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Air bag repair
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Ship Manufacturing Company Used the airbags to launch their ship which caused some minor damage. As long as the rubber is new enough to retain it's elasticity (there are no minor cracks from age or stickiness), then the damaged area may undergo repair. It is recommended that the heated fusing of rubber process known as vulcanization be used for the repair. The process is as follows;
1. Wash and clean the surface of the airbag.
Use water to clean the damaged area. Clean the inside and outside around the damaged area. Clear the surface areas of all sedimentary debris, oil impurity, or any other form of dirt contaminant. Then allow the areas to air dry. When the airbag is submerge in water for the washing be sure not to leave it in the water for more than ten minutes.
2.Soak the a seperate piece of rubber in gasonline(93#), let the rubber fully desolve, it will create a sticky porus mixture, the formula of rubber to gas is about 1:5 by weight.
3.Use a sander to ruff up the area around the damaged surface, use a brush to wisk away the remaining dirt.
4.Insert a crude rubber strip that has been brushed with the prepaired mixture, with the sticky side up. Make sure the strip is larger than the size of the breached opening.
5.On both sides of the punctured area seperate each layer of rubber. brush the soaked rubber mixture on every rubber layer then press it to the corresponding layer opposite of the brushed side. Afer all the layers have been put together press and flatten the now repaired breach (we use a 200kg steel wheel)
6.On the top rubber layer (the surface of airbag), use a crude rubber strip to seal the opening, the crude rubber strip size is 1mm thickness, 2cm-3cm width.
7.Push out the remaining air out of the airbag
8.Heat Vulcanize
Refer to the heat vulcanization work bench diagram
Use a 2cm thicker iron sheet, put it in the furnace till the temperature reaches 160℃，press it to the damaged area, pressure about 0.5-0.6MPa, note to put talcum powder and gauze between iron sheet and airbag.
Keep it there about 1.5hours, all the work is finished.
Note: You can also make a simple electricity tool to heat up the iron sheet
