Claims
- 1. A method for adhering a sealant material to a structure comprising:disposing the sealant material on at least a portion of the structure, the sealant material having one or more non-metallic continuous fibers embedded therein; providing electromagnetic energy to the one or more non-metallic continuous fibers; transmitting electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the one or more non-metallic continuous fibers in the sealant material thereby curing the sealant material such that the sealant material fixedly adheres to the structure; and propagating excess electromagnetic energy through the sealant material without substantial absorption of the excess electromagnetic energy by the sealant material.
- 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of providing the electromagnetic energy to an end of the one or more continuous fibers.
- 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of irremovably embedding the non-metallic continuous fibers into the sealant material.
- 4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of providing electromagnetic energy along a length of the one or more non-metallic continuous fibers.
- 5. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:processing the fibers prior to embedding the fibers in the sealant material such that the fibers disburse electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the fibers.
- 6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the processing is selected from the group consisting of bending, scratching, etching, doping, coating and crimping and combinations thereof.
- 7. The method as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:fabricating the sealant material from a material selected from the group consisting of thermoset polymer and thermoplastic polymer.
- 8. The method as claimed in claim 7 further comprising:generating the electromagnetic energy from a source selected from the group consisting of CO2 lasers, Nd:YAG lasers Ho:YAG lasers, diode lasers, Er:YAG lasers and ruby lasers.
- 9. A method for adhering a sealant material to a structure comprising:fabricating the sealant material from a material selected from the group consisting of thermoset polymer and thermoplastic polymer; embedding a continuous fiber in the sealant material such that the fiber disburses electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the fiber; processing the fiber prior to said embedding step, said processing selected from the group consisting of bending, scratching, etching, doping, coating, crimping and combinations thereof; disposing the sealant material on at least a portion of the structure; supplying electromagnetic energy to the continuous fiber from a source selected from the group consisting of CO2 lasers, Nd:YAG lasers Ho:YAG lasers, diode lasers, Er:YAG lasers and ruby lasers to the fibers; disbursing the electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the one or more fibers throughout the sealant material thereby curing the sealant material such that the sealant material fixedly adheres to the structure; and propagating excess electromagnetic energy through the sealant material without substantial absorption of the excess electromagnetic energy by the sealant material.
- 10. A method for adhering a sealant material to an aircraft structure comprising:disposing the sealant material on at least a portion of the aircraft structure, the sealant material having a continuous non-metallic fiber embedded therein; providing electromagnetic energy along the length of the continuous non-metallic fiber; and disbursing the electromagnetic energy from intermediate sections of the fiber into the sealant material thereby curing the sealant material such that the sealant material fixedly adheres to the structure.
- 11. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein said disbursing step increases the cross-link density of the sealant material to self-limit the sealant material curing.
- 12. The method as claimed in claim 10 further comprising the step of providing the electromagnetic energy to an end of the one or more continuous fibers.
- 13. The method as claimed in claim 12 further comprising the step of irremovably embedding an opposite end of the one or more continuous fibers into the sealant material.
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/217,731, filed Dec. 21, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,194.
US Referenced Citations (50)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
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