NEW MATERIAL REMOVAL TOOLS AND PROCESSES TO SAFELY EXPEDITE MAINTENANCE ON COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

摘要

Maintenance actions for aircraft and other systems often require removal of materials of various types from locations throughout the structure. The lack of effective, reliable nonmetallic tools for maintainers often drives the use of unapproved metal tools and/or unacceptable methods for material removal. The United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) developed a suite of efficient nonmetallic material removal tools that do not damage underlying composite structure. These include flat scraper blades for multiple applications, three types of tools to remove fillers from gaps of varying widths and cutters for removal of adhesive and sealant remaining on a structure after failure of bonded nutplates. Many of the tools were inspired by existing metallic tools that could readily remove the materials of interest but pose significant damage risk for structure. The new tools are injection molded from Solvay Engineered Plastics' Torlon polyamide-imide (PAI) resin, and their development was undertaken in close cooperation with aircraft maintainers to ensure useful final products. Required accessories were identified or developed, and procedures for tool use were written to maximize material removal efficiency and increase the tools' working lives. All tools are commercially available under the EnduroSharp trade name.