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US 10,766,626 B2Granted
Single-piece extended laminar flow inlet lipskin
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsLuis Leon, Michael Nill, Pradip K. Saha, Carol S. Oliver, Ricole A. Johnson
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Abstract
Methods are disclosed for forming metal workpieces made from a heat-treatable metal that has been shaped and tempered according to specified protocols that facilitate formation of large contoured unitary metal structures having welds that are retained in the finished structure, and finished metal structures made according to such methods.
Claims20
A method for making a heat-treated structure formed of metal, the method comprising:
- performing a first heat-treating process on a metal workpiece in an annealed condition, to transition the metal workpiece from an annealed condition to a first-hardened condition, said metal workpiece comprising at least one friction stir weld;
- forming the metal workpiece into a shaped metal workpiece while the metal workpiece is in the first-hardened condition;
- and
- performing a second heat-treating process on the shaped metal workpiece to transition the shaped metal workpiece from the first-hardened condition to a second-hardened condition.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.