Toray Industries, Inc.’s Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VaRTM) process has received certification from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)

 

On September 13, the official website of Toray Industries, Inc. of Japan announced that the vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VaRTM) process technology developed by the company for in-situ repair of ships has obtained the American Bureau of Shipping (hereinafter referred to as “ABS”) type certification.

 

This technology is aimed at offshore floating production, storage and offloading systems (FPSO) and offshore floating storage and offloading systems (FSO). By using carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) as a standard ship repair method for parts of equipment with reduced thickness due to corrosion, it is reported that this process method also makes Toray of Japan the first company in the world to obtain ABS type certification.

 

 

 

Floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs) are floating vessels used by the offshore oil and gas industry to produce, add and store oil.

 

The application of natural gas liquefaction units and LNG tanks in deepwater areas will effectively avoid the technical difficulties faced by deepwater pipeline sampling, and also provide a cost-effective solution for the development of offshore marginal oil and gas fields.

 

Due to the difficulty of online deployment, the equipment also needs to take into account production during maintenance, which puts forward new requirements for the research and development of repair.

 

Therefore, MODEC and Toray began joint development work in 2020 and invented an engineering method called vacuum-assisted resin repair molding (“VaRTM”) to restore the hull strength to the necessary level. Through this new method, carbon fiber reinforced resin CFRP can be fixed to the steel bars of the hull to repair steel bars corroded by seawater. (Read link) The process requires Toray’s TORAYCA™ carbon fiber fabric to be fixed to the surface of the existing steel structure.

 

This fabric has great strength and modulus. After the carbon fiber fabric is used on the metal surface, the fabric is covered with a film, then vacuum-sealed with a vacuum pump, filled with epoxy resin, and then cured to form an integration of the CFRP and steel structure, thus completing the repair.

 

 

Earlier processes were well suited to repairing large areas of corrosion, but struggled with pitting repairs. In such cases, the new CFRP patching technology is a more direct and effective solution. Simply bonding a prefabricated CFRP patch plate to the pitting reduces labor by half and shortens repair time. The technology eliminates the need for vacuum pumps and other equipment and simplifies the process of transporting reinforcement materials and construction tools on board. In addition, the technology eliminates the need for hot work, ensuring minimal disruption to oil and gas production.