Auto-Clave Qualification IAW D6-49327

• Audit Title

• Client / Site

• Conducted on

  Date

• Prepared by

• Location
  Address

• Personnel

General Requirements

• Is the autoclave interior clean and free from dirt, oil, or material detrimental to bonded structures?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Is there Over-pressurisation & high temperature alarms on the autoclave?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• If combustible materials are being used in the autoclave, or cure temperature above 250 F, is recommended inert gas such as CO2 or N2 available for pressurisation, rather than compressed air?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Temperature Sensing Requirements

• Are Thermo couplings used for uniformity surveys being made from AWG number 20 (0.0320"(0.8128mm dia) or finer, thermo coupling wire 24 gage (0.0201"(0.5105 dia)?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are there between 16 and 32 thermocouplings being provided with appropriate leads connected to a recorder per autoclave load?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are temperatures being recorded continuously throughout the cure cycle as required by the process specification? Multi point recorder are acceptable, providing each operating thermocoupling is monitored at least once every 6 minutes. The combined accuracy of the lead wire, junction box, and recorder, shall be +/- 5F when tested under normal operating conditions.

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Pressure Sensing Requirements

• Do Bag diaphragm sensors register over a range from 28 inches Hg vacuum to 30 psig pressure? Sensor accuracy shall be certified as follows:- 0 to 28 inches - +/- 1.5 inches Hg 0 to 30 psig - +/- 1 psi

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Do One or more pressure recorders continuously monitor and record the autoclave pressure throughout the cure cycle? Pressure accuracy shall be certified as follows:- 0 to 100 psig - +/- 2 psi above 100 psig - +/- 2 percent of reading. Pressure graduations shall not exceed 5 psi increments

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Elapsed Time Measurement

• Is the elapsed time during the temperature rise, curing period, and cool down of the autoclave cycle continuously monitored and logged? The temperature rise rates of the leading and lagging thermocouplings may be determined by multiple point recorder printout. Chart timing shall be within +/- 2 percent of actual elapsed time.

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Operational Tests - All Autoclaves

Prior to qualification, the autoclaves shall successfully complete the following temperature and pressure survey runs

Empty Autoclave

• Does the autoclave temperature sensing system satisfy the requirements of section 4.2c and verified with an independent, certified temperature sensing / recording system?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Has a leak test been performed according to the following requirements:- Pressurise the autoclave to 45+/- 5 psig, perform leak tests as follows:- 1) Monitor line vacuum sensors for 5 minutes 2) Continue pressurisation of autoclave to 100 +/- 5 psig 3) Heat autoclave at approximately 10 F/minute to 260 +/-10F 4) If qualification is 355F - 355 +/- 10F ten minutes after lead has reached 355F.

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Autoclave with Dummy Load

• Has a dummy load been run and recorded accoring to the following requirements:- Load the autoclave to the maximum heat-sink capacity that would occur under production conditions. The dummy load may consist of racks, tools, platens and cured or uncured scrap laminates. Heat capacity and thermal conductivity shall be similar to parts made at the facility.

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Autoclave Control Mode

• What was the mode type / method?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Autoclave Maintenance

• Are Autoclave maintenance schedules, including temperature and pressure survey frequency controlled by appropriate process documents?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Qualification

• Is there available a test report summarising the qualification submitted?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Additional information provided

• Supporting documentation

Summary

• Number of major non-conformances

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• Number of minor non-conformances

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• Number of observations

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• Summary