Patent ID: 8858857

Claim:
A process for manufacturing a hollow composite article, the process comprising the steps of: forming a fiber fabric over-wrap comprising tri-axial fibers by over-wrapping a cylindrical liner with dry fiber material; loading the over-wrapped liner into a mold cavity defining an outer shape of the composite article, said loading being coordinated with mold closing around the over-wrapped liner so as to improve tension on the over-wrap and effectively eliminate undesired wrinkling thereof; activating a fluid system to flood the loaded liner with heat transfer fluid at a temperature and pressure optimized for resin injection viscosity and flow control; injecting resin into the mold cavity so as to saturate the over-wrap, said injecting occurring while the flooded heat transfer fluid provides internal support to the liner balancing against resin injection pressure; forming the composite article by switching the fluid system so as to provide a temperature and pressure of heat transfer fluid fully curing the injected resin; and removing the composite article from the mold cavity.