Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Honeycomb-like
Patent
1995-02-21
1998-07-21
Bell, James J.
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Honeycomb-like
139 11, 139 511, 139DIG1, 428902, 442203, 442204, B32B 312
Patent
active
057832790
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to fibre preforms for impregnation with a matrix material to form structural composite components, to structural composite components so formed, and to methods and apparatus for the manufacture of such p reforms.
Composite material consisting of high strength fibres (such as glass or carbon) in a matrix material (such as polyester or epoxy resin) are widely used in demanding applications such as aircraft structures, racing car chassis and tennis rackets. One well known method of producing composite components involves the assembly of fibres in the form of yarns into a preform which more or less resembles the shape of the final component. During the preforming process the yarns are placed in substantially the same position that they will occupy in the finished component. The final positioning of the fibres is achieved when, in a subsequent process, the matrix material is finally fixed in its intended position.
The term yarn is used herein to described a substantially continuous tow or thread (as opposed to a tape or sheet) containing a plurality of continuous or discontinuous fibres. The thread, tow or fibres may be pre-coated with a lubricant, a size, a corrosion inhibitor or the matrix material.
A particular common requirement for composite components is the ability to provide good flexural strength and/or good flexural stiffness. Such components are commonly (but not universally) termed beams and generally contain at least one flange attached and working in unison with at least one web. It is well known in the art that the function of the flange differs from that of the web. Flanges are usually placed remote from the neutral axis of bending, where the tensile and compressive stresses are highest, and are designed to provide substantial strength and/or stiffness in the longitudinal direction. The webs are usually employed to connect together flanges or to stiffen singly flanged components and are designed to perform best when subjected to shear loading in the plane of the web and/or substantially vertical loading in the plane of the web. It is also well known in the art that efficient beams require a substantial proportion of the fibres in the flanges to be aligned substantially along the longitudinal direction. It is also well known in the art that it is desirable to align the fibres in the webs to suit the loads encountered there and that the preferred fibre alignment is not in general longitudinal and/or vertical.
Various preforming techniques are known in the art as follows:
A fabric comprising two woven skins joined by drop yarns extending between the skins is produced commercially by (for example) Parabeam in Holland. The drop yarns in such a construction are not, in general, correctly orientated for good shear performance and such materials are known in the art to provide a very low shear stiffness. Furthermore, these materials do not provide continuous webs as is required for a smooth sided component. It is a fundamental limitation of this type of technique that the webs cannot be continuous and of good shear performance because it is not possible to introduce a sufficient number of yarns of sufficient size to create a substantially continuous web unless the web yarns a re at or close to the vertical direction.
Alternative forms of the double skin fabric are the fluted core fabric produced under the trade name Raypan Development Industries, USA during the 1960's and the trussed box type panel disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,048,198. The fluted core fabric consists of two woven skins and a third intermediate layer which is attached alternately to one skin and then the other to form a fluted cellular structure. Both this and the trussed box type panel suffer from the limitation that they do not allow the construction of a simple beam with optimum fibre alignment in the web.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,798 describes a further preforming technique for structural beams. This technique involves fabrics which are woven with a split portion which can be opened out to form (for example) an I be
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Edgson Raymond
Temple Stephen
Bell James J.
Cambridge Consultants Limited
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