The Boeing Company

Jonathan A Santiago

Gary E Georgeson

Xiaoxi Wang

John Dempsey Morris

Charles William Thomas

Kurtis Shuldberg Willden

Michael A Lee

Lisa Christina Carlson

Gagandeep Saini

Shuonan Dong

Derek J Flolid

Marco Tullio B Ciccu

Darrell Darwin Jones

Brian J Smith

Joseph Warren

Samuel Ray Stewart

Khanh Mai Pham

Benjamin Jeffrey Stephenson

Jonathan Y Ahn

William Stahl Hollensteiner

Long H Ly

William Henry Ingram, Jr

Megan Elizabeth Bliss

Chace Wilcoxson

Amy E Bahe

Daniel James McMillan

Josiah Brubaker

Bonnie Ann Keefe

Michael Karas

Ricardo Andreas Fritzke

Mary LeAnn Parker

Christopher Robert Brown

Keegan D Bray

Asher S Einhorn

Samuel B Williams

Wesley E Perrault

Zena L Moran

Kin Ung

Methods of recovering and/or recycling expanded polymer tooling, the methods including collecting expanded polymer tooling, reducing the collected expanded polymer tooling into smaller particles, treating the reduced expanded polymer tooling in order to yield an at least partially purified recovered polymer composition, and then collecting the at least partially purified recovered polymer composition. The at least partially purified recovered polymer composition can then be used to form new expandable polymer tooling.

Methods for recovering expanded polymer tooling

Bladder vent plugs comprise a body, a manifold block, and a diaphragm extending fully around a peripheral channel of the manifold block. The diaphragm is configured to expand toward an interior-volume peripheral face of the body when the peripheral channel is pressurized via a pressure bore extending through the manifold block and a pressure passage extending through the body. Bladder vent plugs are configured to receive an open-ended composite-manufacturing bladder between the interior-volume peripheral face and the peripheral channel of the manifold block. Composite manufacturing methods comprise pressurizing a diaphragm to seal an open-ended composite-manufacturing bladder against a bladder vent plug.

Bladder vent plugs for composite manufacturing and related methods and systems

Methods of manufacturing composite workpieces that include adding an expandable element to an internal volume of a constraining container proximate to a uncured composite workpiece supported on a rigid form, where the expandable element is configured to expand when a predetermined change is produced in an attribute of the expandable element; expanding the expandable element by producing the predetermined change in the attribute of the expandable element, so that an expansion of the expandable element applies pressure to the workpiece supported on the rigid form within the internal volume, and curing the composite workpiece while the resulting pressure is applied to the workpiece supported on the rigid form.

Expandable tooling systems and methods

Methods of manufacturing composite workpieces that include positioning a heat-generating element proximate to an uncured composite workpiece, triggering the heat-generating element to produce an exothermic chemical reaction or exothermic physical reaction so that the temperature of the uncured composite workpiece is raised to a predetermined first temperature, and curing the composite workpiece while it is at a temperature that is at least the predetermined first temperature.

Heat-generating tooling systems

A method of curing a composite part, including placing an uncured composite part on a mandrel, placing a plurality of expandable pellets on the uncured composite part, expanding the plurality of expandable pellets, applying a positive pressure to the uncured composite part, and curing the uncured composite part.

Expandable media with flexible skin as tooling for composite parts

A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for fabricating a composite part. Composite materials are laid up on a mandrel. A caul is placed over the composite materials laid up on the mandrel. An inner mold line of the caul is sized to an outer surface of the composite materials in a cured state. The composite materials laid up on the mandrel with the caul over the composite materials is cured to form the composite part. The composite materials expand to the inner mold line of the caul during curing of the composite materials to form the composite part.

Stringer manufacturing system using a caul

A breather used for vacuum bag compaction of a composite laminate part is semi-permanently installed on a compaction tool. The breather is a channel member having an internal passageway that routes air and volatiles from the vacuum bag to a vacuum port in the tool.

Semi-permanent vacuum bag breather and installation method

Composite fabrication system and associated methods. In one embodiment, a composite fabrication system comprises a molding tool that includes a forming surface at least partially disposed within a constrained space, and a foamable material that expands inside of the constrained space to form an expanded material that presses a layup of one or more composite layers against the molding tool. The composite fabrication system further comprises a curing device configured to cure the layup to form a composite part, and a cutting wire embedded in the constrained space that is heated and configured to cut the expanded material into pieces that are removable from the constrained space.

Cutting wire for removal of expanded material after curing of a composite part

The magnetic handling systems comprise a bladder and a magnetic carriage system. The bladder is configured to be received within a stringer interior volume of a hat stringer and comprises a magnetic insert having a plurality of magnetic walls, each configured to align with a respective wall portion of the hat stringer. The magnetic carriage system comprises a carriage having a magnetic head that comprises a bracket and a plurality of magnetic sources supported by the bracket. Each magnetic source is configured to magnetically couple with a respective magnetic wall of the magnetic insert to produce an attractive magnetic force therebetween. The methods comprise disposing a bladder having a plurality of the magnetic inserts within the hat stringer, magnetically engaging a plurality of the magnetic heads with the plurality of magnetic inserts, and conforming the hat stringer by moving at least one magnetic head relative to another magnetic head.

Magnetic handling systems for hat stringers and related methods

A forming apparatus includes a frame. The frame defines a vertical axis, a horizontal axis, and a longitudinal axis. A carriage is movably connected to the frame. A stomp foot is movably connected to the carriage such that it may move along the vertical axis. A first end effector is movably connected to the carriage and a second end effector movably connected to the carriage. The first end effector and second end effector are laterally opposed to each other along the longitudinal axis and the stomp foot is located between the first end effector and the second end effector.

Forming apparatus, method, and system

A system for curing a composite part, includes a mandrel configured to receive and support the uncured composite part; a plurality of expandable pellets disposed on the uncured composite part; and a mold configured to hold the mandrel, the uncured composite part, and the plurality of expandable pellets, wherein the plurality of expandable pellets are configured to expand and apply a positive pressure to the uncured composite part according to a change in condition or triggering event, and wherein each of the plurality of expandable pellets includes a blowing agent, a polymer matrix configured to hold the blowing agent, and a flexible skin configured to encapsulate the polymer matrix and the blowing agent, wherein the flexible skin is at least partially permeable with respect to the blowing agent or a gas released by the blowing agent.

A composite structure including a multi-layer laminate having a plurality of regions each oriented out of plane relative to an adjacent region, and each extending in a longitudinal dimension of the multi-layer laminate, wherein the multi-layer laminate includes at least one ply layer having an oblique fiber orientation relative to the longitudinal dimension, and wherein the at least one ply layer includes a first section and a second section each having a side edge, the first and second sections aligned side-by-side such that a first interface defined between the respective side edges is oriented to extend in the longitudinal dimension.

Composite structure and method of forming

A composite laminate stiffener is formed to contour with reduced ply wrinkling using constrained creep forming. The tooling apparatus is provided with flexible cauls which constrain the stiffener during the contour forming process. The creep forming is carried out at a slow enough rate so that friction or shear resistance between the resin and fibers of the plies remains low enough that slippage can occur and significant compression stresses are not generated rate, allowing relaxation of residual stresses in the stiffener.

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Jonathan A Santiago