S.A. Composites has extensive composite experience with hand lay-up carbon fiber and fiberglass parts: radomes, fairings, and composite tooling are a few of its recent projects. These composite parts all have complex contours with very specific requirements for fiber placement. SAC is experienced in producing lay-up parts that meet specific material design strength and stiffness. The SAC staff can assist in the design of the tooling, work with the machine shop to build the tools, and work with you to help design the actual lay-up of the part. Most hand lay-up parts are made with a prepreg material, either a unidirectional tape or a woven cloth. However, SAC can also tailor the fiber and the resin with a wet-lay process as needed for your project. All parts are vacuum-bagged to compact the plies and ensure proper resin/fiber content, and then cured at room temperatures. If needed, SAC can post cure parts in its autoclave, which is capable of 400 degrees F and 100 psi. Once the composite part has cured, molds are removed, leaving a part with perfect contours and material strength that will meet the customer's composite needs.

S.A. Composites also offers composites that use a vacuum infusion process, which is a composite technique that uses vacuum pressure to drive resin into a laminate. In a typical hand wet lay-up, reinforcements are laid into a mold and manually wetted out using brushes or rollers. The vacuum infusion process is an improvement on that method since it uses a vacuum bag to "suck" resin into the laminate. In the vacuum infusion process, dry fibers are placed into a mold. Then a special bag is sealed to the mold and vacuum is applied at one end of the seal. The resin is then pulled through the fibers until the fibers have become completely saturated. The part is then cured at room temperatures and if required, can be cured in an autoclave. The vacuum infusion process produces composite parts that are of the highest quality. Contact SAC for more details on how vacuum infusion can help on your next composite project.

S.A. Composites subcontracts and rents time to any company looking to cure carbon fiber parts in an oversized autoclave. For your next carbon fiber curing project, turn to professional composite engineers at SAC and use the company's computer controlled 5' diameter, 23.5' long autoclave that is capable of 400 degrees and 100 psi of pressure.