Connection Between Members - Patent 8128854

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Description: FIELD OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to connecting of members such as members comprising resin and fibres. In particular, the invention relates to removal of gas from the interface between the members during preparation of the connection.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is a demand within the field of structural composites to produce still larger composite structures. The size of wind turbine blades and spars for wind turbine blades is for example constantly being increased to an extent where preparation ofone-piece members requires unacceptable resources. Such resources may for example be large processing times during laying of layers and large production facilities with regard to apparatus size and space requirements. It is therefore desirable toprepare the composite structures in smaller members and connect these members to form the final structure at a later stage and/or facility. Members to be connected may be non-cured, partially cured such as pre-consolidate or fully cured, respectively. In general, the members are becoming increasingly rigid with the degree of curing. Experimental work has shown that presence of voids in the interface between connected members is detrimental to the mechanical performance of the connection. As a part of the connecting procedure it is therefore typically attempted to removegas from the interface. However, if at least one of the members is not rigid, i.e. not fully cured, a significant risk remains that gas may be entrapped between the members without any chance of removing it by for example applying a vacuum. This is for example the situation in GB 2 378 995 A, where a connection between two members via a compressible composite material is disclosed. The compressible composite comprises a fibrous material and a resinous material. The bulk of thecompressible composite is substantially devoid of air void. In use, the compressible composite member is placed between the members to be connected and then forme
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