End-fittings for composite tubes, method for joining fittings to the ends of composite tubes and composite tubes incorporating end-fitting

Abstract

Composite tubes may be fabricated by filament winding a layer of resin impregnated carbon fiber with a near-axial fiber orientation over a mandrel and over end-fittings. Bands of resin-impregnated fibers are then wound circumferentially around this near-axial layer in a position that coincides with a circumferential groove in the underlying end-fittings. The ends of the near-axial layer are folded back over the bands, resulting in a double layer of intact near-axial fibers locked into the groove on the end-fittings by the bands of intact circumferential fibers. Testing has shown this arrangement to be effective for introducing very high axial loads onto the composite tube.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.