Composite fabrication system and associated methods. In one embodiment, a composite fabrication system comprises a molding tool that includes a forming surface at least partially disposed within a constrained space, and a foamable material that expands inside of the constrained space to form an expanded material that presses a layup of one or more composite layers against the molding tool. The composite fabrication system further comprises a curing device configured to cure the layup to form a composite part, and a cutting wire embedded in the constrained space that is heated and configured to cut the expanded material into pieces that are removable from the constrained space.

Disclosed is joining device for joining a trailing end of a first strip to a leading end of a second strip to form a tire component. The joining device includes a support member with a support surface and a retaining member with a retaining surface for retaining the second strip. The joining device is arranged for positioning the leading end of the second strip in a joining orientation in which said leading end is closer to the support plane than the rest. The joining device also includes a control unit for controlling a relative movement between the support member and the retaining member with a first component in a placement direction to place the leading end of the second strip and a second component in a joining direction to bring the leading end of the second strip into contact with the trailing end of the first strip.

A method is provided in one example embodiment and may include assembling a first component and a second component together using, at least in part, a first adhesive film on the first component and a second adhesive film on the second component, wherein the first component and the second component are fully cured and the first adhesive film and the second adhesive film are at least partially uncured; and curing the first adhesive film and the second adhesive film to form a bonded structure.

A carrier film set configured to apply a number of stiffener assemblies to a layup mandrel, the carrier film set comprising: a number of alignment features configured to align the carrier film set relative to the layup mandrel; and a number of indexing features configured to index the number of stiffener assemblies onto the carrier film set.

A wrapped V-belt includes: a belt main body containing a compression layer containing a compression rubber layer and a fabric-laminated body layer a tension rubber layer and a tension member buried between the compression layer and the tension rubber layer; and an outside cloth that covers a periphery of the belt main body, in which the compression layer has a plurality of notch portions not covered with the outside cloth, and the notch portion has a top disposed in the fabric-laminated body layer.

A method for the integration of continuous J shaped spars in extended panels of composite material in which J shaped spars are each arranged on a rectilinear support having at least one right triangle shaped portion, and the spars carried by the respective rectilinear supports are subsequently arranged on a stratified structure carried by a mould. A vacuum bag is created which covers the stratified structure, the rectilinear supports, and the J shaped spars. Holes are created in the vacuum bag at respective connection points made along each rectilinear support. A supporting structure provided with hooking and adjusting elements with the connection points adjusts the position of each hooking and adjusting element with respect to the supporting structure in order to position the rectilinear support in a direction parallel to the vertical so that the position of the end portion of the J shaped spar, with respect to the mould, corresponds to that foreseen by the design.

A composite radius filler material is provided. The composite radius filler includes a resin, a first group of fibers dispersed within the resin, and a second group of fibers dispersed within the resin. The first group of fibers has a first length configured to facilitate orientation in a longitudinal direction. The second group of fibers has a second length that is shorter than the first length, with the second group of fibers configured to facilitate random orientation in a transverse direction.

An endless belt includes a band-shaped belt main body made of a vulcanized rubber, and a coupling part that is made of a thermoplastic resin and is provided between both end parts of the belt main body, wherein the vulcanized rubber of the both end parts of the belt main body and the thermoplastic resin of the coupling part are chemically bonded to each other.

An apparatus for processing an elongated structure includes a mold within which an uncross-linked rubber material is placed, at least one heating unit configured to heat the mold, and a pressure device configured to press the rubber material using the mold heated by the heating unit to promote shaping the rubber material by the mold while proceeding the cross-linking of the rubber material. The heating unit includes a central heating device configured to heat a longitudinal central portion of the mold, multiple cooling devices configured to cool two longitudinal end portions of the mold, multiple intermediate heating devices configured to heat two intermediate portions between the longitudinal central portion and the longitudinal end portions of the mold, heat shield plates disposed between the central heating device and the intermediate heating devices, and heat shield plates disposed between the cooling devices and the intermediate heating devices.

Systems and methods are provided for fabricating gap fillers for composite parts. One exemplary system includes a controller that acquires a geometry for a gap filler that will occupy a volume at a joint between laminates of curable constituent material, subdivides the geometry of the gap filler into layers, and for each layer: identifies variations in width of the layer along a length of the gap filler, and generates instructions for trimming a web of curable constituent material to match the variations in width of the layer. The system also includes rollers that dispense webs of the curable constituent material, trimmers that trim the webs of the curable constituent material based on the instructions, and compaction rollers that compact the trimmed webs together to fabricate the gap filler.