Novel fabrication process for thermoplastic composite parts
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsAlexander Rubin, James Fox, Randall Wilkerson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fabrication method of forming a thermoplastic composite laminate material with tailored and varying thickness in a continuous process. This process utilizes automated equipment or hand lay-up to collate parts or components into a multi-layer stack. Each stack contains all plies, including ply build-up areas, tacked in the proper location to maintain orientation and location. The consolidation tooling contains all necessary part features and is coordinated to the customized multiple ply stacks to form a single integrated thermoplastic composite laminate potentially having areas of differing thickness from these multiple ply stacks.
Claims25
A method for manufacturing a thermoplastic composite laminate having with tailored and varying thickness in a continuous process, the method comprising:
- making at least one non-uniform thickness multiple ply stack comprising a plurality of stacked plies of a thermoplastic material;
- tacking each of said non-uniform thickness multiple ply stacks to form at least one non-uniform thickness tacked stack;
- introducing one of said non-uniform thickness tacked stacks to a consolidation device having a pre-forming zone and a consolidating zone;
- forming a first material selected from the group consisting of at least one tacked multiple ply stack and at least one ply of a thermoplastic material;
- each of said tacked multiple ply stack selected from the group consisting of a non-uniform thickness tacked multi-layer ply sheet stack and a uniform thickness tacked multi-layer ply sheet stack;
- introducing said first material to said consolidation device;
- forming a preformed part within said pre-forming zone from said one non-uniform thickness tacked stack and said first material;
- and
- consolidating said preformed part into a single integrated thermoplastic pressed part within said consolidating zone.
A method for manufacturing a thermoplastic composite laminate having with tailored and varying thickness in a continuous process, the method comprising:
- making at least one multiple ply stack comprising a plurality of stacked plies of a thermoplastic material, said at least one multiple ply stack selected from the group consisting of a non-uniform thickness multiple ply stack and a uniform thickness multiple ply stack;
- tacking each of said multiple ply stacks to form at least one tacked multiple ply stack;
- introducing one of said tacked stacks to a consolidation device having a pre-forming zone and a consolidating zone;
- forming a first material selected from the group consisting of at least another of said tacked multiple ply stack and at least one ply of a thermoplastic material;
- introducing said first material to said consolidation device;
- forming a preformed part within said pre-forming zone from said one tacked multiple ply tacked stack and said first material;
- and
- consolidating said preformed part into a single integrated thermoplastic pressed part within said consolidating zone.
A method for manufacturing a thermoplastic composite laminate having with tailored and varying thickness in a continuous process, the method comprising:
- forming a first material selected from the group consisting of at least one tacked multiple ply stack and at least one ply of a thermoplastic material, said at least one multiple ply stack selected from the group consisting of a non-uniform thickness multiple ply stack and a uniform thickness multiple ply stack;
- forming a second material selected from the group consisting of at least one of said tacked multiple ply stacks and at least one ply of said thermoplastic material;
- introducing said first material and said second material to a consolidation device, said consolidation device including a pre-forming zone and a consolidating zone;
- forming a preformed part within said pre-forming zone from said first material and said second material;
- and
- consolidating said preformed part into a single integrated thermoplastic pressed part within said consolidating zone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.