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US 6,187,411 B1Granted
Stitch-reinforced sandwich panel and method of making same
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorRaymond J. Palmer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stitch-reinforced sandwich panel with improved flatwise tensile strength, improved skin to core peel strength, and substantially reduced damage propagation from impact includes a relatively non-compressible foam core, a dry reinforcing layer of fibers placed on each of the opposite faces of the foam core; and high strength thread stitched with a high density of stitches over the entire panel through each of the reinforcing layers and the foam core. The skins are then impregnated with a resin system to complete the structure.
Claims4
A stitch-reinforced sandwich panel, comprising:
- a foam core having a pair of opposite first and second faces;
- first and second skins of fiber reinforcing material respectively covering the first and second faces of the foam core;
- and
- a reinforcing thread stitched through each of the skins and through the foam core to form stitches arranged in a generally regular pattern over substantially the entire faces of the foam core, the stitching joining the skins and the core together to form a stitch-reinforced sandwich panel;
- wherein the foam core is formed of a plurality of discrete foam pieces that are spaced apart to form intervening spaces therebetween, and the first and second skins are in direct contact with each other and are stitched directly to each other in the intervening spaces between the discrete foam pieces.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.