| Abstract | Adhesive bonding and bonded repair of metallic and composite aircraft structures have been used as effective methods for manufacturing and for restoring structural integrity of aircraft structures. Adhesive bonding requires the application of heat in order to cure the adhesive and complete the bonding operation; however, conventional heating methods are subject to several drawbacks and might be undesirable, particularly in cases involving repair of new, exotic aerospace materials. The motivation of this work is to develop a novel, cost-effective bonding method and apparatus using a network of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to provide heating with uniform bondline temperature, rapid temperature response, and minimal energy cost by producing heat directly at the bondline. Such a solution is achieved through integrating a paper-like CNT network (i.e., buckypaper sheet) within film adhesive. This self-heated adhesive layer is applied in the same was as conventional film adhesive and cured through application of a voltage (or current) across the CNT network to cause Joule heating. The approach gives excellent temperature uniformity, fast response, and low energy consumption among other advantages. |
|---|
