Fabricating symmetric and asymmetric shapes with off-axis reinforcement from symmetric preforms

• Main Authors: OUELLETTE KENNETH, COMMANDER MICHAEL, GOERING JONATHAN, BLACKDEN DONALD
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 02.03.2010
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; FINISHING, DRESSING, TENTERING OR STRETCHING TEXTILE FABRICS; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULARARTICLES; LAUNDERING; LAYERED PRODUCTS; LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT ORNON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM; LOOMS; METHODS OF WEAVING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TEXTILES; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; WEAVING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL; WOVEN FABRICS

A device for obtaining off-axis reinforcement of a woven object. The device is made up of a fixed mandrel and a rotating mandrel. The rotating mandrel is connected to the fixed mandrel by a shaft that rotates through the middle of the fixed mandrel. The shaft allows the rotating mandrel to move up and down in relation to the fixed mandrel. A portion of the woven object can be clamped to the fixed mandrel while a second portion of the woven object can be clamped to the rotating mandrel. When rotated, the rotating mandrel causes the warp fibers in the woven object to twist off the 0° direction while fill or hoop fibers remain substantially parallel to the 90° direction.