A hockey stick with a co-molded structure and method where the blade member is formed by a molding process onto a preformed shaft member, where the preformed shaft member has a contoured tip at the blade end. The contoured tip helps to secure the blade member to the shaft member in conjunction with the molded composite layers, and in one example, the contoured tip has a width that is greater than the width of the shaft member at the blade-starting region.

An apparatus comprises a forming tool having a forming surface, and an ultrasonic transducer array on the forming surface.

A method of fabricating a formed structure with expandable polymeric shell microspheres. A first plurality of polymeric shell microspheres are heated from an unexpanded state to an expanded state to form a plurality of expanded microspheres. The plurality of expanded microspheres are mixed with an epoxy resin and a second plurality of unexpanded polymeric shell microspheres. The mixture is formed in a shape to create a preform. The preform is wrapped with fiber tape to create a wrapped preform. The wrapped preform is placed in a mold. The mold is heated and the second plurality of unexpanded microspheres expand from an unexpanded state to an expanded state. The mold is cooled and the formed structure is removed from the mold.

An object of the present invention is to provide a pressure vessel that is light in weight and has a sufficient internal capacity as well as excellent durability. The present invention provides a pressure vessel (1) including: a cylindrical straight body section (10) and dome sections (11) provided at both ends of the body section (10), wherein: the body section (10) and the dome sections (11) are composed of a resin main body (2), and an outer shell (3) made of a fiber reinforced resin material, the outer shell (3) being provided on the outside of the main body (2); each of dome sections (2b) of the main body (2) has pinch-off regions (12) extending from a tip of the dome section (2b) toward the body section (2a); and when a distance from the tip of each of the dome sections (2b) to a boundary between the body section (2a) of the main body (2) and each of the dome sections (2b) in an axial direction of the body section (2a) is 1, an end (12a) of each of the pinch-off regions (12) opposite to the tip of the dome section (2b) is located in a region where an distance from the tip of the dome section (2b) in the axial direction of the body section (2a) is less than 1.

A vehicle skin, such as a composite skin for a UAV wing or other vehicle component, is co-cured with an array of solar cells to form a thin, lightweight, integrated skin structure. In one embodiment, an upper surface of the solar-cell array may be substantially coplanar with an upper surface of the composite skin. A coating, such as a spray-on fluorinated polymer coating, is applied to the upper surface of the integrated skin structure to protect the solar cells from the environment or other potentially harmful elements.

A reinforcing structure for a wind turbine blade is in the form of an elongate stack of layers of pultruded fibrous composite strips supported within a U-shaped channel. The length of each layer is slightly different to create a taper at the ends of the stack; the centre of the stack has five layers, and each end has a single layer. The ends of each layer are chamfered, and the stack is coated with a thin flexible pultruded fibrous composite strip extending the full length of the stack. The reinforcing structure extends along a curved path within the outer shell of the blade. The regions of the outer shell of the blade on either side of the reinforcing structure are filled with structural foam, and the reinforcing structure and the foam are both sandwiched between an inner skin and an outer skin.

A method of manufacturing a composite (e.g. fibre-reinforced polymer) connector for a fluid transfer conduit comprises: providing a tubular mandrel which extends substantially parallel to a central axis C; providing a former on the tubular mandrel which extends substantially perpendicular to the central axis C; and winding continuous fibre reinforcement, impregnated with a thermosetting polymer, around the mandrel to form a tubular hub portion which extends substantially parallel to the central axis C and over the former to form a flange portion 308 which extends from the hub portion at an angle to the central axis C. Winding the continuous fibre reinforcement over the former comprises passing the continuous fibre reinforcement across a first surface of the former that is substantially perpendicular to the central axis C and across a second surface of the former such that the former is encapsulated as a core for the flange portion.

A ball joint having a ball pin and a housing. The ball pin together with the ball is accommodated in the housing to move in a rotational and pivotal manner. The ball is at least partially surrounded by a structural component. The structural component is essentially formed from a fiber-plastic composite structure and at least partially forms the housing.

A propeller blade comprises a fibre reinforced blade structure spar having a blade retention section formed at one end thereof, and at least one metallic formation spray deposited onto said blade retention section.

An aerostructure is provided. The aerostructure may comprise an airfoil extending from a leading edge to a trailing edge, the airfoil comprising a stiffness and a camber, and a shape memory alloy (SMA) mechanically coupled to the airfoil via a resin, the SMA configured to be coupled to a current source, wherein at least one of the stiffness or the camber changes in response to a phase change of the SMA.