Forming gas turbine engine airfoils from CMCs with a kickback to facilitate mandrel removal

A method of forming a gas turbine engine component comprising the steps of:

• providing a mandrel having a mandrel outer shape generally tracking a desired shape of a final airfoil leading edge, the mandrel having radially outer and inner mandrel ends and a mandrel leading edge and a mandrel trailing edge;
• forming a CMC yarn shear tube on the outer surface of the mandrel, with the shear tube generally tracking the shape of the mandrel outer shape;
• forming CMC fabric layers outwardly of the shear tube to form the desired shape of the final airfoil leading edge;
• providing the mandrel, and the shear tube, with a shape at at least one of the mandrel radially inner and outer ends to be spaced from the desired final shape of the airfoil leading edge at a corresponding one of a CMC fabric layers radially inner and outer ends, and inserting a filler material into a space between the corresponding one of the CMC fabric layers radially inner end and the CMC fabric layers radially outer end of the fabric layers, and a corresponding one of a radially inner and a radially outer end of the shear tube;
• beginning densifying the CMC materials;
• then removing the mandrel from the interior of the shear tube, with the spaced one of the mandrel radially inner end and mandrel radially outer end of the mandrel facilitating removal of the mandrel from within the shear tube;
• wherein the shear tube is formed by braiding;
• and
• wherein a leading edge of the airfoil has a central bow, such that each of the fabric radially inner end and fabric radially outer end of the fabric layers extend more in a leading edge direction than does the central bow.