Textron Innovations Inc.

Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.

Sylvain Tessier

Richard Gingras

Jacques Dionne

Pascal Forget

Bryan Linington

Felix Bednar

There is disclosed a molding assembly including a mold having a first surface and an opposed second surface. The mold defines a cavity bounded by two side walls converging toward each other from the first surface toward the second surface. Two mandrels are each removably receivable in the cavity and have a first wall, a second wall opposed to the first wall, an inner wall, and an outer wall opposed to the inner wall. The inner walls face each other and define a gap therebetween for receiving a composite material to be cured. The outer walls are angled and each slidably engage a respective one of the two side walls. A method of co-curing a stiffener and a panel is also disclosed.

Molding assembly and method of co-curing stiffener with panel

A method of forming a composite member, includes: applying pressure and heat with a compaction tool to a portion of an uncured composite member to decrease a thickness of the portion, the heat applied with the compaction tool being at a temperature less than a curing temperature of the uncured composite member; and curing the uncured composite member after applying pressure and heat.

Tool for forming a composite member

A method of manufacturing a door skin and a fuselage wall having a doorway and a member extending into the doorway for abutting the door includes placing a first sheet of uncured composite material on a mold plate to define the door and fuselage skin, disposing an insert over the first sheet overlapping a desired periphery of the door, placing a second sheet of uncured composite material on a peripheral portion of the insert and over the first sheet adjacent the peripheral portion of the insert to form the member, curing the sheets and bonding the sheets together adjacent the insert during the cure, removing the insert from between the sheets after cure, and separating the door skin from the wall skin after cure by moving a cutting tool through the first sheet and without penetrating the second sheet around the desired periphery of the door. An assembly for manufacturing the door skin and a fuselage wall is also discussed.

Method and assembly for manufacturing door skin and wall with doorway

A method of manufacturing a self-supporting, monolithic fuselage body, including engaging peripheral mandrel sections around at least one central mandrel section, placing uncured composite material on the mold surface, curing the composite material on the mold surface, and sliding the central mandrel section(s) out of engagement with the peripheral mandrel sections and disengaging the peripheral mandrel sections from the cured composite material without collapsing the mandrel sections. The peripheral mandrel sections each include a shape-retaining core of a thermally insulating material and an outer layer on an outer surface of the shape-retaining core. The outer layer has a coefficient of thermal expansion within the range of variation of that of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the composite material. A mandrel for layup and cure of a predetermined composite material in the manufacture of a monolithic fuselage is also discussed.

Growing community of inventors

Fasset, Canada

Sylvain Tessier