Syntactic-foam parts and associated methods of making the same
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsMark Wilenski, Kimberly-Alice Gregersen, Megan Taylor, Carl McIver
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein is a syntactic-foam part and associated methods for making the syntactic-foam part using a mold. The syntactic-foam part includes low-density spheres with at least one inner distribution media layer positioned within the low-density spheres at a predetermined height, that are encapsulated in a resin. The at least one inner distribution media layer facilitates resin flow along an entirety of the at least one distribution media layer before flowing out of the at least one inner distribution media layer, thus resetting a resin level at an infusion interface during an infusion process.
Claims21
A method of making a syntactic-foam part, the method comprising:
- loading a first set of low-density spheres into a mold to fill a first section of the mold;
- positioning an inner distribution media layer over the first set of low-density spheres in the first section of the mold, wherein the inner distribution media layer defines an infusion interface within the mold;
- loading a second set of low-density spheres into the mold to fill a second section of the mold;
- applying vacuum to the mold by opening a primary vacuum port;
- introducing a first portion of resin from a primary resin inlet into the first section of the mold;
- after the first portion of resin reaches a predetermined level, opening a secondary resin inlet to flow a second portion of resin along an entirety of the inner distribution media layer to introduce the second portion of resin from the infusion interface into the second section of the mold;
- and
- after a predetermined amount of the second portion of resin enters into the primary vacuum port, closing the primary vacuum port.
A syntactic-foam part, comprising:
- low-density spheres;
- at least one inner distribution media layer positioned within the low-density spheres at a predetermined height and defining an infusion interface;
- and
- a resin encapsulating the low-density spheres and the at least one inner distribution media layer;
- wherein the at least one inner distribution media layer is configured to facilitate flow of the resin along an entirety of the at least one inner distribution media layer to introduce the resin from the at least one inner distribution media layer, thus resetting a resin level at the infusion interface during an infusion process.
A method of making a syntactic-foam part, the method comprising:
- loading low-density spheres and a plurality of inner distribution media layers into a mold, wherein each one of the plurality of inner distribution media layers is positioned at a predetermined height and defines an infusion interface within the mold;
- applying vacuum to the mold by opening a primary vacuum port and a plurality of secondary vacuum ports, wherein each one of the plurality of secondary vacuum ports is between the primary vacuum port and a primary resin inlet and is positioned adjacent to one of the plurality of inner distribution media layers;
- introducing resin into the mold from the primary resin inlet;
- sequentially closing each one of the plurality of secondary vacuum ports when a predetermined amount of the resin reaches a predetermined level;
- and
- after a corresponding one of the plurality of secondary vacuum ports is closed, sequentially opening each one of a plurality of secondary resin inlets to flow a second portion of resin along an entirety of the corresponding one of the plurality of inner distribution media layers to introduce the second portion of resin from the corresponding infusion interface into the mold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.