) (g) 23.98960 23.80840 21.42170 25.09370 24.87020 22.46250 Total Fiber Weight (g) Density of Sam ple (g/cc) 1.594 1.589 1.587 1.590 0.003 0.2

Calculations
Resin Content (w t%) 29.59 32.69 32.34 31.54 1.70 5.4 Resin Volum e (vol%) 35.99 39.66 39.18 38.28 2.00 5.2 Fiber Volum e (vol%) 62.69 59.77 59.98 60.81 1.63 2.7 Void Content (vol%) 1.32 0.57 0.84 0.91 0.38 42.1

0.46390 1.10410 0.51570 1.06180 0.49750 1.04080 Average: Std. Dev: COV (%):

Acid Digestion done in Sulfuric Acid

Nam e : Date : MELR # : Material Description:

Jim Kohlbrenner 12/15/2010 10-1322 OOA Longeron

Fiber : T40/800 Fiber Density : 1.79 g/cc Resin : Resin Density : Water Tem perature: 5320 1.31 21.5

g/cc C

Raw Data
Weight of Specim en Thickness Sam ple Dry I.D. (in) (g) 10A 10B 10C 0.21 0.208 0.21 1.36580 1.34600 1.35640 Buoyancy of Sam ple in Water (g) 0.85680 0.84560 0.85050 Water Density (g/cc) 0.99800 0.99800 0.99800 Weight of Weight of Crucible & Crucible, Resin Filter Filter & Fiber Weight (g) (g) (g) 24.33680 24.04730 24.82860 25.32820 25.01650 25.82890 Total Fiber Weight (g) Density of Sam ple (g/cc) 1.591 1.589 1.592 1.590 0.002 0.1

Calculations
Resin Content (w t%) 27.41 27.99 26.25 27.22 0.89 3.3 Resin Volum e (vol%) 33.29 33.95 31.90 33.04 1.05 3.2 Fiber Volum e (vol%) 64.51 63.90 65.57 64.66 0.85 1.3 Void Content (vol%) 2.20 2.15 2.53 2.29 0.21 9.0

0.37440 0.99140 0.37680 0.96920 0.35610 1.00030 Average: Std. Dev: COV (%):

Com m ent: Acid Digestion done in Sulfuric Acid

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The technical assistance of Jim Trosino, laboratory technician, is greatly appreciated. REFERENCES 1. S. Nutt and J. Boyd, University of Southern California, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Merwyn C. Gill Foundation, Los Angeles, (2006). 2. CYCOM Engineered Materials, CYCOM 5320 Information Sheet, Revision 1.3 03.18.09 3. Bond, Gary G.; Hahn, Gail L, NonAutoclave Prepreg Manufacturing for Primary Aerospace Structure, 41st International Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) Technical Conference, 41, (2009) 4. Bond, Gary G.; Bongiovanni, Chris; Boyd, Jack; Griffith, John M., Hahn, Gail L., A Study of Non-Autoclave Prepreg Manufacturing Technology, SAMPE Journal, Volume 45, No. 3, May/June, 2009, pgs 6-19 5. Bernetich, Karl R; Bachman, Gary N.; DAstuto, Louis, Structural Test Comparison of Co-cured, Skin-Stiffener Composite Bonded Assemblies Using Out-of-Autoclave & Autoclave Prepregs 42nd International Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) Technical Conference, 2010. 6. Bernetich, et. al., Evaluation of Detail Part Fabrication Using Out-of-Autoclave Prepreg 42nd International Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) Technical Conference, 2010.