Currently, airframe enhancements are being installed on the CF18 fleet in order to meet National Defense requirements for life expectancy on this aircraft. The images on this page show just one of several set-ups that have been completed with the Zimac hot bonder. In this case, the depicted set-up was used to successfully bond a composite doubler onto the airframe.

The heater cells shown in the intake tract provide the Zimac "heat dam" by positioning directly over the repair area located beneath. The heater cells (HC) are self fastenning using vacuum; each cell is connected to the hot bonder control unit via a power cable that contains the HC thermocouple, the power leads, the ground lead and the patented vacuum line. Underneath each HC a conformable heat transfer gasket is placed. This gasket allows the HC to be deployed directly over fasteners and permits the heater cells to adhere to structure that has radiuses, as evidenced in his image.

Visit Martec Aerospace for composite doubler design and application http://www.martec.com/index.html

This bulkhead image demonstrates how the hot bonder heater cells uniquely facilitate this doubler repair. They are deployed directly onto the airframe and using projection heating they inject uniform heat into the bulkhead. The cells encircle the patch area in two "rings" allowing for easy access and subsequent patch and vacuum bag attachment and most importantly a uniform temperature in the patch. This simplifies the task enabling Silane treatment, Primer and the Patch cure in one set up saving operator time and effort.