Composite tubular member with internal reinforcement and method

Abstract

An axially extending composite tubular member having a plurality of plies and having primary bending stiffness along a longitudinal axis, has at least one interior ply having a matrix material and a first fiber component with fibers oriented at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of between thirty degrees and sixty degrees, and more particularly between forty degrees and fifty degrees. An internal weblike reinforcement spans across the tubular interior of the member between and is secured to two spaced apart wall portions. The first fiber component provides significant torsional stiffness to the composite member and the internal weblike reinforcement provides significant impact resistance to the composite member. A method of fabricating such an axially extending composite tubular member includes the steps of forming first and second fabric strips into axially extending side-by-side closed tubes, the abutting walls of which form the internal weblike reinforcement, and forming a fibrous fabric into a longitudinally extending ply enclosing the first and second plies and having fibers that constitute the first fiber component of said interior ply.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.