초록 ▼

A welding method controls the welding temperature, welding cycle time, and welding pressure for fabrication of composite structural parts. A welding unit welds multiple plies of thermoplastic prepreg into welded multi-ply assemblies by concentrating welds along the thermoplastic prepreg plies at loc

A welding method controls the welding temperature, welding cycle time, and welding pressure for fabrication of composite structural parts. A welding unit welds multiple plies of thermoplastic prepreg into welded multi-ply assemblies by concentrating welds along the thermoplastic prepreg plies at localized and strategic positions. Two platens weld a plurality of the multi-ply assemblies into a layup using a plurality of heated pins. The heated pins are hollow to reduce surface heating during welding and are non-uniformly shaped to allow indexing of the layup. After the layup is cut into a plurality of thermoplastic prepreg segments along a layup pattern, the thermoplastic prepreg segments are indexed according to the weld marks impressed by the non-uniformly shaped heated pins. The thermoplastic prepreg segments are formed into kits or wedges by stacking smaller thermoplastic prepreg segments on top of larger thermoplastic prepreg segments.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A welding method for fabrication of composite structural parts comprising the steps of:a) welding multiple plies of thermoplastic prepreg into a welded multi-ply assembly by welding the plies at a plurality the plies of predetermined spaced apart points to form a pluralit

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A welding method for fabrication of composite structural parts comprising the steps of:a) welding multiple plies of thermoplastic prepreg into a welded multi-ply assembly by welding the plies at a plurality the plies of predetermined spaced apart points to form a plurality of spaced apart welds;b) aligning a plurality of welded multi-ply assemblies into a layup;c) using opposing platens having a plurality of heated pins to weld and index the layup, the plurality of heated pins including a plurality of index pins for indexing the layup by applying a layup pattern having a plural of indexing marks;d) cutting the layup into a plurality of thermoplastic prepreg segments along said layup pattern;e) forming the thermoplastic prepreg segments into kits by stacking the thermoplastic prepreg segments according to the plurality of indexing marks; andf) welding each kit to form a composite structural part.