Patent Application
20080116334
Embodiments described herein generally relate to methods for fabricating composite structures having mounting flanges. More particularly, embodiments herein generally describe methods for using final cure tooling to fabricate composite structures having mounting flanges.
In gas turbine engines, such as aircraft engines, air is drawn into the front of the engine, compressed by a shaft-mounted compressor, and mixed with fuel in a combustor. The mixture is then burned and the hot exhaust gases are passed through a turbine mounted on the same shaft. The flow of combustion gas expands through the turbine which in turn spins the shaft and provides power to the compressor. The hot exhaust gases are further expanded through nozzles at the back of the engine, generating powerful thrust, which drives the aircraft forward.
Because engines operate in a variety of conditions, foreign objects may undesirably enter the engine. More specifically, foreign objects, such as large birds, hailstones, sand and rain may be entrained in the inlet of the engine. As a result, these foreign objects may impact a fan blade and cause a portion of the impacted blade to be torn loose from the rotor, which is commonly known as fan blade out. The loose fan blade may then impact the interior of the fan casing causing a portion of the casing to bulge or deflect. This deformation of the casing may result in increased stresses along the entire circumference of the engine casing.
In recent years composite materials have become increasingly popular for use in a variety of aerospace applications because of their durability and relative lightweight. Although composite materials can provide superior strength and weight properties, and can lessen the extent of damage to the fan casing during impacts such as blade outs, designing flanges on structures fabricated from composite materials still remains a challenge.
Current fabrication methods can generally provide for the construction of composite structures having end flanges. See, for example, U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0134251 to Blanton et al. However, difficulties may arise when trying to fabricate composite structures having interposing mounting flanges, which are situated about the body, as opposed to an end, of the composite structure. These difficulties may be due in part to the fact that the tooling needed to fabricate such interposing mounting flanges lacks the support necessary to ensure the flange will have the proper shape, dimension and placement after final curing, as explained below.
Fabrication of end flanges typically includes any of a variety of resin infusion processes. In one embodiment, a dry fiber preform may be packed into a mold cavity having the desired part shape and the mold can be closed. Resin may then be applied, typically under pressure or vacuum, into the mold where it can impregnate the preform. After the fill cycle, the cure cycle begins, during which the mold may be heated and the resin can polymerize to become a rigid plastic part. Alternately, dry fiber preforms can be impregnated with resin using rollers or brushes to force the resin into the fabric. The impregnated preform may then be packed into a mold or cavity. A cure cycle then begins during which a rigid plastic part can be formed without having to infuse the mold cavity with any additional resin.
In contrast to end flanges, fabrication of interposing mounting flanges requires tooling capable of being situated in a variety of locations along the body of the composite structure. Unlike the end flange shoes, or molds, which can be attached to and supported by the tool itself, the flange shoes needed to cure interposing mounting flanges have nothing to which to attach. Without this added support, the mounting flange tooling can be more likely to shift and move about during the final curing step, resulting in improper formation of the mounting flange.
Accordingly, there remains a need for methods for fabricating composite structures having interposing mounting flanges that utilizes tooling that remains in place during final cure to help ensure the mounting flanges have the desired shape and position.
Embodiments herein generally relate to methods for fabricating a composite structure having at least one mounting flange comprising providing a composite structure forming tool having a first endplate and a second endplate; fabricating a composite structure preform about the tool, the composite structure preform having at least one mounting flange preform circumferentially oriented thereabout; placing at least one extended flange shoe having a first side and a second side circumferentially about the composite structure preform so that the first side lies adjacent to the first endplate; removeably coupling the first endplate to the first extended flange shoe; placing at least one flange shoe circumferentially about the composite structure preform adjacent to the second end of the extended flange shoe; removeably coupling the flange shoe to the extended flange shoe to form a cavity about the mounting flange preform; and curing the composite structure preform having the at least one mounting flange preform to obtain a composite structure having at least one mounting flange.
