Claims
- 1. A method of fabricating a pressure intensifier for use in consolidation fabrication wherein at least two cured structures are bound together using an uncured preform, said method comprising:
designing a virtual mold using an electronic designing program, said virtual mold having at least two portions joinable to form an injection cavity which defines said pressure intensifier; fabricating a mold from a rapid prototyping fabrication process using a data file representative of said virtual mold; injecting a curable fluid material into said injection cavity formed when said joinable mold portions are mated together; curing said injected fluid material; and removing said cured pressure intensifier from said mold.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said fabricating further includes using a stereolithography apparatus to fabricate said mold.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said fluid material is a room temperature vulcanizing silicone.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said joinable mold portions are further designed and fabricated having sealable mating edges.
- 5. The method of claim 4 further including sealing said edges of said mated joinable mold portions for preventing said injected fluid material from escaping.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said electronic designing program includes a computer aided designing apparatus.
- 7. The method of claim 1 further including joining at least two cured pressure intensifiers forming a composite pressure intensifier.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said pressure intensifier has a contour corresponding to said uncured preform.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said pressure intensifier includes a mandrel.
- 10. A system for fabricating a pressure intensifier used in consolidation fabrication wherein at least two cured structures are bound together using an uncured preform configured to an angular shape of a bound area between said cured structures, said system comprising:
a computer having a processor and operably configured to create a computer aided design of a virtual mold having at least two portions joinable to form an injection cavity which defines a shape indicative of said pressure intensifier; a rapid prototyping apparatus having a data input for receiving a data file from said computer representative of said virtual mold and operably configured to fabricate a corresponding three dimensional mold; and means for injecting a curable fluid material in said injection cavity formed by mating said joinable mold portions.
- 11. The system of claim 10, wherein said rapid prototyping apparatus includes a stereolithography apparatus.
- 12. The system of claim 10, wherein said fluid material is a room temperature vulcanizing silicone.
- 13. The system of claim 10, wherein said joinable mold portions are further designed and fabricated having sealable mating edges.
- 14. The system of claim 13, wherein said sealable mating edges are temporarily sealed to prevent said injected fluid material from escaping said injection cavity.
- 15. The system of claim 10, wherein said computer processor is operably configured to execute a CAD program.
- 16. The system of claim 10, wherein a plurality of fabricated pressure intensifiers are fabricated and coupled by joint cement to fabricate a composite pressure intensifier.
- 17. A pressure intensifier fabricated by a method comprising:
designing a virtual mold having at least two portions joinable to form an injection cavity which defines said pressure intensifier;
fabricating a three dimensional mold from a stereolithography process using a data file representative of said virtual mold; injecting a fluid material into said injection cavity formed by joining said joinable mold portions; and curing said injected fluid material.
- 18. The pressure intensifier of claim 17, wherein said joinable mold portions are further designed and fabricated having sealable mating edges.
- 19. The pressure intensifier of claim 18 further including temporarily sealing said sealable mating edges for preventing said injected liquid material from escaping prior to curing.
- 20. The pressure intensifier of claim 17, wherein said fluid material is a room temperature vulcanizing silicone.
Government Interests
[0001] This invention was made with Government support under Contract Number F33615-94-C-3210 awarded by The Department of the Air Force. The Government has certain rights in this invention.