Equipment & Facilities


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Equipment & Composite Tooling Facilities

Touchstone Advanced Composites is one of the best equipped composite tooling facilities in the US. Along with the processing equipment below, Touchstone sits next to and has access to Touchstone Research Laboratory’s research facility, which houses millions of dollars worth of advanced laboratory equipment and expertise in metallurgy and material science.

Touchstone is located in two buildings on the campus of Touchstone Research Laboratory.

Three autoclaves with the ability to produce composite tooling or parts up to 6 feet wide and 30 feet in length at temperatures up to 450° F (232° C) and a pressure of 100 psi.
High-temperature kilns including capabilities of temperatures up to 1000° C and a size of 8′ x 15′ x 7′ (2.4384 meters x 4.572 meters x 2.1336 meters). These can be used for ceramic matrix composite production as well as the annealing of welded metal assemblies.
Down draft paint booth 25’ x 10’ x 8’ with bake operations up to 180º F
A microwave-assisted kiln capable of temperatures as high as 1650ºC. This kiln can be run as either an electric resistance heated kiln or as a microwave kiln, or it can run with both heating methods. The kiln can be used to cure composites or to produce ceramic matrix composites. The kiln is 3′ x 3′ x 3′.
Filament winder and tape placement.
“Touchstone Advanced Composites is one of the best equipped composite tooling facilities in the US.”

Equipment

Composites Curing

  • Composites Autoclave – 6’ Diameter x 30’, 100 psi 500F, 1829mm x 762mm, 0.6 Mpa, 260ºC
  • Composites Autoclave – 3’ Diameter x 5’, 100 psi 500F, 914mm x 1524mm x .6Mpa, 260ºC
  • Walk-in Oven – 180” x 86” x 90”, 500F, 4572mm x 2184mm x 2286mm, 260ºC
  • Filament Winder
  • Down Draft Paint Booth – 25’ x 10’ x 8’, 7620mm x 3048mm x 2438mm, bake operation to 180ºF, 82ºC
  • Composites autoclave - 6' diameter x 10', 200 PSI, 750F
  • Waterjet 5' x 10' bed Gerber fabric cutter

Machining

  • Five-Axis CNC Mill – 120” x 40” x 30” 3048mm x 1016mm x 762mm
  • Five-Axis CNC Machining Center – 280” x 187” x 72”, 7112mm x 4750mm x 1829mm
  • Five-Axis CNC Machining Center – 187” x 96” x 50” 4750mm x 2438mm x 1270mm
  • Five-Axis CNC Machining Center – 180” x 80” x 50”, 4572mm x 2032mm x 1270mm
  • Three-Axis CNC Router – 120” x 58” x 8”, 3048mm x 1473mm x 203mm
  • 3 Three-Axis Manual Mills
  • 3 Manual Lathes

Steel Fabrication Facility

  • TIG
  • MIG
  • Oxy/acetylene Welding
  • Stick Welding
  • Brake
  • Shear
  • Miscellaneous Saws
  • Zooton Hydraulic Press
  • Annealing Furnace

Quality

  • Laser Trackers
  • Faro Platinum Arm
  • Laser Scanner
  • Two Surface Profilometers

Laboratory Equipment

  • Helium Leak Tester
  • 16 Servohydraulic Fatigue Test Frames
  • 3 Tensile Machines
  • Chemistry Laboratory
  • Pressurized TGA
  • Differential Scanning Calorimeter
  • Long Distance Microscope
  • Laboratory Bench Microscopes
  • Rockwell Hardness Testers
  • Microhardness Testers
  • 3 Electron Microscopes
  • Helium Picnometer
  • Variable Density Gradient Column
  • Ovens and Kilns to 3000ºC