Embodiments herein also generally relate to methods for fabricating a composite structure having mounting flanges comprising providing a composite structure forming tool having a first endplate and a second endplate; fabricating a composite structure preform about the tool, the composite structure preform having a first mounting flange preform and a second mounting flange preform circumferentially oriented thereabout; placing a first extended flange shoe having a first side and a second side circumferentially about the composite structure preform so that the first side lies adjacent to the first endplate; removeably coupling the first endplate to the first extended flange shoe; placing a first flange shoe circumferentially about the composite structure preform adjacent to the second end of the first extended flange shoe; removeably coupling the first flange shoe to the first extended flange shoe to form a cavity about the first mounting flange preform; placing a second extended flange shoe having a first side and a second side circumferentially about the composite structure preform so that the first side lies adjacent to the second endplate; removeably coupling the second endplate to the second extended flange shoe; placing a second flange shoe circumferentially about the composite structure preform adjacent to the second side of the second extended flange shoe; removeably coupling the second flange shoe to the second extended flange shoe to form a cavity about the second mounting flange preform; and curing the composite structure preform having the mounting flange performs to obtain a composite structure having mounting flanges.
Embodiments herein also generally relate to methods for fabricating a composite structure having adjacent mounting flanges comprising providing a composite structure forming tool having a first endplate and a second endplate; fabricating a composite structure preform about the tool, the composite structure preform having a first mounting flange preform adjacent to a second mounting flange preform circumferentially oriented thereabout; placing a first extended flange shoe having a first side and a second side circumferentially about the composite structure preform so that the first side lies adjacent to the first endplate; removeably coupling the first endplate to the first extended flange shoe; placing a second extended flange shoe having a first side and a second side circumferentially about the composite structure preform so that the first side of the second extended flange shoe is adjacent to the second side of the first extended flange shoe; removeably coupling the second extended flange shoe to the first extended flange shoe to form a cavity about the first mounting flange preform; placing a first flange shoe circumferentially about the composite structure preform adjacent to the second side of the second extended flange shoe; removeably coupling the first flange shoe to the second extended flange shoe to form a cavity about the second mounting flange preform; and curing the composite structure preform having the adjacent mounting flange preforms to obtain a composite structure having adjacent mounting flanges.
These and other features, aspects and advantages will become evident to those skilled in the art from the following disclosure.
While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the invention, it is believed that the embodiments set forth herein will be better understood from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals identify like elements.
Embodiments described herein generally relate to methods for fabricating mounting flanges that utilize tooling that remains in place during final cure to help ensure the mounting flanges have the proper placement and dimensions. While embodiments herein may generally focus on tooling used to cure mounting flange preforms on composite fan casing preforms of gas turbine engines, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the description should not be limited to such. Indeed, as the following description explains, the tooling described herein may be used to cure mounting flange preforms on any composite structure.
Turning to the figures,
Fan casing 16 may generally comprise a body 40 having a forward end 42 and an aft end 44. As used herein, “fan casing” is used to refer to both pre- and post-cure composite fan casings. Those skilled in the art will understand which stage is being referenced from the present description. Fan casing 16 may also comprise at least one integral composite mounting flange 46. As used herein, “mounting flange” refers to any flange interposed circumferentially about body 40 of fan casing 16, or other primary composite structure, that may be used to operably connect a secondary structure to the primary structure, as described herein below. By “interposed” it is meant that mounting flange 46 may be located circumferentially about body 40 of fan casing 16, as opposed to about either of forward end 42 or aft end 44.
Fan casing 16 may also be fabricated using any tool known to those skilled in the art. See, for example, U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0134251 to Blanton et al. In one embodiment, as shown in
Turning to
As will be understood by those skilled in the art, core fibers 52 may be fabricated in different ways. In one embodiment, core fibers 52 may be fabricated from a plurality of continuous, unidirectional fiber tows bundled and bonded together. In another embodiment, core fibers 52 may comprise textile preforms, such as a flattened biaxial braid sleeve, having a majority of fiber tows that are continuous in the circumferential direction, and the remaining fibers either continuous or non-continuous in the non-circumferential direction. It is this general circumferential orientation of core fibers 52 that can provide added strength to the flange in the circumferential direction as explained herein below. Regardless of the particular assembly utilized, core fibers 52 may comprise a first core side 56 and a second core side 58.
