Thermal welding of fiber reinforced thermoplastic prepreg
US6162314A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 29, 1998 |
| Grant date | Dec 19, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 29, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T156/1737
- WIPO fieldOther special machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A welding method controls the welding temperature, welding cycle time, and welding pressure for fabrication of composite structural parts. A welding unit welds multiple plies of thermoplastic prepreg into welded multi-ply assemblies by concentrating welds along the thermoplastic prepreg plies at localized and strategic positions. Two platens weld a plurality of the multi-ply assemblies into a layup using a plurality of heated pins. The heated pins are hollow to reduce surface heating during welding and are non-uniformly shaped to allow indexing of the layup. After the layup is cut into a plurality of thermoplastic prepreg segments along a layup pattern, the thermoplastic prepreg segments are indexed according to the weld marks impressed by the non-uniformly shaped heated pins. The thermoplastic prepreg segments are formed into kits or wedges by stacking smaller thermoplastic prepreg segments on top of larger thermoplastic prepreg segments.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.