A rim portion of a composite wheel comprises a shaped annulus formed about a central axis of rotation of the composite wheel and having a circumferential axis extending circumferentially about the central axis and around the rim portion, said rim portion having a fibre layup comprising a stacked laminate formed from alternating layers of: a hoop tow layer comprising elongate fibre tow in which the fibres are substantially aligned with the circumferential axis of the rim portion, the hoop tow layer being formed from at least one annularly wound elongate fibre tow; and a bias ply layer comprising at least one fibre ply in which the fibres are substantially orientated at an angle of +Θ or −Θ to the circumferential axis of the rim portion, wherein Θ is from 26° to 40°.

A method for providing motor vehicle wheels made of composite material based on carbon fiber includes the steps of dividing each wheel into a plurality of portions having small dimensions; providing a a first portion with the terminal edges designed to mate with corresponding edges of a respective second portion; mating the portions, arranging them subsequently within a respective mold whose shape and dimensions are conjugate with respect to those of the wheel to be manufactured; and bringing the mold and its contents to a predefined temperature. The method further includes injecting into the mold a resin in the liquid state, the resin being injected at high pressure and high temperature, forming the matrix of the composite that constitutes the wheel; maintaining the pressure and temperature of the mold within predefined ranges for a time interval that is required for the at least partial cross-linking of the resin; and extracting the wheel from the mold.

Layers of plies of composite material are laid on a convex tool surface. A first layer is placed with a first ply of a first section having a gap edge adjacent a gap edge of a first ply of a second section, the edges being parallel and a contraction distance from each other. A second layer is placed with a second ply of the first section having a gap edge adjacent a gap edge of a second ply of the second section, the edges being parallel and a contraction distance from each other, the second ply of the second section overlapping onto the first ply of the first section by a splice distance. Consolidation and curing cause contraction of the layers toward the tool, allowing the adjacent gap edges of each layer to be in close proximity or in contact after moving toward each other during the contraction.

A fiber feeding device includes rollers, a brake and a belt conveyor. The rollers guide feeding out of tapes. The tapes are arrayed without overlapping the tapes in a width direction. The brake stops first feeding out of a first tape. The belt conveyor feeds out second feeding out of a second tape. The second tape is guided by a selected roller. The second tape is fed out by being sandwiched between the selected roller and the belt conveyor. The selected roller approaches the belt conveyor to sandwich the second tape between the selected roller and the belt conveyor while a nonselected roller retreats from the belt conveyor to prevent a third tape from being sandwiched between the nonselected roller and the belt conveyor. The third tape is guided by the nonselected roller. The third tape includes the first tape.

A wind turbine blade shear web comprises an elongate panel (28) having a first side and an opposing second side and a longitudinally extending flange (30a, 30b) arranged along a longitudinal edge of the panel. The flange comprises a plurality of elongate flange sections (46) arranged along the first side of the panel and integrated therewith. Each flange section comprises a plurality of elongate flange elements arranged one on top of another and offset from one another in a longitudinal direction of the flange section (46) such that the offset between the flange elements defines a tapered portion at each of a first and second longitudinal end of the flange section. The tapered portions of longitudinally adjacent flange sections overlap to define at least one scarf joint between said adjacent flange sections.

Composite laminate structures are produced using partially cured parts. Partial curing of the parts is achieved by applying a catalyst to regions of the parts that are to be fully cured. These regions cure at a lower-than-normal temperature while remaining regions of the part remain uncured, allowing them to be co-bonded or co-cured to other structures.

An octogrid structure and method of forming the same for a composite laminate structure is provided. The octogrid sub-structure comprises: a first ply layer comprising a plurality of first elongate tapes oriented in a first direction and a plurality of second elongate tapes oriented in a second direction; and a second ply layer comprising a plurality of third elongate tapes oriented in the first direction and a plurality of fourth elongate tapes oriented in the second direction, the second ply layer being overlaid atop the first ply layer. A first end of each of the elongate tapes is positioned approximately adjacent a midpoint of an adjacently positioned one of the elongate tapes; and a second and opposing end of each of elongate tapes extends freely beyond a central grid portion defined by a length of a portion between the first end and the midpoint of the elongate tapes.

A method for manufacturing a thermoplastic composite product includes: providing a first and second thermoplastic composite component made from a consolidated stack of thermoplastic composite plies, said first and second component having a first and second ply drop off, respectively. The first and second components are positioned such that the first ply drop off and the second ply drop off are aligned, and the first and second components are fixedly connected by means of heating. The stacks of plies for the first and second components are constructed by stacking the plies in a stacking direction wherein the plies are arranged such that plies at a different position along the stacking direction are laterally offset relative to each other for the purpose of forming the first ply drop off and the second ply drop off, respectively, before consolidating.

A vehicle crossmember is made from continuous fiber-reinforced polymeric material without the need for metallic structural reinforcements. The crossmember includes more than one fiber-reinforced material composition, including different amounts and/or types of fiber reinforcements along different lengthwise portions of a crossbar of the crossmember. Attachment points and stiffening ribs can be overmolded onto surfaces of the crossbar before assembling two halves of the crossbar together to form the crossmember.

A method for preparing a multi-material component including providing a fiber reinforced component, the fiber reinforced component having one or more working layers of a fiber reinforced composite material, wherein each of the one or more working layers includes one or more fiber reinforced composite material laminae. The method includes attaching the fiber reinforced component to a multi-material transition component, wherein the multi-material transition component includes a metallic component and a transition laminate includes a transition material, wherein the transition laminate includes one or more partially embedded transition laminae each having a first embedded end that is embedded in the metallic component. Also provided are multi-material transition components and multi-material components provided by the method.