Techniques for forming composite sandwich structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12233471-B2
Application number	US-202117537803-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2021
Priority date	Dec 17, 2020
Publication date	Feb 25, 2025
Grant date	Feb 25, 2025

Abstract

In some examples, a technique including positioning supports such that the supports are between a first metallic substrate and a second metallic substrate, wherein an undulating member is located between the first metallic substrate and the second metallic substrate, the undulating member defining a plurality of first peaks adjacent to a first surface of the first metallic substrate and a plurality of second peaks adjacent to a second surface of the second metallic substrate, wherein a first support of the supports is positioned such that the first support extends between a first peak of the plurality of first peaks and the second surface of the second metallic substrate; welding the first peak to the first surface of the first metallic substrate in an area of the first support; and removing the first support by at least one of a thermal removal process or a chemical removal process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
positioning a plurality of supports such that the plurality of supports are between a first metallic substrate and a second metallic substrate, wherein an undulating member is located between the first metallic substrate and the second metallic substrate, the undulating member defining a plurality of first peaks adjacent to a first surface of the first metallic substrate and a plurality of second peaks adjacent to a second surface of the second metallic substrate, wherein a first support of the plurality of supports is positioned such that the first support extends between a first peak of the plurality of first peaks and the second surface of the second metallic substrate;
welding the first peak to the first surface of the first metallic substrate in an area of the first support; and
removing the first support by at least one of a thermal removal process or a chemical removal process.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermal removal process comprises heating the first support to melt the first support, wherein the first support melts at a temperature below that of a melting point of the first substrate, the second substrate, and the undulating member.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chemical removal process includes at least one of electroplating or dissolution of the first support.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein welding the first peak to the first surface of the first substrate in the area of the first support includes resistance welding the first peak to the first surface of the first substrate by passing a current through the first support.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein welding the first peak to the first surface of the first substrate in the area of the first support includes laser welding or electron beam welding.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the undulating member includes a first undulating member defining the plurality of first peaks adjacent to the first surface of the first substrate, and a second undulating member defining the plurality of second peaks adjacent to the second surface of the second substrate.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein positioning the first support member comprises positioning the first support member such that the first support extends between the first peak of the plurality of first peaks and a second peak of the plurality of second peaks.

8. The method of claim 7 , welding the first peak to the first surface of the first substrate in an area of the first support includes welding the second peak to the second surface of the second substrate in another area of the first support.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising welding a second peak of the plurality of second peaks to the second surface of the second substrate prior to positioning the plurality of support members between the first substrate and the second substrate.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the undulating member is located between the first substrate and the second substrate, an internal volume is formed having an opening between the first substrate and second substrate, the support member being positioned within the internal volume during welding, and wherein a smallest dimension of the support member during welding is greater than a size of the opening.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein removing the first support by at least one of the thermal removal process or the chemical removal process comprises removing the first support through the opening by at least one of the thermal removal process or the chemical removal process.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein positioning the plurality of supports between the first substrate and the second substrate comprises positioning a second support of the plurality of supports such that the second support extends between a second peak of the plurality of second peaks and the first surface of the first substrate, the method further comprising:
welding the second peak to the second surface of the second substrate in an area of the second support; and
removing the second support by at least one of the thermal removal process or the chemical removal process.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the undulating member defines an egg crate type undulating member having a plurality of discrete cells, with each respective cell corresponding to a respective peak of the plurality of peaks of the undulating member.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the undulating member comprises a corrugated type undulating member having a plurality of linearly extending channels, with each respective channel corresponding to a respective peak of the plurality of peaks of the undulating member.

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Corp

Inventors

• Shuck Quinlan Yee
• Fuesting Timothy Paul
• Nelson Scott
• Xu Raymond Ruiwen

Classifications

• B23K15/0006

  specially adapted for particular articles or work · CPC title

• B23K11/115

  by means of two electrodes placed opposite one another on both sides of the welded parts · CPC title

• B23K15/008

  Spot welding · CPC title

• B23K2101/02

  Honeycomb structures · CPC title

• B23K26/22

  Spot welding · CPC title