National Research Council of Canada

Jihua Chen

Steven Roy

Ali Yousefpour

Meysam Rahmat

Simon Hind

Drazen Djokic

A vacuum bag system (VBS) for forming pre-consolidated composite blanks has a blank enclosure for sealing around a periphery of the blank, while leaving a second side of the blank exposed, an articulated forming caul (AFC) with at least two facets, each facet effectively jointedly coupled to an adjacent facet, and having a respective, independently controlled, heater integrated with, or coupled to the facet. The VBS further has a forming enclosure for sealing around a periphery of a tool. The blank enclosure brings the blank and the facets into uniform thermal contact resistance and mechanical contact; and permits the articulated AFC to distribute thermal and mechanical load across the blank during forming, even as the facets move to align to faces of the mold.

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Pierrefonds, Canada

Jihua Chen