Essentials of Advanced Composite Fabrication & Repair

Advanced composite technology is crucial to aerospace and aviation applications, as well as many other industries, because of the advantage of composite materials: their properties of strength and stiffness combined with their light weight. It is a constantly changing field with new developments daily, yet the basics needed to successfully design, fabricate and repair composite structures remain the same. Essentials of Advanced Composite Fabrication and Repair is a comprehensive and thorough primer for beginners to this technology, yet also works as an excellent resource for long-time composites professionals.

This textbook teaches the concepts and methods in a simple and straightforward manner for a wide array of composites fundamentals, including fiber and matrix selection, curing and achieving desired properties, tooling design and use, testing and nondestructive inspection, step-by-step repair instructions and troubleshooting, and also covering the key environmental, health and safety issues that affect the industry.

Authors Louis C. Dorworth, Ginger L. Gardiner, and Greg M. Mellema have over 80 combined years' experience in the industry. Along with numerous everyday practical lessons garnered from their combined lifetime of experience, the authors have created in this textbook a compendium of industry information listings no longer in print. Some examples include fabric weave styles and properties, cored sandwich design guidelines, damage detection, fiber reinforcement properties, and much more. In-depth step-by-step explanations of composite repairs are detailed, including troubleshooting and the "why" behind what works in composites design, fabrication and repair.

Some of the subjects covered in Essentials of Advanced Composite Fabrication and Repair include:

• history and development of composite and advanced composite materials
• matrix technology
• fiber reinforcements
• molding methods and practices
• core materials
• tooling
• and much more

Anyone working in composites, from material and process engineers, to repair technicians and maintenance mechanics, to composite fabricators and design personnel will find the help they need in this volume, which is the companion textbook for most Abaris Training basic courses and the perfect companion textbook for your college or A&P composite program.