Composite Autoclave Cost

I don’t have a cost for you, but you could request a rough order of magnitude estimate from ASC or another OEM of autoclaves. Keep in mind they may not respond since there’s no business potential in your inquiry, but if you tell them the truth, they might give you a ballpark number. Be prepared to provide some basic specifications, such as maximum temperature and pressure, and how big your parts are.

PM sent, I used to work for a company that builds composites manufacturing and repair equipment.

just emailed my peeps, I'll hopfully get back to you on say, 120psi 120min 250F run. Electric costs and N2 costs are going to vary depending on what you are running.

edit: The daily internal rate is $1,275. not 100% sure what exactly that means, but....about that.

We'd need more info to give you any sort of good answer. What size of autoclave are you talking about? I've seen small tabletop ones that were 1ft x 2ft long, ones that were 12ft tall by 24ft long (for curing multiple car chassis at once) and even ones that were 3ft diameter x 100ft long (for sailboat masts). They exist in basically every size in between that. Also, what is the maximum pressure & temperature you'd want to run it at? Higher pressure units will be thicker, heavier & more expensive to build, plus they'll often need more powerful compressors to maintain desired cycle times. Lots of variables.

For context, we have 2 autoclaves at our facility - one is ø4ft x 8ft long, the other is ø4ft x 10ft. We purchased them many years ago, but I'd expect the brand-new replacement value on them to be $300-500k each, depending on the options & controls specified. It's also important to remember that the pressure vessel is only one piece of the whole system - there's lots of additional infrastructure needed to run them. For starters the heaters consume a LOT of power, so budget $20-50k+ just to hook them up, depending on where they're located and if your building has sufficient power already. Ours did not, so it was a very expensive process. The electricity will run the heaters, but they also need chillers to cool the unit. Ours each have large 20ft tall external cooling towers and 2000gal water reservoirs / surge tanks, with all the complex plumbing that goes with that. They're connected to a 30hp screw compressor, and 4X redundant Busche vacuum pumps. There's also specialized racking that goes inside the autoclaves to hold parts, ruggedized high-temperature vacuum lines, remote thermocouples & vacuum sensors, etc. Also budget for periodic regulatory re-certifications (TSSA here in Canada), non-destructive testing of the vessel & locking collar, maintenance, replacement parts, etc, etc...

Depends on your needs, but assuming you could build it yourself.

Find a pressure vessel on eBay.

Binks pressure pot , 10 gallon is a place at start. $1000 Vacuum pump 250-500 Heating pad or elements 500 N2 generator might be your bottle neck assume 3000. But could be higher.

1" square tube frame. Assume 50'

15' of copper tube $50 Brass fittings 100

Miscellaneous sensors 300

Arduino to control it 100 Wiring, heat shrink, crimps 100

Leveling feet/wheels 100 Cabling boxes 100

5900 ish, assume 600 for things I've missed?

6500 in materials.

Then what? Labor to assemble, then labor to produce parts?

You might be able to find something on eBay for 3.8k and you'll need to make some additions to get it to where you need it.

Assuming you are not talking about monocoques but engine parts, intakes, air boxes etc?

Before 2020, a 10’ x 25’ autoclave would run about $1M to $1.5M.

The price mostly scales with the door diameter. No idea if that is still anywhere close to the cost, but that is roughly the ballpark. Try calling ASC or American Autoclave and see if they have a rough number for you.

As far as operating costs, that’ll depend on heating method (gas, steam, electric) and whether you use nitrogen or compressed air.

You can price out liquid nitrogen in bulk and estimate roughly how much will be needed to get the pressure you want. Keep in mind the autoclave is usually pressurized, then heated so you’ll need enough nitrogen you fully pressurize at room temperature, then also enough nitrogen to maintain pressure from the highest temperature to the end of the cycle.

Heating costs can usually be estimated as the energy required to heat the gas and the metal inside, plus whatever energy would be required to heat 0.5F to 1F per minute (ie if you cut off heat that’s how quickly you’ll lose temperature) as a rough estimate.

Maintenance costs are going to really depend on a lot of things and is harder to estimate. You can ask ASC or American Autoclave how much their maintenance packages are roughly.

Oh, and keep in mind also that any larger autoclave (ie more than 3-4’ in diameter) will require a reinforced pit to install as well.

1000 bucks gets you a cure cycle in the clave where I’m located.

I’d guess well over $100,000 for even a used one. Shipping something the size of a truck won’t be cheap either. I could ask some instructors I work with, they just purchased a small ASC Econoclave, inner volume about 18”x 40” x 12”(apex).