Claims
- 1. An apparatus for cutting a plurality of grooves in a first surface of a foil material, comprising:
a mechanical cutting tool including a plurality of spaced cutting elements extending therefrom; a support spaced away from said cutting tool and forming a nip through which the foil material passes, said support adapted to receive a second surface of the foil material thereon and support the foil material as it passes through said nip; and, said plurality of spaced cutting elements extend into said nip and contact the foil material to mechanically cut the plurality of grooves in the first surface as the foil material moves through said nip relative to said plurality of cutting elements, said plurality of spaced cutting elements being held stationary as the plurality of grooves are cut in the first surface.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of grooves are cut in the foil material having a thickness less than about 0.010 inches.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said plurality of cutting elements each have a groove-defining portion that is semicircular in shape, and wherein said groove-defining portion substantially shapes the corresponding groove cut in the first surface of the foil material.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein each of said groove-defining portions have a radius of about 0.003 inches.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said plurality of cutting elements are spaced apart from one another by about 0.012 inches.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mechanical tool including a plurality of cutting element segments, and wherein each of said cutting element segments including at least one of said plurality of cutting elements.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said cutting element segments are configured so that the plurality of cutting elements simultaneously contact a plurality of positions on the first surface of the foil material, the positions being spaced apart from one another.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein each of said plurality of cutting element segments are movable independently of one another.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 8, further including an actuator for moving one of the plurality of cutting element segments relative to the other of said plurality of cutting element segments.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said support is defined on a machining drum having an outer surface, the second surface of the foil material is opposite the first surface and the second surface abuts said outer surface of the machining drum.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 10, further including a first reel source for supplying the foil material and a second reel storage for storing the foil material having a plurality of grooves, and wherein said first reel source, said second reel storage and said machining drum are rotatable.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 11, further including an actuator for controlling the position of the cutting tool with respect to the foil material.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 12, further including a sensor, the sensor sensing the position of the plurality of cutting elements with respect to the foil material, the sensor being connected to the actuator.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first surface of the foil material has a width, and wherein the cutting elements substantially span the width of the first surface of the foil material.
- 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the foil material is elongated in a longitudinal direction, and wherein said plurality of cutting elements are positioned substantially normal to the longitudinal direction.
- 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said plurality of cutting elements are configured to cut a plurality of parallel longitudinally elongated grooves of substantially equal length in the foil material as the foil material moves through said nip relative to said plurality of cutting elements.
- 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said plurality of cutting elements is configured to cut grooves in one of an intermetallic material, a metallic material and a metallic alloy.
- 18. An apparatus for cutting a plurality of grooves in a foil sheet, comprising:
a source for providing the foil sheet, the foil sheet having a first surface and a second surface; a machining drum having an outer surface for receiving thereon the foil sheet from said source, said outer surface abutting at least a portion of the second surface of the foil sheet and supporting the foil sheet; and a plurality of stationary cutting teeth contacting the first surface of the moving foil sheet to mechanically cut a plurality of spaced longitudinally extending grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet while the at least a portion of the second surface of the foil sheet is supported by said outer surface of said machining drum.
- 19. The apparatus of claim 18, further including a cleaning station for receiving a portion of the moving foil sheet after the foil sheet has had a portion of the plurality of longitudinally extending grooves cut therein by said plurality of cutting teeth, said cleaning station adapted for cleaning the foil sheet.
- 20. The apparatus of claim 18, further including a plurality of inspection stations for monitoring the foil sheet.
- 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said plurality of inspection stations includes optical inspection devices.
- 22. The apparatus of claim 18, further including means for depositing a binder on the first surface of the foil sheet.
- 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said means for depositing a binder on the first surface of the foil sheet defines a binder spraying system.
- 24. The apparatus of claim 22, further including means for loading a fiber into one of the plurality of grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet.
- 25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein said means for loading a fiber into one of the plurality of grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet including a fiber spool bank for supplying the fiber, and said means for loading a fiber including a fiber loading drum having an outer surface adapted to receive the second surface of the foil sheet thereon and a roller abutting the first surface of the foil sheet when the second surface is positioned on the outer surface of said fiber loading drum, and wherein the fiber passing between said roller and the one of the plurality of grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet.
- 26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein said means for loading a fiber into one of the plurality of grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet defines a means for loading a fiber into each of the plurality of grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet.
- 27. The apparatus of claim 18, further including a material storage device adapted to receive and store the grooved foil sheet, and wherein said source is a first reel around which foil sheet is wound and said material storage device is a second reel around which grooved foil sheet is wound.
- 28. The apparatus of claim 18, further including a chemical cleaning station for receiving the foil sheet after the plurality of longitudinally extending grooves have been cut in the foil sheet by said plurality of cutting teeth, said cleaning station adapted for cleaning the foil sheet;
further including a plurality of inspection stations for monitoring the foil sheet as the foil sheet moves through the apparatus; further including a binder spraying station for spraying a binder material on the first surface of the foil sheet after the grooved foil sheet has been passed through said chemical cleaning station; further including means for loading a fiber into at least of one of the plurality of grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet; and further including a material storage device adapted to receive and store the grooved foil sheet, and wherein said source is a first reel around which foil sheet is wound and said material storage device is a second reel around which grooved foil sheet is wound.
