Composite blade manufacture

A method of manufacturing a lightweight composite propulsor blade having an axially extending load bearing spar disposed within a fiber reinforced shell comprising the steps of:

• a. forming a spar subassembly having a short metal retention member and a core of lightweight cellular material extending axially outwardly from the retention member;
• b. repeatedly braiding fibers of a structural fiber over the length of the spar subassembly to provide a dry wrap about the spar subassembly formed of a plurality of layers of angularly woven structural fibers;
• c. during said spar braiding step, laying up spanwisely extending plies of substantially unidirectional structural fibers between successive angularly woven layers;
• d. forming a first filler body of lightweight cellular material on a leading edge of the braided spar assembly and a second filler body of lightweight cellular material on a trailing edge of the braided spar assembly to form a blade subassembly;
• e. forming a dry shell warp of braided angularly woven fabric about the blade subassembly;
• and
• f. simultaneously impregnating the dry braided fiber wrap of the braided spar assembly and the dry braided fabric shell wrap about the blade subassembly with a curable resin material whereby upon subsequent curing of the resin material a blade assembly having a composite fiber reinforced load bearing spar and composite fiber reinforced shell is formed.