General Electric Company

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

Robert G Carlson

Robert W Harrison

Carl A Steinhagen

The top portion of a composite (boron filament/aluminum matrix) blade which is useable in a fluid flow machine is made more resistant to impact energy by forming a cavity in the boron filament layer of the tip portion of each laminate (or ply) of the blade, then filling each cavity with a resin, and then bonding together the laminates with the resin-filled cavities therein.

Impact composite blade

A blade fabricated of a plurality of bonded filament laminates, at least one of the laminates characterized by a plurality of continuous, collimated filaments embedded in a different matrix at the blade tip than at the blade root. The matrices are characterized by different relative impact strengths.

Impact resistant blade

A method of making a composite article having at least a minimum selected impact strength by first obtaining the impact energy absorption/shear strength relationship for the collimated filaments and matrix material comprising the article. Impact strength is improved by the selection of the relative bond strengths between constituents and the orientation of selected matrix materials relative to the impact surface of the article.

Impact resistant composite article comprising laminated layers of

The composite filament laminates of a composite blade are splayed at the root thereof to receive metallic inserts therebetween. A transition material having a modulus of elasticity greater than that of the inserts and less than that of the laminates is bonded therebetween to more uniformly distribute the blade loadings into the root region.

Transition reinforcement of composite blade dovetails

A composite metallic preform tape for use as laminae in the manufacture of metallic composite articles is made from a pair of metallic foils and high strength, high modulus filaments aligned between the foils. One form of the method involves first coating either the foil inner surfaces or the filament outer surfaces, or both, with a thin, non-metallic adhesive bonding material which will decompose leaving substantially no residue upon heating at a temperature below that at which the foil and filaments will melt, and preferably below that at which they will bond together. The foil and the aligned filaments are themselves aligned and, in a continuous form of the method, are moved at substantially the same rate and in the same direction so that the coated surface is between the foil and filaments. At the same time, the foil and filaments are pressed toward one another with a force sufficient to adhesively bond together the foil and filaments and to plastically deform the foil around at least a portion of substantially each filament. In a preferred form, at least one plastically deformable, strippable outer film is applied for protection and, if desired, for a quality control record. Deformation of the foils around at least a portion of substantially each filament results in an article having a sandwich construction including centrally aligned filaments maintained in spaced apart relationship.

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Greenhills, OH, United States of America

Robert G Carlson