Net Molding of Apache Channel Armor

The purpose of this paper is to present a new procedure for manufacturing AH-64 Kevlar Armor. The specific armor refers to nine (9) multiple channel shaped pieces for control line (hydraulic) protection. The new procedure replaces the hand lay-up placement of oversized individual kevlar plies into a silicone rubber filled female die cavity. This method required periodic replacement of die silicone rubber inserts, post cool down part triming, resulted in thickness variations, and was very labor intensive. The new procedure involves one set of dink dies for the simultaneous preparation of all plies for a given part, followed by a matched set of metal di:es. This assures pressure and temperature processing, installed in an electrically heated 100 ton hydraulic press. Upon cool down and disassembly, a finished part is produced.