Curved Composite Profile Manufacturing via Simultaneous Bending
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing method for manufacturing curved composite material profiles from rectilinear preforms of fiber plies is time-consuming, prone to defects such as bridging and wrinkling, and lacks precise control over fiber orientation, leading to suboptimal quality and increased rejection rates.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the stacking of pre-impregnated fiber plies on a deformable mandrel, followed by simultaneous bending and polymerization using a rotation axis, ensuring balanced fiber orientation and reduced thermal exposure to prevent resin aging, allowing for a single-step process that maintains precise fiber alignment and reduces defects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If strips are stacked and bent step by step on a deformable mandrel, then the profile can be formed with complex curved geometry, but the manufacturing time increases and the process becomes tedious
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple bending operations into a single simultaneous bending step. Instead of bending strips sequentially one by one, all strips are bent together in one operation using a bending tool that applies force to the entire stack at once, thereby reducing manufacturing time while achieving the same curved profile geometry
Solution Approach 2:
The strips are pre-assembled in the correct sequence and positioned on the mandrel before the bending operation. This preliminary arrangement ensures that when bending occurs, all strips are already in their final positions relative to each other, eliminating the need for time-consuming adjustments during or after bending
2Shape
If pre-impregnated fiber plies are stacked and bent sequentially, then the profile can be formed, but the relative positioning between strips becomes difficult to control causing defects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines positioning and bending operations into a single simultaneous process. All strips are positioned and bent together in one operation, which maintains their relative positions throughout the process and prevents positioning defects that would occur with sequential operations
Solution Approach 2:
The strips are pre-assembled in the correct sequence on the mandrel before bending. This preliminary positioning ensures that the relative arrangement of strips is established once and remains constant during the bending operation, eliminating positioning errors
3Shape
If strips are stacked with increasing outer radii and decreasing inner radii, then the profile can be formed, but bridging defects occur between strips
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies bending forces simultaneously to all strips in the stack, ensuring that the deformation is coordinated across all layers. This prevents the differential deformation that causes bridging, where outer strips deform more than inner strips, by making the bending process uniform across the entire stack
4Shape
If strips are compacted before bending, then the profile can be formed, but gliding between plies causes undulations and wrinkles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines compaction and bending into a single simultaneous operation. The strips are compacted and bent at the same time, which prevents relative movement between plies during separate compaction and bending steps, thereby eliminating undulations and wrinkles caused by ply gliding
5Shape
If the first strip remains in contact with the heated tool longer than subsequent strips, then the profile can be formed, but the resin ages in an uncontrolled manner
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines all bending and polymerization operations into a single simultaneous process. All strips are bent and cured at the same time under identical thermal conditions, which ensures uniform resin curing across all strips and eliminates uncontrolled resin aging that occurs when strips are processed at different times
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces manufacturing time and costs, minimizes defects like bridging and wrinkling, and enables the production of profiles with larger core dimensions while ensuring consistent resin curing, thereby enhancing the quality and reducing rejection rates.
Implementation Method 1
The deformable mandrel is capable of changing shape between a rectilinear position and a curved position
Implementation Method 2
the deformed strip arranged on the mandrel made of deformable material is placed in contact with a heated tool
Implementation Method 3
During bending, the strip is compressed and subjected to an increase in temperature
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing a curved profile from a rectilinear preform of pre-impregnated fiber plies. The method includes stacking plies on a deformable mandrel and winding the deformable mandrel and the stacked plies on a bending tool along a rotation axis, the profile comprising a stack of N plies. At least one first section of the profile is arranged along a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation and at least one second section is arranged in a plane parallel to the axis. The method includes the steps of stacking the N plies of fibers on the deformable mandrel, bending in a single step the N plies sandwiched between the deformable mandrel and the bending tool and polymerizing the bent N plies. The curved profile comprises M plies with fibers oriented at A° relative to a longitudinal direction and M+/−5% plies with fibers oriented at −A°.