Apparatus for Manufacturing Composite Laminates Related Articles

Abstract

An apparatus separates a band of resin-impregnated fiber material into strips and disposes the strips between parallel pin rows of a pinmat to form a layer of strips. The apparatus includes a pinmat-following roller comprising a first roller mounted on a first central axle on which the first roller can rotate and slide transversely, a first circular rib surrounding the first roller and capable of fitting between adjacent pin rows of a pinmat, and a circular groove in the first roller for coupling with the band-separating roller. The apparatus further includes a band-separating roller comprising a second roller mounted on a second central axle on which the second roller can rotate and slide transversely, multiple radially projecting disks from the second roller for separating the band of resin-impregnated fiber, and a second circular rib surrounding the second roller capable of coupling with the circular groove of the pinmat-following roller.

1 . An apparatus configured to separate a band of fiber material impregnated with resin into a plurality of strips and dispose the strips between parallel pin rows of a pinmat to form a layer of strips, the apparatus comprising:
 a pinmat-following roller comprising a first roller mounted on a first central axle on which the first roller can rotate and also slide transversely, a first circular rib surrounding the first roller having a size and shape capable of fitting between adjacent pin rows of a pinmat, and a circular groove in the first roller for coupling with the band-separating roller; and   a band-separating roller comprising a second roller mounted on a second central axle on which the second roller can rotate and also slide transversely, a plurality of radially projecting disks from the second roller for separating the band of fiber impregnated with a resin, and a second circular rib surrounding the second roller capable of coupling with the circular groove of the pinmat-following roller.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the band-separating roller comprises 2 to 20 radially projecting disks. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the radially projecting disks have an inverted V-shape for separating the band when tension is applied to the band. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the strips have a width of 3 mm to 8 mm and a thickness of 0.125 to 0.5 mm. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pinmat has a planar shape. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pinmat has a shape having at least one concave or convex surface. 
     
     
         7 . A composite laminate comprising a plurality of through-holes, wherein
 the through-holes form a pattern corresponding to an ordered array of a regular polygon selected from the group consisting of square, parallelogram, hexagon, or octagon, wherein the through-holes are positioned at intersecting points of the polygon sides;   the composite laminate is derived from a compressed and cured composite structure comprising at least two layers of strips of fibrous material impregnated with a resin, wherein each layer comprises strips arranged in parallel and the strips in adjacent layers have different directional orientation.   
     
     
         8 . The composite laminate of  claim 7 , wherein the through-holes are not formed by puncturing, drilling, or lasing. 
     
     
         9 . The composite laminate of  claim 7 , wherein the fibrous material comprises carbon or glass and the resin comprises thermosetting epoxy or thermoplastic. 
     
     
         10 . The composite laminate of  claim 7 , wherein the polygon sides are not of equal length. 
     
     
         11 . The composite laminate of  claim 7 , wherein the layers comprise different fibrous material, resin, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The composite laminate of  claim 7 , wherein the smallest circle encompassing the average through-hole of the composite laminate has a diameter of 0.5 to 1.5 mm. 
     
     
         13 . The composite laminate of  claim 7 , having 10,000 to 100,000 through-holes per square meter. 
     
     
         14 . An acoustic liner for a jet engine, comprising the composite laminate of  claim 13 .