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Aerospace Application Spotlight

Overview:

The growing emphasis on safety in the aerospace and aircraft industry has resulted in an increase demand for PTFE and Silicone coated fabrics, tapes and engineered parts. There is an increasing importance of fire resistant materials where human life and intricate machinery must function as a reliable unit. These requirements highlight the unique properties of AFC’s DuraFab®, DuraFlow® and DuraSil® fabrics as well as our family of DuraStick® pressure sensitive adhesive tapes. Our PTFE and silicone products are fire resistant. They are non-flammable in a normal atmosphere. In a highly oxygenated atmosphere, glass fiber reinforced PTFE burns at a rate of less than 3/10” or 7.62MM per second.

AFC’s products are unique because they are manufactured in very tight quality control standards. AFC products are engineered to meet the highest military, NASA and civilian specifications.

All AFC’s products used in the Aerospace/Aircraft industry are specified for the unique combination of characteristics. These properties include:

• Durability
• Flame retardant
• Chemical resistant
• Mechanical strength
• Smooth non-stick surface
• Temperature resistant (-400°F to +600°F or -240°C to +315°C)
• Controlled DK (Microwave)
• Low dissipation factor (Microwave)
• High cold-flow
• Semi-conductivity
• Excellent airflow and porosity

Applications & Products:

Release fabrics for composite pre-preg manufacturing:

DuraFab® and DuraFlow® fabrics are used as a release liner for the bonding operations of parts such as helicopter rotor blades. AFC’s 27-03, 20-03 and 20-05 are ideal materials for use as release liners. These materials are flexible, chemical resistant, have wide operating temperature and provide a non-stick surface.

Release fabrics for vacuum bagging operations:

DuraFlow® fabrics are used as bleeder/breather cloth in vacuum bagging operations. AFC’s 27-03 is ideal for its unique combination of porosity, chemical resistant, temperature resitivity, mechanical strength and non-stick properties.

Tape for flame spray masking:

DuraStick® 380 series glass cloth with silicone psa and DuraStick® tape with silicone psa are ideal for masking and protection when flame and plasma spraying parts.

Tape for lining galley drawers:

DuraStick® 250-05A is used in lining galley drawers in commercial airline food storage ovens and for lining food tray cabinets in airlines arm rests. 250-05A provides a non-stick, smooth surface, temperature resistant, easily cleaned, FDA compliant solution.

Gaskets for protection and insulation:

DuraFab® 24-03, 24-05 and 24-06 anti-static fabrics have been used as ring shaped protective shielding materials for protecting components from corrosive rocket fuel. These materials are ideal because of their durability, chemical resistance, temperature resistance and ease to die-cut.

Cable & Wire harness wrapping:

DuraStick® 250-05S silicone adhesive tape is used for cable wrapping of highly sensitive equipment in aircrafts. DuraStick® is also used to tape a non-PTFE wiring harness for the purpose of imparting the desirable properties to the completed harness. DuraStick® 250-05S combination of chemical resistance, high dielectric properties, temperature resistance and durability make this material ideal for such applications.

Radomes and Parabolic reflectors:

AFC offers a proprietary fabric used in the fabrication of Radomes and Parabolic reflectors. AFC also can fabricate and engineer radomes. AFC materials are chosen for their durability, controlled DK (microwave), Low dissipation factor (microwave), mechanical strength and smooth non-stick surfaces.