The Boeing Company

Michael H Larson

Kevin O'Brien Gaw

David W Foutch

Randy Jay Grove

David John Barene

Kory Shaffer

Jeston Lingelbach

Belur N Shivashankara

Dylan E Jones

Kevin O'brien Gaw

Aaron William Bartel

David Eric Gideon

Garry Anthony Booker

Aaron Ross Cowin

Stephen Richard Dark

Greg M Reyneke

Michael Nill

Emma L Morrissey

Kenndy San

Andrew D Wilkerson

Laura Fournier

Michael A Nill

Gary Anthony Booker

David E Gideon

Belur N Shivashankra

A method of manufacturing a wrinkle coupon includes providing a thermoplastic laminate having a laminate outer surface and opposing laminate side edges, and comprised of multiple plies. Each ply is comprised of reinforcing fibers pre-impregnated with thermoplastic resin. The method additionally includes placing a wrinkle-forming element across the laminate outer surface such that the wrinkle-forming element extends between the laminate side edges. In addition, the method includes applying heat to the thermoplastic laminate, and applying compaction pressure on the wrinkle-forming element against the laminate outer surface in a manner urging the wrinkle-forming element into the thermoplastic laminate, and causing the wrinkle-forming element to form a wrinkle as an out-of-plane deformation in one or more of the plies. The method also includes allowing the thermoplastic laminate to cool, and cutting a wrinkle coupon out of a region of the thermoplastic laminate containing the wrinkle.

Apparatus and method for manufacturing thermoplastic wrinkle coupons

A blocker door assembly for use in a gas turbine includes a panel, a core integrally formed with the panel, and a plurality of mounting structures extending from at least one of the panel and the core. The plurality of mounting structures are integrally formed with the core and the panel such that the panel, the core, and the mounting structures are co-molded from a thermoplastic material.

Blocker door assembly having a thermoplastic blocker door for use in a turbine engine

A blocker door assembly for use in a gas turbine engine includes a facesheet including a plurality of openings to facilitate noise attenuation and a body portion coupled to the facesheet. The body portion includes a backsheet integrally formed with a honeycomb core, wherein the body portion is molded from a thermoplastic material.

The surface of a tooling insert is coated with a polymer layer having a low surface energy in order to cover surface irregularities and thereby provide a smooth surface against which a composite part may be compression molded.

Coating soluble tooling inserts

A compression molding assembly for molding a honeycomb core, including a plurality of cells defined by a plurality of walls, of a blocker door is provided. The compression molding assembly includes a ram plate comprising a plurality of openings defined therethrough and a plurality of core inserts coupled to the ram plate such that the plurality of core inserts are configured to form the honeycomb core of the blocker door. Each core insert is removably coupled with a respective opening of the plurality of openings such that each core insert is configured to form a respective cell of the plurality of cells.

Compression molding assembly and methods for molding a thermoplastic blocker door

A method of fabricating a reinforced thermoplastic composite part comprises moving a laminate of reinforcing fibers embedded in a thermoplastic matrix for sequential operations through a heating station and then a forming station. The heating station is used to soften the thermoplastic matrix in a portion of the laminate while the forming station is used to impart a geometry to a portion of the laminate whose thermoplastic matrix had just been softened. The softening and the forming are performed simultaneously on different portions of the laminate.

Fabrication of reinforced thermoplastic composite parts

Growing community of inventors

Mercer Island, WA, United States of America

Michael H Larson