Methods for making prepreg composite sheets including contoured charges

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10384405-B2
Application number	US-201715708688-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2017
Priority date	Feb 24, 2015
Publication date	Aug 20, 2019
Grant date	Aug 20, 2019

Abstract

A method of making a prepreg composite sheet comprising contoured charges includes receiving, at a computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) device, a mapping, corresponding to shapes of layers of a laminated precursor article to be formed from the contoured charges. The method also includes forming, by the CNC device using the mapping, precursor outline regions in a resin film layer, wherein the precursor outline regions have the shapes of the layers of the laminated precursor article, and wherein the resin film layer has a viscosity. The method further includes impregnating a fiber reinforcement having fibers with the resin film layer to form non-impregnated outline regions that define the contoured charges in the prepreg composite sheet, wherein the non-impregnated outline regions correspond to the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making a prepreg composite sheet comprising contoured charges, the method comprising:
receiving, at a computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) device, a mapping, corresponding to shapes of layers of a laminated precursor article to be formed from the contoured charges,
forming, by the CNC device using the mapping, precursor outline regions in a resin film layer, wherein the precursor outline regions have the shapes of the layers of the laminated precursor article, and wherein the resin film layer has a viscosity; and
impregnating a fiber reinforcement having fibers with the resin film layer to form non-impregnated outline regions that define the contoured charges in the prepreg composite sheet, wherein the non-impregnated outline regions correspond to the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein forming the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer comprises forming voids in the resin film layer, each of the voids having a width.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein forming the voids in the resin film layer comprises forming at least one of the voids as a closed shape.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein forming the voids in the resin film layer comprises locally decomposing the resin film layer.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein locally decomposing the resin film layer to form the voids comprises locally burning away the resin film layer.

6. The method according to claim 2 , wherein forming the voids in the resin film layer comprises cutting away portions of the resin film layer.

7. The method according to claim 2 , wherein each of the contoured charges is separable from the prepreg composite sheet by applying a shear force to the prepreg composite sheet, wherein the shear force is perpendicular to the prepreg composite sheet and has a magnitude sufficient to shear the fibers within at least one of the non-impregnated outline regions.

8. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the contoured charges are separable from the prepreg composite sheet by cutting the fibers within the non-impregnated outline regions corresponding to the contoured charges.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the layers of the laminated precursor article have predetermined ideal orientation directions of the fibers within the laminated precursor article, the method further comprising:
orienting the fibers of the fiber reinforcement along a longitudinal direction of the prepreg composite sheet; and
orienting the contoured charges at angles relative to the longitudinal direction of the prepreg composite sheet, wherein each of the angles corresponds to one of the predetermined ideal orientation directions of the fibers within the laminated precursor article.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein orienting the contoured charges at the angles relative to the longitudinal direction of the prepreg composite sheet comprises selecting at least two of the angles to have different measures relative to the longitudinal direction of the prepreg composite sheet.

11. A method of making a prepreg composite sheet comprising contoured charges, the method comprising:
forming precursor outline regions in a resin film layer, wherein the resin film layer has a viscosity, and wherein forming the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer comprises forming hardened portions in the resin film layer by locally curing the resin film layer; and
impregnating a fiber reinforcement having fibers with the resin film layer to form non-impregnated outline regions that define the contoured charges in the prepreg composite sheet, wherein the non-impregnated outline regions correspond to the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein locally curing the resin film layer comprises locally irradiating the resin film layer with electromagnetic energy.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein impregnating the fiber reinforcement with the resin film layer further comprises locally altering the fiber reinforcement with the hardened portions.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein locally altering the fiber reinforcement with the hardened portions comprises at least one of completely or partially uncoupling the fiber reinforcement within each of the contoured charges from the fiber reinforcement outside the contoured charges.

15. The method according to claim 13 , wherein locally altering the fiber reinforcement with the hardened portions comprises at least one of completely or partially severing the fibers of the fiber reinforcement with the hardened portions.

16. The method according to claim 11 , wherein each of the contoured charges is separable from the prepreg composite sheet by applying a shear force to the prepreg composite sheet, wherein the shear force is perpendicular to the prepreg composite sheet and has a magnitude sufficient to overcome a friction force between at least one of the following:
(i) at least one of the contoured charges and at least one of the non-impregnated outline regions corresponding to the at least one of the contoured charges, or
(ii) the prepreg composite sheet and at least one of the non-impregnated outline regions corresponding to the at least one of the contoured charges.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein each of the contoured charges is separable from the prepreg composite sheet by applying the shear force having a magnitude of less than about twenty pounds per foot of a perimeter length of the at least one of the contoured charges.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein each of the contoured charges is separable from the prepreg composite sheet by applying the shear force having a magnitude of less than about ten pounds per foot of a perimeter length of the at least one of the contoured charges.

19. The method according to claim 11 , wherein forming the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer further comprises forming the precursor outline regions to correspond in shape to layers of a laminated precursor article to be formed from the contoured charges.

20. A method of making a prepreg composite sheet comprising contoured charges, the method comprising:
forming precursor outline regions in a resin film layer, wherein the resin film layer has a viscosity, wherein forming the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer further comprises forming the precursor outline regions to correspond in shape to layers of a laminated precursor article to be formed from the contoured charges;
impregnating a fiber reinforcement having fibers with the resin film layer to form non-impregnated outline regions that define the contoured charges in the prepreg composite sheet, wherein the non-impregnated outline regions correspond to the precursor outline regions in the resin film layer; and
forming tags on the contoured charges, wherein each of the tags corresponds to one of the layers of the laminated precursor article to be formed of one of the contoured charges.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Humfeld Keith Daniel

Classifications

• B29L2031/3076

  Aircrafts (blades, propellers B29L2031/08) · CPC title

• C08J2300/22

  Thermoplastic resins · CPC title

• B29C70/40

  Shaping or impregnating by compression (B29C70/34 takes precedence){not applied} · CPC title

• B29C2793/0081

  before shaping · CPC title

• B29C2793/0009

  Cutting out · CPC title