Hybrid Composites Manufacturing Technology Braiding/Filament Winding

Production Products will develop an integrated, multi-axis preform manufacturing system that will fully integrate, hybridize, and automate the braiding/filament winding preform manufacturing process. This hybridized, automated system will provide significant process improvements and cost savings compared with the current preform manufacturing process developed in the Air Force ManTech Engine and Wing Programs, which utilized separate filament winding and braiding machines and attendent sequential processing, handling, and shipping cost and time delays. The braided/filament wound composite preforms were shown in DMLCC to be an effective means for fabricating critical, primary load bearing jet engine structures such as bypass ducts; wing components such as stiffeners, spars, and ribs, and fuselage stiffeners and frames. Lockheed Martin will support Production Products in this program providing aircraft applications and technical support. We will build on the work done by McDonnell Douglas, General Electric, and Boeing in their DMLCC programs. We will include the new braiding development work at Clemson University which integrates 90 degree fiber into the braid to produce an equivalent hybrid preform, and will utilize Dr. Bhuvenesh Goswami of Clemson as a consultant. In Phase I we will determine current preform costs and potential cost savings and design an integrate/hybridized/automated manufacturing system for braided/filament wound preforms. In Phase II we will construct this machine and validate the performance of preforms manufactured with it.