Method and apparatus for manufacturing disc brakes
AssigneeAircraft Braking Systems Corporation
InventorsDavid R. Snyder, William D. Thompson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for making carbon discs for brake disc assemblies by feeding continuous strands of fibrous carbon material from spools into a die, the volume of the carbon material so dispensed being continuously monitored. A cutter terminates the dispensing operation and a debulking plate urges all of the fibrous carbon material so dispensed into the die alone. The material is compressed within a cylindrical annular die and, in one embodiment, is submitted to a convection curing oven where the preform is cured. Subsequently, the preform is carbonized, densified, and machined to form a final carbon disc brake. In another emobodiment, a dry preform is fabricated, obviating the need for curing and carbonizing.
Claims14
Apparatus for making carbon discs for brake assemblies, comprising:
- a source of continuous strands of resin-free carbon fiber material;
- a die;
- first means for feeding a measured quantity of said continuous strands into said die;
- second means for compacting and retaining said continuous strands within said die, establishing a composition of resin-free carbon fibers in a geometric shape defined thereby;
- densifying means for treating said composition with densifying material to maintain said geometric shape upon removal from said die;
- and
- wherein said die is cylindrical, having top and bottom separator plates defining a cavity therebetween, said cavity receiving said strands therein, and said top and bottom separator plates being axially movable with respect to each other, and a compacting plate adapted to lockingly engage said top separator plate for compacting said strands within said cavity into a configuration of a carbon brake disc.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.