Method of manufacturing a spiral laminated structural cone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10076899-B2
Application number	US-201514949224-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 23, 2015
Priority date	Feb 19, 2013
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a cone-shaped composite article may include providing unidirectional plies in a continuous arcuate shape in a flat pattern configured to wrap 360 degrees around a cone-shaped mandrel such that opposing ply ends of each unidirectional ply terminate at a ply seam. The method may further include laying up at least one inner sublaminate on the cone-shaped mandrel, the inner sublaminate containing at least four of the unidirectional plies having an inner stacking sequence with fiber angles of −45, 90, 0, +45 degrees such that the inner sublaminate has a quasi-isotropic layup at any location of the inner sublaminate. The method may additionally include laying up at least one outer sublaminate in an outer stacking sequence being a mirror image of the at least one inner stacking sequence.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a cone-shaped composite article, comprising the steps of:
providing unidirectional plies in a continuous arcuate shape in a flat pattern configured to wrap 360 degrees around a cone-shaped mandrel such that opposing ply ends of each unidirectional ply terminate at a ply seam;
laying up at least one inner sublaminate on the cone-shaped mandrel, the inner sublaminate containing at least four of the unidirectional plies having an inner stacking sequence with fiber angles of −45, 90, 0, +45 degrees such that the inner sublaminate has a quasi-isotropic layup at any location of the inner sublaminate;
laying up at least one outer sublaminate in an outer stacking sequence being a mirror image of the at least one inner stacking sequence; and
the ply seam of at least two of the plies being clocked at different locations around a circumference of the cone-shaped composite article.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the steps of laying up the inner sublaminate and the outer sublaminate each include:
providing a first pair of unidirectional plies each having a first fiber angle;
clocking the ply seams of the first pair of unidirectional plies 180 degrees relative to one another around a circumference of the cone-shaped composite article;
providing a second pair of unidirectional plies each having a second fiber angle oriented 90 degrees relative to the first fiber angle; and
clocking the ply seams of the second unidirectional plies 180 degrees relative to one another and in alignment with the ply seams of the first pair of unidirectional plies.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
laying up the unidirectional plies such that the ply seam of at least one of the unidirectional plies forms a ply butt joint.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
a gap between opposing ply ends of the ply butt joint in at least one of the unidirectional plies is less than approximately 0.10 inch.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
laying up each one of the unidirectional plies by aligning a ply end of the arcuate shape with a seam location index mark on the cone-shaped mandrel.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
vertically aligning at least one of an inner radius and an outer radius of the arcuate shape with respective ones of an upper edge index mark and a lower edge index mark on the cone-shaped mandrel.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
laying up a plurality of balanced layups; and
each one of the balanced layups comprising an inner sublaminate paired with an outer sublaminate being a mirror image of the inner sublaminate.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
forming at least one of the unidirectional plies from a plurality of courses of unidirectional tape arranged in side-by-side relation to one another.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
laying up a plurality of axial ply wedges in side-by-side relation and extending 360 degrees around the cone-shaped mandrel to form a global axial ply having fiber angles being generally aligned with a longitudinal axis of the cone-shaped composite article.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of laying up the plurality of axial ply wedges includes:
laying up the plurality of axial ply wedges to form a plurality of wedge butt joints; and
staggering the wedge butt joints in each one of the global axial plies relative to the wedge butt joints in one or more remaining ones of the global axial plies.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the axial ply wedges each having a wedge height being substantially equivalent to a ply width.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
vertically aligning at least one of an inner radius and an outer radius of the axial ply wedges with respective ones of an upper edge index mark and a lower edge index mark on the cone-shaped mandrel.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the axial ply wedges are formed of unidirectional material.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the unidirectional plies are comprised of pre-impregnated composite plies.

15. A method of manufacturing a cone-shaped composite article, comprising the steps of:
providing unidirectional plies in a continuous arcuate shape in a flat pattern configured to wrap 360 degrees around a cone-shaped mandrel such that opposing ply ends of each unidirectional ply terminate at a ply seam forming a ply butt joint;
laying up at least one inner sublaminate on the cone-shaped mandrel, the inner sublaminate containing at least four of the unidirectional plies having an inner stacking sequence with fiber angles of −45, 90, 0, +45 degrees such that the inner sublaminate defines a quasi-isotropic layup pattern at any location of the inner sublaminate, an orientation of the quasi-isotropic layup pattern continuously changing in a spiraling manner along a circumferential direction of the cone-shaped composite article; and
laying up at least one outer sublaminate in an outer stacking sequence being a mirror image of the at least one inner stacking sequence wherein a quantity and fiber angles of the unidirectional plies on one side of a through-thickness mid-plane of the composite article are equal to and in reverse order to a quantity and fiber angles of the unidirectional plies on an opposite side of the through-thickness mid-plane; and
the ply seam of at least two adjacent unidirectional plies of at least one of the inner sublaminate and outer sublaminate being clocked at different locations around a circumference of the cone-shaped composite article.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the steps of laying up the inner sublaminate and the outer sublaminate each include:
providing a first pair of unidirectional plies each having a first fiber angle;
clocking the ply seams of the first pair of unidirectional plies 180 degrees relative to one another around a circumference of the cone-shaped composite article;
providing a second pair of unidirectional plies each having a second fiber angle oriented 90 degrees relative to the first fiber angle; and
clocking the ply seams of the second unidirectional plies 180 degrees relative to one another and in alignment with the ply seams of the first pair of unidirectional plies.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
laying up the unidirectional plies such that the ply seam of at least one of the unidirectional plies forms a ply butt joint.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
laying up a plurality of axial ply wedges in side-by-side relation and extending 360 degrees around the cone-shaped mandrel to form a global axial ply having fiber angles being generally aligned with a longitudinal axis of the cone-shaped composite article.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the unidirectional plies are comprised of pre-impregnated composite plies.

20. A method of manufacturing a cone-shaped composite article, comprising the steps of:
providing pre-impregnated unidirectional plies in a continuous arcuate shape in a flat pattern configured to wrap 360 degrees around a cone-shaped mandrel such that opposing ply ends of each unidirectional ply terminate at a ply seam;
laying up an inner sublaminate on the cone-shaped mandrel, the inner sublaminate containing four of the unidirectional plies having an inner stacking sequence with fiber angles of −45, 90, 0, +45 degrees such that the inner sublaminate has a quasi-isotropic layup at any location of the inner sublaminate;
laying up an outer sublaminate over t

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Aston Richard W
• Cope Brett T
• Streett Andrew R

Classifications

• B32B2250/20

  All layers being fibrous or filamentary · CPC title

• B32B37/06

  characterised by the heating method · CPC title

• Y10T428/192

  Sheets or webs coplanar · CPC title

• B32B2605/00

  Vehicles · CPC title

• B29K2105/256

  Sheets, plates, blanks or films · CPC title