The Pepin Associates facility was completed in December of 2000 and is a 2500 square foot building for office and laboratory space. A second floor mezzanine for new office space was completed in April of 2005. The facility is on a five acre site in the Greenville Industrial Park. Wildlife such as moose, deer, fox and bear occasionally wander through the wooded site.

EFA 51 1500 Watt CO2 Laser

This laser has relatively low time and has had a resonator upgrade to simplify maintenance and tuning. It has a stationary beam delivery system with focusing head. Pepin Associates uses this laser for welding the pin to facesheet joints in the hybrid sandwich panel for turbine engine fragment containment. These joints are typically titanium but steel and Inconel® are also easily welded with this laser.

Loom

Our loom is a 225 cm Dornier rapier loom capable of weaving at speeds up to 260 picks per minute. The carbon CD Tow is typically woven at speeds of 125 to 140 picks per minute. The loom is equipped with color changers and can weave many 2D weave architectures. It has been modified slightly to weave the CD Tow as there are some unique handling requirements of the DiscoTex® fabric as it is being woven.

Creel Feeding Over 750 Spools of CD Tow to Loom for Weaving

Fixture for Manufacturing Turbine Fragment Containment Systems