Lightweight aircraft seal material

摘要

Disclosed herein is a novel approach to producing an aircraft window seal. The aircraft seal is produced of a much lighter material than has been used before, produced by a process of mixing a compound containing uncured silicone and a volume of microspheres, and then dispensing this material into a mold. Such a mold will normally be a female mold having the negative three dimensional shape of the aircraft seal to be produced. The seal may then be pressurized and/or heated during the curing process either prior to removing the seal from the mold or after removing the seal from the mold.

主权项

1. A method for making a lightweight aircraft window seal comprising the steps of:
providing a volume of viscoelastic silicone; providing a volume of microspheres; combining the viscoelastic silicone with the microspheres to produce a lightweight viscoelastic compound; disposing the lightweight viscoelastic compound into a female mold having the negative three dimensional shape of the aircraft seal; subjecting the viscoelastic compound to increased pressure and heat over time to cure forming the aircraft window seal; removing the aircraft window seal from the mold applying the cured window seal to an aircraft window; and applying the window seal-window combination to an aircraft to seal a gap between the window and the aircraft.