advanced Composite repair i - 5 days

This five-day course is designed for Aircraft Repair Technicians who have a background in Sheet Metal and have been doing some work in Composites but want to; learn more about the fundamentals of advanced composite materials, manufacturing and repair techniques.

Hands-on exercises are extensive, and students will work with Advanced Composite Materials including Fiberglass, Carbon fiber and Aramid Fibers in their individual projects. In additional they will work with various core materials including Nomex® honeycomb, high and low density foams. They will fabricate a Composite Panel using these materials to learn manufacturing techniques and Elevated Temperature curing processes using the “Hot Bond” method. The HEATCON® Hot Bond equipment is used in over 85% of the worlds Airlines and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO’s) facilities which makes it an essential part of the Training in Composite Repair. Discussions and Practicals will include proper use of the Heatcon® Composite Systems Hot Bonders and accessories used throughout the world. These Composite Panels will be deliberately damaged and repaired using basic repair techniques and various lay-up repair materials and processes. The final repaired part will be inspected to determine the quality of repair and then discussed with the student.

Upon completion of this course and for those who desire even further training and more difficult repair scenarios, we recommend taking our Advanced Composite Repair II Course.


What you will Learn:

  • Advantages and disadvantages of composite structures.
  • Fabrication Methods: wet lay-up, prepreg lay-up, filament winding, RTM, press molding, pultrusionResin/Matrix.
  • Systems: thermosets vs. thermoplastics, temperature ranges, cold storage requirements/shelf life limits, adhesives.
  • Fabrication: prepreg cloth handling and ply orientation, lay-up procedures, vacuum bagging.
  • Curing Methods: oven/autoclave/hot bonder cures
  • Inspection Criteria: non-destructive inspection methods, defect detection, galvanic corrosion, documentation, acceptable vs. unacceptable defects, defect prevention.
  • Health and Safety Issues: proper handling, personal protection, allergic reactions, waste disposal.
  • Principles of Tooling: types of tools, thermal characteristic.
  • Repair Methods: permanent vs. temporary repairs, scarf vs. stepped vs. mechanical patch repair scenarios, demo of “hot-bonder” field repair units.
  • Damage Assessment and Classification.
  • Introduction to Determining Unknown Lay-ups.
  • Drying Moisture-Contaminated Honeycomb Cores.
  • Bagging Techniques for On- and Off-Aircraft Repairs.
  • Introduction to Programming and Use of Composite Repair Sets.
  • Introduction to Dealing with Contaminated Structures.
  • Introduction to Handling Heat Blanket and Thermocouple Problems.

hands-on training exercises:

  • Component lay-up using prepreg materials, including: sandwich panels in carbon fiber unidirectional tape, fiberglass and aramid fiber cloth panels, ply orientation, warp direction, stacking vs. nesting, material cutting and handling, honeycomb and foam core installation.
  • Component lay-up using fiberglass dry cloth and liquid epoxy resin materials, including: fiber orientation, lay-up, resin mixing procedures, health/safety concerns, controlling fiber-resin ratios, vacuum bagging
  • Vacuum bagging: materials and processes, bleeder/breather schedules, bridging, debulking, leak checking, potential problems, use of caul plates, use of thermocouples, use of an ultrasonic leak detector.
  • Curing processes: ramp rates, vacuum schedule, oven cures, and potential problems.
  • Repairs: damage removal, scarf preparation, skin repair fabrication, use of wet resins and cloth for repairs, core plug repairs.
  • Introduction to the Use of manufacturers’ repair instructions.
  • Introduction to Vacuum bagging (without crushing fragile structures).
  • Introduction to the inspection of repaired area.