Fiber tows of core fibers 52 may be comprised of any suitable reinforcing fiber known to those skilled in the art, including, but not limited to, glass fibers, graphite fibers, carbon fibers, ceramic fibers, aromatic polyamide fibers such as poly(p-phenylenetherephtalamide) fibers (i.e. KEVLAR®), and combinations thereof. Additionally, while any number of fiber tows may be used to construct core fibers 52, in one embodiment there may be from about 100 to about 5000 fiber tows used to construct core fibers 52. Moreover, each fiber tow may comprise from about 3000 to about 24,000 fiber filaments. In general, when assembled, core fibers 52 may constitute about half of the overall thickness T of mounting flange 46. While the thickness of mounting flange 46 may vary according to application, in one embodiment, mounting flange 46 may have a thickness of from about 0.5 inches (1.27 cm) to about 1 inch (2.54 cm).
As explained previously, in addition to circumferential core fibers 52, each mounting flange 46 may also include at least one layer of attachment fibers 54 operably connecting each of first core side 56 and second core side 58 of core fibers 52 to fan casing 16. Unlike core fibers 52, attachment fibers 54 may be constructed of multidirectional textile preforms, such as weaves or braids, that need not have a majority of fiber tows oriented circumferentially. In this way, attachment fibers 54 can display a generally uniform strength distribution throughout. As with the core fibers, each fiber tow of attachment fibers 54 may comprise from about 3000 to about 24,000 fiber filaments. Generally, when assembled, attachment fibers 54 may constitute the remaining half of the overall thickness of flange 46.
As illustrated in
Embodiments of the mounting flange described herein can provide several benefits over existing attachment mechanisms. In particular, the integral mounting flange can reduce the occurrence of severe part damage to both the primary composite structure, as well as the attached secondary structure, while concurrently helping to eliminate catastrophic part failure. Without intending to be limited by theory, it is believed that, in general, fiber-reinforced composite structures, such as the mounting flanges herein, can have relatively weak interfaces between fiber layers and, therefore, have relatively weak through-thickness strength compared to their in-plane strength. If stresses on the composite structure exceed a defined maximum capacity level, these fiber layers can have a tendency delaminate, or separate, prior to actual fiber breakage occurring. This delamination or separation can reduce the load and stress on the attachment joint where the mounting flange connects to the primary structure. As will be understood by those skilled in the art the maximum stress capacity level of the primary composite structure can vary depending on such factors as materials of fabrication, method of fabrication and the like.
Embodiments set forth herein are designed take advantage of the previously described phenomenon. More specifically, the integral mounting flange may be fabricated to permit delamination, or even separation, of the flange from the primary composite structure at the joint under excessive stresses, such as those caused by a fan blade out or by the weight of an attached secondary structure. However, because the core fibers of the flange can be constructed from continuous, circumferentially oriented fibers, even after delamination or separation the flange can remain a movable yet intact ring about the primary structure. Thus, even if the integral mounting flange delaminates or separates from the primary composite structure, it generally remains in place with all secondary structures attached. This can allow stresses on both the primary composite structure and the mounting flange to be reduced while maintaining the attached secondary structure in the same general placement as originally intended. Because of this, the delamination or separation can reduce damage to both the primary and secondary structures, as well as help to prevent catastrophic part failure.
Fabricating a mounting flange as set forth herein may generally comprise applying core fibers about the primary composite structure, followed by applying attachment fibers to operably connect the core fibers to the fan casing, or other primary composite structure. More specifically, as shown in
In step 104, once all guides 60 have been placed in the desired locations about body 40 of fan casing 16, the application of core fibers 52 may be initiated. As previously discussed, core fibers 52 may comprise either unidirectional, circumferentially oriented fiber tows bundled and bonded together or textile preforms, such as a flattened biaxial braid sleeve, having a majority of continuous, circumferentially oriented fiber tows.
If unidirectional fiber tows are used to construct core fibers 52, the tows may comprise fiber filaments that can be wound about the fan casing 16. In general, a single tackified fiber tow can be precisely placed in the desired position about the fan casing and this process can be repeated until core fibers 52 have the desired size and shape. A debulking step may then be carried out to consolidate core fibers 52, as described herein below. Alternately, if textile preforms are used to construct core fibers 52, the textile layers can be layed-up and tackified on a flat, non-porous surface, such as a table or a tool. More specifically, the tackified textile layers can be stacked to form the core fibers' 52 desired thickness and height, while still being long enough to circumscribe the fan casing. After debulking, as set forth below, the consolidated textile layers remain flexible enough to allow the layers to be manually or mechanically shaped into the proper radius to fit the fan casing, or other primary composite structure. Regardless of which type of fibers are used, finished core fibers 52 may have first core side 56 and second core side 58.
