Shown her
e , ACT students train on grinding and dirt bag usage.
processes do not require the use of an autoclave, just an unpressurized oven or heater blankets, controlled by portable “hot bonders.” “In some cases with the latest designs, such as the 787, the
repair technician may perform a ‘Double-Vacuum Debulked’ repair (DVD) on thick laminate repairs,” says Abaris’s Hoke. This technique provides “results similar to an autoclave cured repair, but done on the actual aircraft itself.” Knowing how to do this properly comes with training and practice, adds Wilson Boynton. He is president of Advanced Composites Training (ACT operated by RAA Composites at
www.raacomposites.com), a London, Ontario firm that trains technicians from a number of industries in composites formulation, molding and application. “If you get the temperature wrong during the curing process, the resulting composite can lack the structural strength you’re counting on and it won’t be obvious from its appearance,” says Boynton. “This is why formal training in composites is so important for the people working with them.”
The ACT hot bonding lab.
Closing The Standards Gap Companies such as Abaris Training and ACT have been preparing mechanics to deal with composites for decades. The combined classroom/hands-on courses they offer are based on measurable standards and, where possible, available certifications, resulting in graduates who know how to work with composites when they return to the shop floor. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, when it comes to training mechanics in composite repair, “there is no one central, standards-based certification that technicians can go through,” Hoke says. “Now the OEMs do provide composites training to their own people,” adds Boynton. “But it is very manufacturer- and type-specific. Just because you have learned how to do composite repairs on a 787, doesn’t mean that you will know how to do them on an A350 XWB.” The absence of a common standards-based composites certification program is due to the relative newness of composites as
Advanced Composites Training
Advanced Composites Training
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