100,000-Pound Pultrusion Machine

Gallagher was part of a team asked to develop a new pultrusion process to produce high-performance composite canisters used in an air defense system. The project was funded by a federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 grant.

The canisters deployed in the existing defense system were made by filament winding. A Phase 1 proof of concept study showed that pultruding the canisters could reduce the cost of manufacturing by as much as 25 %, while retaining performance standards of the finished product.

To build the full-scale pultrusion machine, Gallagher evolved a conventional pultrusion design, and customized several aspects to accommodate the 18-inch square shape of the canisters. Specialized tooling and process hardware were designed to handle the carbon fiber and epoxy composite used to form the product. The Gallagher team also configured and installed the machine’s electronic control system. The machine pulls with 100,000 pounds of force.

For more information about this project, and our capabilities, please contact us today.

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