914 results about "Composite laminates" patented technology

A method forming a composite laminate structure includes providing first and second circuit board element each having circuitry on at least one face thereof and plated through holes. A voltage plane element is provided having at least one voltage plane having opposite faces with layers of partially cured photodielectric material on each face. At least one hole is photopatterned and etched through the voltage plane element but completely isolated from the voltage plane. Each through hole in the voltage plane element is aligned with a plated through hole in each of the circuit board elements to provide a surface on the voltage plane element communicating with the plated through holes. The voltage plane is laminated between the circuit board elements and the photoimageable material on the voltage plane is fully cured. The surfaces of the voltage plane element communicating with the plated through holes in the circuit board elements are plated with a conducting material to establish a connection between the circuitry on the first and second circuit board elements.

A garment including an elastomeric composite laminate around one or more openings for the legs, arms, waist, neck, or the like of a wearer. The garment includes a substrate defining the one or more openings, and an elastomeric composite laminate attached to the substrate adjacent the one or more openings. The elastomeric composite laminate includes reinforcement strands incorporated into an elastomeric adhesive film. In one embodiment, the garment is a pant-like garment with the elastomeric composite laminate adjacent each of the leg openings.

A laminate circuit structure assembly is provided that comprises at least two modularized circuitized plane subassemblies; a joining layer located between each of the subassemblies and wherein the subassemblies and joining layer are bonded together with a cured dielectric from a bondable, curable dielectric. The subassemblies and joining layer are electrically interconnected with bondable electrically conductive material. The joining layer comprises dielectric layers disposed about an internal electrically conductive layer. The electrically conductive layer has a via and the dielectric layers each have a via of smaller diameter than the vias in the electrically conductive layer and are aligned with the vias in the electrically conductive layer. The vias are filled with electrically bondable electrically conductive material for providing electrical contact between the subassemblies.

Composite laminate structures and methods of forming the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the structure includes a first bidirectional layer having a first portion that includes parallel reinforcement fibers oriented at a first angle relative to a first direction and a second portion that includes parallel reinforcement fibers oriented at a second angle relative to the first direction. The structure further includes a second bidirectional layer having a first portion that includes parallel reinforcement fibers oriented at a third angle relative to the first direction and a second portion that includes parallel reinforcement fibers oriented at a fourth angle relative to the first direction. At least one unidirectional layer having a plurality of parallel reinforcement fibers is coupled to at least one of the first bidirectional layer and the second bidirectional layer.

The present invention provides a process for the lay-up of a composite laminate article, the article produced by this process, and the apparatus used to produce the composite laminate article. The composite laminate article may be, for example, an airfoil, particularly useful as a fan blade in a large high bypass ratio turbofan engine, wherein the blade is generally regarded as large and having a high degree of twist. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a process for laying up a composite laminate article comprising a) reading a data set to enable the projection of an image of a ply section onto a work surface, the image indicating a ply section target point; b) laying up a ply section of composite laminating material within the image, wherein the ply section first contacts the work surface at the target point; and c) repeating steps (a)-(b) until the composite laminate article is complete. In a second preferred embodiment, the present invention provides for a lamination apparatus for use in making a composite laminate article comprising a work surface for receiving, in a predetermined sequence, a plurality of ply sections of composite laminating material; a laser projection system using predetermined projection points for outlining an image of a ply section onto the work surface, the image further indicating a ply section target point for making first contact of the ply section with the work surface; and a data set for providing the predetermined projection points to the laser projection system.

A composite laminate includes a plurality of sheets of prepreg stacked one over another, and a scrim layer provided on an exterior surface of the sheets of prepreg. Each prepreg sheet is formed of fibers preimpregnated with resin. The scrim layer and the sheets of prepreg form a composite laminate whereby the scrim layer constitutes an outer, exposed surface of the composite laminate. The scrim layer may be a nonwoven carbon or glass fiber scrim that has absorbed resin from the sheets of prepreg. A method of making a composite laminate includes placing into a mold a scrim and a plurality of sheets of prepreg, with the scrim extending between an exterior surface of the sheets of prepreg and an inner surface of the mold; forming a composite laminate whereby the scrim is adhered to the sheets of prepreg; and removing the composite laminate from the mold. An outer layer of the composite laminate includes the scrim.

