Extrusion Nozzle With Contoured Passage For Composite Materials
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for extruding composite materials often result in poor surface and edge qualities, such as tearing or shape changes, due to angle transitions and pressure gradients during the extrusion process, which can lead to voids and inadequate filling of complex cross-sectional shapes in components like aircraft stringers.
Innovation Solution
A nozzle assembly with a tapered passage having smooth transitions and a contoured surface that maintains laminar flow and uniform pressure, preventing material rupture and ensuring accurate filling of cavities by minimizing acute angles and optimizing material flow convergence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional extrusion methods with angle transitions are used, then extrusion speed and productivity are maintained, but surface and edge quality deteriorates with tearing and shape changes
Solution Approach 1:
The nozzle passage is designed with contoured surfaces and curved transitions instead of sharp angles. The passage includes a tapered section with smooth contours that guide material flow, eliminating abrupt directional changes that cause tearing and surface defects while maintaining efficient extrusion.
Solution Approach 2:
The nozzle geometry parameters are optimized with specific contour profiles and tapered angles. The passage cross-section and wall angles are carefully controlled to maintain laminar flow conditions, preventing turbulence-induced defects while sustaining high extrusion rates.
2Manufacturing precision
If extrusion pressure is increased to fill complex cavities, then filling completeness improves, but material rupture and tearing worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The contoured passage surfaces create smooth flow paths that distribute pressure uniformly across the material cross-section. This eliminates stress concentration points that would cause tearing, allowing high pressures to be applied safely for complete cavity filling.
Solution Approach 2:
The tapered contoured passage pre-conditioned the material flow before it enters the cavity. By the time material reaches the cavity interface, it has already been smoothly accelerated and pressurized in a controlled manner, ensuring complete filling without sudden pressure spikes that cause rupture.
3Device complexity
If acute angles are used in nozzle passage for compact design, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision deteriorates with poor surface quality
Solution Approach 1:
The contoured passage uses curved surfaces to replace complex multi-angle geometries. This single continuous curved profile achieves the desired compact shape while eliminating the sharp transitions that would degrade surface quality, simplifying both design and manufacturing.
4Ease of manufacture
If conventional nozzle geometry is used, then ease of manufacture is maintained, but reliability of extruded product deteriorates with voids and tears
Solution Approach 1:
The contoured passage can be manufactured as a single molded or machined component with continuous curved surfaces. This maintains manufacturing simplicity while eliminating the sharp angles and complex geometries that lead to material tearing and void formation, significantly improving product reliability.
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
The solution enhances the surface and edge quality of extruded composite materials, preventing tearing and shape changes, and ensures complete filling of cavities without voids, thereby improving the structural integrity and manufacturing efficiency of components like aircraft stringers.
Implementation Method 1
maintains laminar flow and uniform pressure
Implementation Method 2
uniform pressure, preventing material rupture and ensuring accurate filling of cavities
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B~2C
AI summary
A nozzle (250) for extruding a composite material (110) from an extruder barrel (120B). The nozzle includes a body (251) and a tapered nozzle passage (252) extending through the body. The tapered nozzle passage having a nozzle inlet opening (253) configured to interface with the extruder barrel, and a nozzle outlet opening (254), where the tapered nozzle passage has a contoured nozzle passage surface (255) extending between the extruder barrel and the nozzle outlet opening with smooth transitions (270), free of angles, so that each nozzle passage surface portion (255A-255F), having a corresponding contour, transitions smoothly to each other nozzle passage surface portion, having a respective different contour, from the nozzle inlet opening to the nozzle outlet opening, and the nozzle outlet opening is defined by at least a first edge (254A) and a second edge (254A) that intersect each other at an acute angle (θ).