The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 11, 2022
Filed:
Oct. 18, 2018
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Richard E. Heath, III, Chicago, IL (US);
Richard A. Prause, Chicago, IL (US);
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
A mandrel for processing a part is described that includes a solid mandrel body with an elastomeric material, and hollow micro-particles embedded within the solid mandrel body in a uniform distribution. The hollow micro-particles deform in response to a change in a processing environment resulting in a distribution of voids in the solid mandrel body. A method for fabricating a composite part is also described that includes placing a base composite layer into a cavity of a tooling surface, inserting the mandrel into the cavity, applying a skin to the mandrel and the base composite layer forming a package, enclosing the package in a vacuum bag and curing the base composite layer and the skin such that during curing the hollow micro-particles deform resulting in the distribution of voids in the solid mandrel body, and removing the mandrel from the cavity of the tooling surface following the curing.