Software-based autoclave control system increases company's cure throughput by 35 percent and frees engineers for more productive work. Autoclave processing remains the backbone of advanced composite structure production. One of its primary goals is to fully cure a prepreg's thermoset polymer matrix by initiating and sustaining chemical reactions that reduce its viscosity from B-stage (semi-solid) to liquid, and then increase it through gel to final vitrification (typically measured in terms of modulus of elasticity). Historically, these changes have not been "visible" during the cure cycle. Manufacturers typically perform a large array of preproduetion tests to outline this complex change in viscoelastic properties, which occurs over time and as temperature increases, simplifying it into ramp rates, hold temperatures and dwell or "soak" durations.
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