Typically 20–40 films of a tough first metal, normally 0.1–1.0 mm thick films of titanium, nickel, vanadium, and/or steel (iron) and alloys thereof, interleaved with a like number of films of a second metal, normally 0.1–1.0 mm thick films of aluminum or alloys thereof, are pressed together in a stack at less than 6 MPa and normally at various pressures 2–4 MPa while being gradually heated in the presence of atmospheric gases to 600–800° C. over a period of, typically, 10+ hours until the second metal is completely compounded; forming thus a metallic-intermetallic laminate composite material having (i) tough first-metal layers separated by (ii) hard, Vickers microhardness of 400 kg/mm²+, intermetallic regions consisting of an intermetallic compound of the first and the second metals. The resulting composite material is inexpensive, lightweight with a density of typically 3 to 4.5 grams/cubic centimeter, and very hard and very tough to serve as, among other applications, lightweight armor. Upon projectile impact (i) the hard intermetallic, ceramic-like, layers are confined by the tough metal layers while (ii) cracking and fracturing is blunted and channeled in directions orthogonal to the axis of impact.

A fire retardant panel door and door frame that prevents the spread of fire through the door during a fire. The fire retardant panel door has at least one door panel and stiles and rails. The door panel includes an interior center composite section formed by a first plurality of layers of intumescent materials and a first plurality of layers of fire resistant materials disposed between and laminated to a pair of outer sections formed of wood for enclosing the interior center composite section to form a composite laminated door panel. Each of the stiles includes a first center core formed of wood enclosed by a second plurality of layers of intumescent materials and a second plurality of layers of fire resistant materials; and the second layers of intumescent and fire resistant materials are enclosed by a first applique layer formed of wood to form a composite laminated stile. Each of the rails includes a second center core formed of wood enclosed by a third plurality of layers of intumescent materials and a third plurality of layers of fire resistant materials; and the third layers of intumescent and fire resistant materials are enclosed by a second applique layer formed of wood to form a composite laminated rail. The first, second, and third plurality of layers of intumescent materials are activated to expand upon exposure to heat and/or fire to prevent the heat and/or fire from passing through at least one door panel, the stiles and the rails of the panel door during a fire for at least 90 minutes. At least one door panel is connected to the panel door by tongue and groove joints; and the tongue and groove joints have a fourth plurality of layers of intumescent materials and a fourth plurality of layers of fire resistant materials in the tongue and groove joints; and wherein the fourth plurality of layers of fire resistant materials in the tongue and groove joints are activated to expand upon exposure to heat and/or fire to seal the joints in order to prevent the heat and/or fire from passing through the panel door during a fire for at least 90 minutes.

Composite laminate interlayers for adhering a glass laminate comprising a sheet of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) between layers of plasticized polyvinyl butyral (PVB) adhesive layers, wherein at least one of the PVB adhesive layers is stiffened, e.g. by reduction in the amount of plasticizer, and has a glass transition temperature greater than 35° C. The PET is preferably 0.075 to 0.25 mm (3-10 mils) thick and can have a functional coating for reducing radiation, e.g. UV or IR or visible light, transmission through the glass laminate. The laminate can also comprise at least one elastomeric layer adapted to reducing sound transmission through the glass laminate. The laminates exhibit enhanced maximum flexural modulus of greater than about 350 Newtons/centimeter.

A curved composite aircraft frame comprises a multi-ply composite laminate having a generally Z-shaped cross section. At least certain of the laminate plies include unidirectional reinforcing fibers that are substantially tangent at substantially all points along the curvature of the frame.

A ceramic composite laminate includes a wavelength-converting layer and a non-emissive layer, wherein the ceramic composite laminate has a wavelength conversion efficiency (WCE) of at least 0.650. The ceramic composite laminate can also include a wavelength-converting ceramic layer comprising an emissive material and a scattering material, wherein the laminated composite has a total transmittance of between about 40% to about 85%. The wavelength-converting layer may be formed from plasma YAG:Ce powder.

