ANGULAR WEAVING FOR TURBINE ENGINE COMPOSITE COMPONENTS

ADVANCED AIRCRAFT ENGINES REQUIRE ADVANCED MATERIALS TO MEET THEIR GOALS OF PERFORMANCE, THRUST-TO-WEIGHT RATIO AND FUEL EFFICIENCY. OF ALL THE TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE FOR FABRICATING COMPOSITE REINFORCEMENT MATERIALS, NOT ONE TECHNIQUE CAN PROVIDE THE VERSATILITY TO FEASIBLY PRODUCE RELIABLE MULTIDIRECTIONAL STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS. THEMAJOR OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO ADVANCE THE LEVEL OF MATERIALS IN ORDER TO CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE LIFE, RELIABILITY,STRUCTURAL EFFICIENCY AND/OR TO REDUCE COST OF FUTURE TURBINE ENGINES. THE MAJOR EMPHASIS OF THIS WORK WILL BE DIRECTED TOWARDS DEVELOPING A COMPOSITE REINFORCEMENT FABRICATION SYSTEM WHICH WILL ADDRESS ALL THE LIMITATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNIQUES. TO EFFICIENTLY AND COST EFFECTIVELY FABRICATE THREEDIMENSIONAL MULTI-LAYER, MULTI-ANGULAR STRUCTURAL COMPOSITE PERFORMS, A NEW FABRICATION MACHINE MUST BE FIRST DESIGNED (PHASE I) AND THEN FABRICATED (PHASE II) BASED ON INPUT NOT ONLY FROM THE TEXTILE ENGINEER, BUT ALSO THE TURBINE ENGINE DESIGNER.