- 29. A method, comprising:
providing a source of a foil sheet having a first surface and a second surface, the surfaces having a width; moving the foil sheet between a cutting tool having a plurality of spaced stationary cutting teeth and an outer surface of a material support drum; and mechanically cutting a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet during said moving with the plurality of cutting teeth.
- 30. The method of claim 29, wherein said mechanically cutting forms the plurality of longitudinally extending grooves substantially simultaneously by removing material from the foil sheet.
- 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the source is a first reel, and wherein said providing includes unwinding the foil sheet from the first reel.
- 32. The method of claim 31, wherein said moving the foil sheet is accomplished by pulling the foil sheet between the material support drum and the plurality of cutting teeth by winding the foil sheet around a second reel.
- 33. The method of claim 29, further including spraying a binder onto the first surface of the foil sheet after said mechanically cutting.
- 34. The method of claim 33, further including cleaning the foil sheet prior to said spraying the binder.
- 35. The method of claim 33, further including loading a fiber into one of the plurality of grooves.
- 36. The method of claim 35, further including at least partially melting a portion of the binder.
- 37. The method of claim 29, further including loading a fiber into one of the plurality of grooves.
- 38. The method of claim 33, further including monitoring the foil sheet to determine that the plurality of grooves cut in the foil sheet do not exceed predetermined geometric tolerances.
- 39. A method of continuously mechanically cutting a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves in a foil sheet, comprising:
providing a mechanical cutting tool including a plurality of stationary spaced cutting elements and a material backing member spaced away from the cutting tool; pulling the foil sheet between the plurality of cutting elements and the material backing member and contacting a first surface of the foil sheet against the plurality of stationary spaced cutting elements and contacting and supporting a second surface of the foil sheet against an outer surface of the support member; positioning the mechanical cutting tool to have the plurality of cutting elements engage the first surface of the foil sheet; and cutting the plurality of longitudinally extending grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet as said pulling moves the foil sheet between the plurality of cutting elements and the material backing member.
- 40. The method of claim 39, which further includes a source of foil sheet, and further including unwinding the foil sheet from the source while said pulling moves the foil sheet from the source to a position between the mechanical cutting tool and the material backing member.
- 41. The method of claim 40, wherein said pulling is caused by winding the foil sheet around a powered reel while said cutting is forming the plurality of longitudinally extending grooves in the first surface.
- 42. The method of claim 39, wherein the foil sheet is orthorhombic titanium, and wherein the foil sheet has a thickness between the first surface and the second surface, the thickness being in the range of about 0.005 to about 0.020 inches.
- 43. The method of claim 39, further including spraying a binder onto the first surface after said cutting forms at least a portion of the grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet.
- 44. The method of claim 43, wherein while said cutting is forming a first portion of the longitudinally extending grooves in the first surface of the foil sheet said spraying is coating a second portion of the first surface with the binder.
- 45. The method of claim 43, further including cleaning the foil sheet prior to said spraying the binder.
- 46. The method of claim 43, further including loading a fiber into one of the plurality of grooves.
- 47. The method of claim 46, wherein said loading including passing the foil sheet between a loading drum and a roller, and wherein said loading including feeding the fiber between the roller and the groove formed in the first surface of the foil sheet.
- 48. The method of claim 21, further including:
spraying a binder onto the first surface after said cutting the grooves into the first surface of the foil sheet; loading a fiber into at least one of the plurality of grooves, said loading including passing the foil sheet between a loading drum and a roller as the fiber is passing into at least one of the plurality of grooves; and, melting at least a portion of the binder prior to or while loading the fiber.
- 49. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of spaced cutting elements are moveable independently of one another.
- 50. The method of claim 29, wherein during said mechanically cutting there is a lateral shift of the plurality of longitudinally extending grooves formed in the first surface of the foil sheet.
- 51. The method of claim 29, which further includes providing at least one mechanical cutting device, and wherein the mechanical cutting device is moveable in a direction substantially normal to a longitudinal centerline of the foil sheet, and further including moving the mechanical cutting device relative to the longitudinal center line to vary the location of the plurality of longitudinally extending grooves relative to the longitudinal centerline.
- 52. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of grooves are cut in the foil material to a depth of about .003 inches.
- 53. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of grooves are cut in the foil material to a depth within a range of about 0.002 inches to about 0.004 inches.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Applications No. 60/231,615 entitled Mechanically Grooved Sheet and Method of Manufacture and No. 60/ 231,616 entitled Method of Manufacturing a Metal Matrix Composite Structure. The above Provisional Patent Applications were filed on Sep. 11, 2000 and are incorporated herein by reference. This application is related to concurrently filed U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled Method of Manufacturing a Metal Matrix Composite Structure.
Provisional Applications (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60231615 |
Sep 2000 |
US |
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60231616 |
Sep 2000 |
US |