A composite manufacture assembly comprising mould tools (50, Fig 7) with an inner curved profile, and an associated method of manufacturing a composite laminate panel (120) 20 is disclosed. A stack of fibre-reinforced composite plies / layers 25a-d have therebetween a plurality of ply drops (30, Fig 3) at positions P1-P4 along the continuous span S of panel 20 which correspond to the position of each ply termination at span positions S1-S4, making the thickness of the panel vary along its span S in a tapered profile. The positions P1-P4 of each set of ply drops having varying thicknesses and a decrease in height between the ends of span S is no greater than 0.5%, and the curved rational function of the profile may be hyperbolic, parabolic, elliptical or polynominal. Reduction of thickness has obvious benefits relating to reduced weight for an associated aircraft (Fig 1) and the determination of ply drop positions P1-P4 allows a profile or panel preform where layers are particularly tight so limiting defects such as low volume fraction between layers.
Manufacture of tapered composite panels
2025-01-08
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B29C Formen oder Verbinden von Kunststoffen , SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS / B32B LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT OR NON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM , Schichtkörper, d.h. aus Ebenen oder gewölbten Schichten, z.B. mit zell- oder wabenförmiger Form, aufgebaute Erzeugnisse / B64C AEROPLANES , Flugzeuge |
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