Thesis-2004-Litchfield.pdf (53.52 MB)
Laser and other cleaning procedures for aerospace moulds and a study of mould release agents.
thesis
posted on 2013-11-12, 13:07 authored by Robert E. LitchfieldA selection of cleaning procedures are discussed which may be used to remove
epoxide resin flash contamination bonded on metal and carbon fibre reinforced
composite mould tooling that is used in the aerospace industry.
Laser ablation, dry ice blasting and chemical cleaning using sodium hydride are
three cleaning procedures studied in depth and have been used to treat a range
of industrially sourced and model substrates, and contaminants. The
effectiveness of the different cleaning regimes have been evaluated using
Scanning Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, Auger Electron
Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and other analytical
characterisation techniques.
The necessity to clean aerospace tooling arises when moulded parts cannot be
easily released from mould tooling and this is associated with mould release
residues that have built up over a number of moulding cycles and eventually
cause the moulding to stick. A comprehensive literature review of non-stick
coatings is given and alternative mould non-silicone based release coatings are
evaluated using the above analytical techniques. Coatings investigated include;
fluoroalkylsilane, fluoropolymers and metal-fluoropolymer composites and the
problems and merits associated with each are discussed.
History
School
- Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Department
- Materials
Publisher
© Robert E. LitchfieldPublication date
2004Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.416982Language
- en