Gkn Aerospace Services Limited

Marcus Jason Gawn

Giovanni Antonio Marengo

Gary Wiles

Jonathan Paul Moram

Paul M Anderson

Ben Ralfs

David James Maclean

Method forming a composite structure () comprising a main body and a flange. The composite structure is manufactured by laying-up a preform () on a mold (). The preform () does not have the first and second bends and comprises a first part which corresponds to the main body of the composite structure and a second part which corresponds to the flange of the composite structure. The second part of the (preform () has a proximal portion which corresponds to the wall portion of the flange and a distal portion which corresponds to the lip portion of the flange. The preform () comprises a plurality of plies and uni-directional ply material extends from the first part of the preform () to the distal portion of the second part of the preform (). The flange is formed by advancing movable portion(s) () of the moldto form the proximal portion of the second part of the preform () to create the first bend () and by forming the distal portion of the second part of the preform () around the advancing movable portion(s) () of the mold () to create the second bend (). The presence of the two bends () ensures that the ply material () is kept in tension during the forming operation.

Method of forming a composite structure comprising a flange

A method of forming a composite component in which the component comprises a series of sub-layers and in which the sub-layers are offset with respect to one or all of the other sub-layers forming the composite component.

Laminate structure

Growing community of inventors

East Cowes, United Kingdom

Marcus Jason Gawn