System, method, and apparatus for production-worthy, low cost composite tool fabrication
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
B29C-070/44
B29C-070/04
출원번호
UP-0289263
(2005-11-29)
등록번호
US-7625510
(2009-12-16)
발명자
/ 주소
Ashton, Todd H.
Batzer, Richard R.
Schmidt, Ronald P.
출원인 / 주소
Lockheed Martin Corporation
대리인 / 주소
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
1인용 특허 :
6
초록▼
Composite tooling is fabricated with low cost dry fabrics and a neat resin instead of expensive prepregs. Dry, three-dimensional woven joint preforms are placed on a dry tool substrate and dry, 3D preforms are also placed between pre-cured egg crate-like junctions. The entire tool substrate and subs
Composite tooling is fabricated with low cost dry fabrics and a neat resin instead of expensive prepregs. Dry, three-dimensional woven joint preforms are placed on a dry tool substrate and dry, 3D preforms are also placed between pre-cured egg crate-like junctions. The entire tool substrate and substrate-to-support structure joints are then resin-infused simultaneously through the use of rota-molded tooling aids, providing an additional reduction in cost. Tight control of resin content and distribution with vacuum infusion is thereby provided. This process eliminates the primary cause of structural weakness and cooling distortion, which typically occur at the attachment interface when existing methods are used. The preforms provide significantly greater pull-off strengths at interfaces than do hand-laid tie plies. Issues with tool surface durability are addressed through the use of ceramic-filled face coat.
대표청구항▼
What is claimed is: 1. A method of forming a composite production part, the method comprising: (a) providing a mold of a production part; (b) applying a liquid, ceramic-filled face coating on the mold; (c) forming a substrate by laying up dry composite fiber materials on the liquid, ceramic-filled
What is claimed is: 1. A method of forming a composite production part, the method comprising: (a) providing a mold of a production part; (b) applying a liquid, ceramic-filled face coating on the mold; (c) forming a substrate by laying up dry composite fiber materials on the liquid, ceramic-filled face coating while the coating is still tacky, the coating having a hardness in excess of a hardness of the substrate when the coating is cured; (d) providing dry woven fiber composite preforms, each having two parallel walls extending from a base, inserting pre-cured composite boards between the parallel walls and placing bases of the preforms on the substrate so that edges of at least some of the boards abut non-edge portions of other boards to form a support structure for the substrate; (e) positioning the substrate and the support structure in an evacuated environment; (f) injecting resin into the evacuated environment such that the resin infiltrates the substrate and the preforms of the support structure; (g) forming a composite tool by curing the infiltrated substrate and the preforms in an oven without the use of an autoclave; (h) removing the composite tool from the evacuated environment and the mold; then (i) laying up composite materials for the production part on a side of the composite tool that was previously in contact with the ceramic-filled face coating. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises laying up dry woven graphite at a depth of approximately 0.25 inches on the coating. 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein steps (d) further comprises spotting the preforms with a tackifier comprising bismaleimide (BMI) or a phenolic resin. 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the boards in step (d) have outer portions that protrude past the parallel walls of the performs and where step (d) further comprises bonding the outer portions of the abutting boards to each other with additional preforms, each of the additional preforms having a base that is placed against the non-edge portion of one of the boards and two parallel walls defining a slot for receiving the edge of another of the boards. 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises applying cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) tooling aids to the substrate and between adjacent ones of the boards prior to step (e), and step (h) further comprises removing the XLPE tooling aids from the composite tool. 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (f) comprises injecting bismaleimide (BMI) at an elevated temperature. 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (g) comprises heating the infiltrated substrate and support structure to approximately 375° F. to achieve initial cure of the overall structure. 8. A method of forming a composite production part, the method comprising: (a) providing a mold of a production part; (b) applying a ceramic-filled face coating on the mold in a liquid form; (c) forming a substrate by laying up dry, three-dimensional woven graphite materials on the liquid, ceramic-filled face coating while the ceramic-filled face coating is still tacky, the coating having a hardness in excess of a hardness of the substrate when the coating is cured; (d) providing dry woven fiber composite preforms, each having two parallel walls extending from a base, inserting pre-cured composite boards between the parallel walls and placing the bases of the preforms on the substrate so that edges of some of the boards abut non-edge portions of other boards to form a support structure for the substrate; (e) placing tooling aids between adjacent ones of the boards, then positioning the substrate and the support structure in an evacuated environment by vacuum bagging the substrate and the support structure; (f) injecting bismaleimide (BMI) resin into the evacuated environment such that the resin simultaneously infiltrates the substrate and the preforms of the support structure; then (g) forming a composite tool by curing the infiltrated substrate and the preforms in an oven without the use of an autoclave; then (h) removing the composite tool from the evacuated environment and the mold and removing the tooling aids; and then (i) laying up composite materials of the production on the side of the composite tool that was previously in contact with the ceramic-filled face coating. 9. A method according to claim 8, wherein steps (c) and (d) further comprise spotting the dry materials and dry preforms with a tackifier mixture of BMI and acetone to conform portions of the dry materials and dry preforms to a desired shape. 10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the boards in step (d) have outer portions that protrude beyond the parallel walls of the performs and wherein step (d) further comprises bonding the outer portions of intersecting ones of the boards to each other with additional preforms, each of the additional preforms having a base placed in contact with one the non-edge portion of one of the boards and two parallel walls defining a slot that receive an edge of another one of the boards. 11. A method according to claim 8, wherein the tooling aids of step (d) are formed of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). 12. A method according to claim 8, wherein step (g) comprises heating the infiltrated substrate and support structure at approximately 375° F. to achieve initial cure. 13. A method of forming a composite production part, the method comprising: (a) providing a mold of a production part; (b) applying a ceramic-filled face coating on the mold in a liquid form that, when cured, has a hardness in excess of a substrate; (c) forming the substrate by laying up dry materials on the liquid coating while still tacky, the dry materials comprising woven graphite; (d) providing dry woven fiber composite preforms, each having two parallel walls extending from a base, inserting pre-cured composite boards between the parallel walls and placing the bases of the preforms on the substrate so that edges of some of the boards abut non-edge portions of other boards and have outer portions that extend outward past the parallel walls of the performs to form a support structure for the substrate, inserting the outer portions of some of the boards into parallel walls of additional performs and placing the bases of the additional performs against the non-edge portions of other boards, and applying tooling aids between adjacent boards; (e) spotting the dry materials and preforms with a tackifier mixture to conform portions of the dry materials and preforms to a desired shape; (f) positioning the substrate and the support structure in an evacuated environment; (g) injecting heated bismaleimide (BMI) resin into the evacuated environment such that the resin infiltrates the substrate and the preforms; then (h) forming a composite tool by curing the infiltrated substrate and the preforms in an oven without the use of an autoclave; then (i) removing the composite tool from the evacuated environment and the mold, and removing the tooling aids from the composite tool; and then (j)applying composite materials of the production parts on the side of the composite tool that was previously in contact with the ceramic-filled face coating.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (6)
Elbert Lee McKague, Jr., Apparatus and method for joining dissimilar materials to form a structural support member.
McKague, Jr., Elbert Lee; Schmidt, Ronald Patrick; Uhl, David Thomas, Composite material support structures with sinusoidal webs and method of fabricating same.
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