Having positioned core fibers 52 in the desired location about fan casing 16, attachment fibers 54 may be applied to each of first core side 56 and second core side 58 of core fibers 52, as well as to fan casing 16 to operably connect core fibers 52 to fan casing 16. In step 106, guide 60 can be left in place while attachment fibers 54 are applied to, for example, first core side 56 of core fibers 52. As previously described, attachment fibers 54 may comprise multidirectional textile preform layers, such as weaves or braids. Layers of attachment fibers 54 may be wrapped against both first core side 56 of core fibers 52 and fan casing 16 until the desired thickness is obtained. More specifically, a liquid resin, such as an epoxy, may be applied to core fibers 52 and fan casing 16 to provide a tacky layer to which attachment fibers 54 may be applied. Next, a layer of attachment fibers 54 may be applied over the liquid resin. This process can be repeated until the desired thickness of attachment fibers 54 is achieved. Though attachment fibers 54 may have any thickness, in one embodiment, the thickness of attachment fibers may be from about 0.125 inches (about 0.3 cm) to about 0.25 inches (about 0.6 cm).
Once attachment fibers 54 have been applied to first core side 56 of core fibers 52 a debulk may again be performed to consolidate the construction thus far. In particular, reinforcing fibers, such as core fibers 52 and attachment fibers 54, may inherently have a substantial amount of bulk. In order to help prevent wrinkles and/or voids during the final cure of the composite, and to utilize near net shape tooling during the final cure, the fibers of the composite can be consolidated, or compressed, into a dimension that is closer to the desired final cured thickness. This consolidation occurs during debulk.
Debulk can be carried out using any common method known to those skilled in the art, such as, for example, by applying pressure to the composite fibers with either a vacuum bag, shrink tape, or other mechanical means. Resin applied to the fibers before debulk can help “tack,” or lock, the fibers in place once the pressure is applied. If the tackified fibers cannot be consolidated as desired at room temperature, then heat may be applied to lower the viscosity of the resin. The resin may then better infiltrate the composite fibers and allowing the consolidation to be carried out to the desired degree. In one embodiment, the guide may be left in place during the debulk process to provide support during fabrication.
After debulk, guide 60 may be repositioned adjacent to the completed side of the flange for the application of attachment fibers 54 to the opposing side of the flange as shown in step 108. The previously described application and debulk of attachment fibers 54 may then be repeated on, for example, second core side 58 of core fibers 52, to obtain an integral composite mounting flange perform 61 in step 110.
Optionally, in one embodiment shown in step 112, additional individual fiber tows 62 may be applied to attachment fibers 54 of mounting flange preform 61 prior to final cure to provide additional hoop strength. Such fiber tows will not affect the final cure of the composite structure. However, to avoid limiting the weight-saving benefits provided by using composite materials, it may be desirable to minimize the use of additional individual fiber tows 62.
Once core fibers 52, attachment fibers 54, and optionally individual fiber tows 62, have been layed-up and debulked, each guide 60 can be removed and the final cure tooling can be placed about fan casing 16, including any flange performs, to serve as a mold during the curing process. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the final cure tooling and process may vary according to such factors as resin used, part geometry, and equipment capability. However, in one embodiment, the tooling may comprise near net shape tooling, which not only helps prevent waste of raw material and machining time, but also eliminates having to machine into the attachment fibers, which could result in breaking the fibers and introducing weak points in the flange.
In general, the final cure tooling 64 may comprise various combinations of flange shoes and extended flange shoes. Flange shoes 66 may comprise any number of pieces that when coupled together may be positioned circumferentially about fan casing 16, and optionally mounting flange performs 61, and may comprise a substantially L-shaped cross-section, as shown in
More particularly, as shown in
As also shown in
For each coupling of an extended flange shoe and a flange shoe, there may also be a flange-shaped cavity formed to accommodate any mounting flange preform. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that cavity may be formed in a flange shoe, an extended flange shoe, or a combination thereof. For example, in
As shown in
Once all flange shoes and extended flange shoes have been coupled together about the fan casing and the mounting flange performs, the final cure of the fan casing may commence. Those skilled in the art will understand how to determine the proper final cure parameters based on such factors as part size and resin utilized. At the end of the final cure, the tooling may be removed and an article including a composite structure having at least one mounting flange is obtained and any desired secondary structure may then be attached thereto.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
