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When these technologies hit the marine industry, we won't be needing autoclaves any longer...

and for builders who can't afford autoclaves for post-laminate curing, they can begin utilizing post-cure resins

nanotube blanket can be used to heat the laminates together thereby curing and fusing them together


A new approach to making airplane parts, minus the massive infrastructure | MIT News







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Explain to me if I’m wrong on this but boat builders are currently not using autoclaves.

They use vacuum bagging and resins to lay up the carbon fiber and gain its strength. This design is OK but like described in the article voids can be left which negates any strength quality from the expensive carbon fiber.

If a boat builder decides to implement this technology I think you would get much better quality control and ensure the hull is uniformly strong.

How many are even using epoxy and oven curing?

I think OL has one, could be wrong though.

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Yes, I've read somewhere that OL uses an autoclave




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They have an oven, but I don’t believe it applies pressure in any form. Dan May chime in and clarify. Laminates are laid out, then vacuum bagged not infused, and then the part goes in the oven

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yes, I believe that's the process called post-curing, and special resins are used in post-curing inside the autoclave

before going inside the oven, the part has already been vacuum bagged and the resin has hardened, and the post-cure inside the oven further cures the resin to its strongest state




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I think that if this process ever makes it into mainstream marine industry, they won't need to cure the part in the oven, this process will bypass the need for an oven

and those "smaller" boat builders who can't justify purchasing an oven can now have the same results of post-curing the part without ever purchasing an oven, exciting times

then you have these "builders" who have been "building boats for 20 years" and say that they will never change their build practices, just sad to hear this...





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resin infusion







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