A method of transferring an uncured composite laminate skin from a lay-up surface of a male mandrel tool to a female cure tool includes defining multiple vacuum zones on the lay-up surface, each zone corresponding to one of a multiple of portions into which the skin is to be separated. For example, to separate the skin into two portions, a low profile seal of a first membrane to the lay-up surface is formed at a first vacuum zone and a second low profile seal for a second membrane is formed at a second vacuum zone. The method further includes laying up a composite laminate skin over all the vacuum zones; separating the composite laminate skin into portions, for example, a first portion over the first vacuum zone and a second portion over the second vacuum zone; and releasing the portions individually into cure tools having an outside mold line surface.

Elastic composite laminates are disclosed. The laminates include an elastic member bonded to at least one facing material. In accordance with the present disclosure, an adhesive composition is coextruded with an elastomeric material to form the elastic member. In this manner, the elastic member can be bonded to the facing material in a stretched state without having to apply a separate adhesive layer between the two materials. In one embodiment, the elastic member can be bonded to the facing material according to a pattern that includes bonded areas and non-bonded areas.

An area of a composite laminate structure is reworked by scarfing the area, generating a 3-D map of the scarfed area, and installing a rework patch that is built based on the 3-D map.

A multilayered ceramic substrate which includes at least two types of ceramic layers respectively containing different ceramic materials, and which can be produced by simultaneous firing without causing layer peeling is described. A green composite laminated product is prepared in a state in which two substrate green sheets respectively contain different types of low-temperature sintered ceramic materials, and a shrinkage inhibiting green sheet containing an inorganic material which is not sintered at the sintering temperature of each of the low-temperature sintered ceramic material is arranged between the two substrate green sheets, followed by firing. In the firing step, the low-temperature sintered ceramic materials are sintered while inhibiting shrinkage of the substrate green sheets in the direction parallel to the main surfaces thereof by the shrinkage inhibiting green sheet, while the inorganic material remains unsintered and is fixed by glass supplied by firing the low-temperature sintered ceramic materials.

A method of designing a composite laminate, the laminate comprising a plurality of zones, each zone comprising a plurality of plies of composite material, each ply in each zone having a respective ply orientation angle. A global stacking sequence is determined for the laminate, the global stacking sequence comprising a sequence of stacking sequence elements. A local laminate thickness is determined for each zone. A local stacking sequence is then determined for each zone by extracting a subsequence of stacking sequence elements from the global stacking sequence. The global stacking sequence and the local laminate thicknesses are determined together in an optimisation process in which multiple sub-ply selection variables are assigned to each stacking sequence element, each sub-ply selection variable representing the density or sub-ply thickness for a respective candidate ply orientation angle. Optimal values are determined for the sub-ply selection variables and the local laminate thicknesses. A single one of the sub-ply selection variables is assigned to each stacking sequence element thereby forcing a discrete choice of global ply orientation angle for each stacking sequence element.

Method, apparatus, and computer program products are provided for optimizing a stacking sequence for a composite laminate having multiple zones to reduce the number or length of internal ply edges in the composite laminate with the most design rule compliant sequences. Once the number and location of the zones and the number of plies having different properties required for each zone have been determined for the composite laminate, a master zone is generated. Advantageously, the property of the plies may be fiber orientation, though alternative properties such as material may be considered when determining the number of required plies. The master zone notionally includes the maximum number of plies having a respective property required by any one zone, and the plies of the master zone are sequenced using a predefined series of design rules. The plies of each zone are then arranged based upon the stacking sequence of the master zone. A transformation matrix, a second predefined series of design rules, and a weighted solid/void differential may be used when arranging the plies of each zone based upon the stacking sequence of the master zone.

The present invention provides a process for producing a prepreg of high modulus reinforcing fibers, the process comprising the steps of: a) providing a reinforcing fiber bundle layer wherein such bundle contains a thermoplastic and/or crosslinking resin within the fiber bundle; b) providing a layer of a thermoplastic and/or crosslinking material layer on at least one side of the high modulus fiber layer of step a); c) compressing the layers from step b) under an appropriate amount of heat and pressure, and thereby producing a prepreg of high modulus reinforcing fibers.

A method of manufacturing a composite laminate and a composite laminate manufactured according to the method are provided. The laminate comprises a series of fabric plies (1 to 15) of fibrous reinforcing material set in plastics matrix material. The method includes the steps of providing a relatively small number of fabric styles from which to choose; selecting at least one of those fabric styles according to design requirements for a particular portion of the laminate; laying up that portion with the said selection, and repeating the selection and layup steps as required to complete the layup of the laminate.