The Boeing Company

Theboeing Company

Ryan Shaw Tidwell

Douglas Alan McCarville

Juan C Guzman

Jordan Oliver Birkland

Robert L Anderson

Douglas A Mccarville

Radius fillers for composite structures and composite structures that include radius fillers are disclosed herein. The radius fillers include a plurality of lengths of composite tape. Each of the plurality of lengths of composite tape includes a respective plurality of lengths of reinforcing fibers and a resin material. The plurality of lengths of reinforcing fibers in each of the plurality of lengths of composite tape defines a fiber axis direction. Each of the plurality of lengths of composite tape defines a respective fiber axis direction that is based, at least in part, on material properties of a transition region defined by a plurality of plies of composite material that defines an elongate void space within which the radius filler is configured to extend. The composite structures include the radius fillers.

Radius fillers for composite structures, composite structures that include radius fillers, and systems and methods of forming the same

Radius fillers for composite structures, composite structures that include radius fillers, and systems and methods of forming the same are disclosed herein. The methods include determining a transverse cross-sectional shape of an elongate void space, which extends within a transition region that is defined by a plurality of plies of composite material, and determining a material property field of the transition region. The methods further include forming the radius filler by combining a plurality of lengths of composite tape to define a radius filler cross-sectional shape, which corresponds to the transverse cross-sectional shape of the elongate void space, and orienting a plurality of lengths of reinforcing fiber in each of the plurality of lengths of composite tape based, at least in part, on the material property field of the transition region. The radius fillers include radius fillers with selectively oriented reinforcing fibers. The composite structures include the radius fillers.

A radius filler for a composite assembly may include a pair of vertical ply stacks positioned in back-to-back relation. Each one of the vertical ply stacks may be formed of one or more thick plies of composite material formed in an L-shaped cross-section having a vertical leg and a lateral leg interconnected by a stack radius and defining a crescent region. At least one of the crescent regions may include one or more thin plies of composite material positioned adjacent to a stack radius inner surface. Each one of the thin plies may have a ply thickness that is less than the ply thickness of the thick plies.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Ryan Shaw Tidwell