Method for producing contoured composite structures and structures produced thereby
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsDouglas A. McCarville, Joseph L. Sweetin, Juan C. Guzman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A contoured composite structure is fabricated by laying up a composite charge that includes at least one ply formed by uni-directional fiber pre-preg ply segments having substantially constant widths. The ply segments are placed in side-by-side, overlapping relationship with their longitudinal centerlines aligned in a polar orientation related to the contour of the structure. The charge is formed into the shape of the structure and cured.
Claims25
A method of fabricating a contoured composite structure, comprising:
- laying up a composite charge, including laying up at least one ply of uni-directional fiber pre-preg ply segments having substantially constant widths, including placing the ply segments in side-by-side, overlapping relationship and aligning longitudinal centerlines of the ply segments in a polar orientation related to the contour of the structure;
- forming the composite charge substantially into the shape of the structure;
- and
- curing the shaped charge.
A method of fabricating a contoured composite structure, comprising:
- producing a composite charge using an automatically controlled tape placement head, including using the head to place each of a plurality of substantially constant width prepreg tape segments in side-by-side, overlapping relationship on a substrate and to align the tape segments in a polar orientation related to the contour of the structure;
- forming the charge substantially into the shape of the structure;
- and
- curing the shaped charge.
A method of forming a contoured composite frame section, comprising:
- forming a flat stack of fiber reinforced, pre-preg plies, including individually placing substantially constant width composite fiber tape segments in side-by-side, overlapping relationship and in a polar orientation related to the contour of the structure;
- forming a first leg of the frame section;
- and,
- compacting and curing the formed stack.
A method of fabricating a multi-leg curved composite frame section for an aircraft, comprising:
- forming a frame section by
- using an automatic fiber tape placement machine to form a flat stack of composite plies, including forming at least certain of the plies by automatically placing segments of constant width unidirectional fiber pre-preg tape in side-by-side overlapping relationship along the length of the stack in which the longitudinal centerlines of the tape segments are generally aligned with radial coordinates in a polar coordinate system defining the curvature of the frame section, and forming other of the plies by automatically placing pre-preg unidirectional tape along the length of the stack,
- forming spaced apart cut-outs in the flat stack along a first edge of the flat stack,
- forming a first leg of the frame section by using drape forming to bend a second edge of the flat stack over a tool,
- forming a second leg of the frame section by using hot drape forming to bend the first edge of the flat stack over a tool;
- placing the frame section on a tool;
- vacuum bagging the frame section and the tool;
- and,
- compacting and curing the frame section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.