As the production of carbon fiber and composite components grows significantly due to the increasing demand for lighter weight materials, especially in aerospace applications, the use of autoclaves to process the parts continues to grow. Consequently the use of nitrogen to provide an inert atmosphere and pressure during the curing process becomes critical to the operation. Because of the unique cycles of the various composite curing processes in the autoclaves, the operating parameters — such as autoclave volumes, instantaneous flow rates, pressures, purity, fill times, overall duration, and number of autoclaves — are critical to understand. A thorough understanding of the overall operational requirements allows a nitrogen supply system to be properly sized to provide reliability in meeting production schedules and quality of these expensive parts, while also ensuring safety in the use of nitrogen.
