Ltv Aerospace & Defense Company

United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Triumph Aerostructures, Llc.

Qarbon Aerospace (foundation), LLC

Earl L Stone, Iii

Mark A Calder

William David Dennison

John F Ellis

Martin A Wimmer

Robert E Yeager

James C Foster

Isaac E Harder

Stanley L Whitcher

A composite wingbox structure formed of reinforced thermoplastic. The composite includes carbon fiber reinforcement and a plurality of insulation elements to localize the heat formed during the process of manufacturing the structure. The process of manufacturing the wingbox includes the steps of interleaving a series of insulations elements within a plurality of laminae and consolidating the insulation elements and laminae to form a laminate. The laminate is then aligned with a support structure such that the insulation elements overlie the supports structure. The laminate is then fused to the support structure using a non-contact heating process, such as inductive welding.

Thermoplastic aerostructure with localized ply isolation and method for forming aerostructure

A composite, carbon-carbon rotor or rotor hub (20) for use in power translating devices, such as in a turbine engine or in fluid pumps, includes a plurality of carbon-carbon laminate plies (P1-P25) layered to form the thickness of the rotor. The plies include alternating plies of cloth and spiral plies of fibrous material having different diameters to provide a desired variation in the cross-sectional configuration of the rotor. The individual spiral plies may vary in thickness from near the center to the outer edge and may be either tapered or formed to other contours. The cloth plies are positioned at predetermined orientations such that the strand axes are not aligned. These plies consist of fibrous carbon or graphite filament tape preimpregnated with a thermosetting polymer material, such as phenolic resin. The spiral plies are individual discs of resin impregnated fibrous carbon or graphite tow formed by winding the tow on a rotating shaft (54) having forming plates (56, 64) on both sides thereof to define the contour of the discs. The cross-sectional contour of the spiral plies is controlled by the forming face of the plates and by applying an appropriate tension to the tow during winding to completely fill the area between the forming faces during the winding process. The composite rotor or rotor hub is cured, pyrolyzed and densified using predetermined time/temperature/pressure cycles to form a high strength carbonized structure having orthotropic properties.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing high speed rotors

A co-pyrolysis process is disclosed for forming carbonized composite bodies in which co-pyrolysis of organic fibrous and matrix components is effected during initial pyrolysis. Improved interfacial bonding of composite bodies is achieved by combining fibrous precursors, or reinforcements with a controlled pre-shrink state, with an appropriate matrix to insure shrinkage matching during processing. Processing involves the heat treatment of an organic fibrous component, impregnation of the heat treated fibrous component with a resinous binder, forming a layup of the resin impregnated fibrous component, subjecting the layup to molding and curing cycles to form a laminate, pyrolysis of the laminate, and post-pyrolysis heat treatment of the pyrolized laminate.

Co-pyrolysis process for forming carbonized composite bodies

Novel carbon-carbon laminate composite materials capable of significantly increased strengths in at least one predetermined direction of load are disclosed. The composites can comprise plies of resin impregnated woven carbon or graphite cloth material in combination with resin impregnated carbon or graphite filament unidirectional tape or can be fabricated from the unidirectional tape alone. Generally the unidirectional reinforcement of the tape plies provides higher strengths and moduli in specific directions which can be controlled during lay up of parts. The processes for obtaining the beneficial increase strength of unidirectional tape ply materials while avoiding fabrication problems resulting therefrom are also disclosed.

Hybrid and unidirectional carbon-carbon fiber reinforced laminate

Growing community of inventors

Arlington, TX, United States of America

Earl L Stone, Iii