An apparatus for consolidating fiber-reinforced resin material comprises a housing, comprising a barrel and a receptacle. The receptacle comprises a base, a lid, positionable relative to the base and relative to the barrel such that the housing is in an open state or a closed state, and a de-gassing port. The apparatus comprises a gasket that is in contact with the lid, the base, and the barrel when the housing is in the closed state. The apparatus comprises a piston, movable between a retracted position, in which the piston, in its entirety, is in the barrel, and an extended position, in which a portion of the piston is in the receptacle and another portion of the piston is in the barrel. The apparatus comprises a seal, which is in contact with the piston and the barrel, and a drive system, configured to control movement of the piston.

A system includes a mandrel contoured to define a tapering tubular shape of a workpiece cured on the mandrel and a demolding tool. The demolding tool is configured to remove the workpiece from the mandrel after the workpiece is cured on the mandrel and cut longitudinally. The demolding tool is configured to remove the workpiece from the mandrel by deforming a first end of the workpiece to at least partially disengage the first end of the workpiece from a first end of the mandrel, and subsequently, deforming a second end of the workpiece to at least partially disengage the second end of the workpiece from a second end of the mandrel. The first end of the workpiece may have a first cross-sectional area that is smaller than a second cross-sectional area of the second end of the workpiece.

A lightweight and durable window well is composed of a long fiber reinforced thermoplastic (LFRT). The lightweight and durable window well has at least some fibers that are omnidirectional relative to the other fibers in the thermoplastic. Additionally, at least some fibers of the LFRT have a length greater than 40 mm. The window well also has a body having a plurality of ribs interposed between a plurality of wall surface portions. Additionally, each rib is positioned between two different wall surface portions and is defined by a variable height and a variable depth. Furthermore, the wall surface portions have a variable thickness that varies from a minimal thickness of less than 3 mm to a maximum thickness of greater than 5 mm, with the wall surface being thicker near the ribs than at portions furthest from the ribs in the wall surface.

A method and apparatus for forming a composite structure. A plurality of consolidated overbraided thermoplastic preforms are co-consolidated in a circumferential stackup that is circumferentially constrained. Fibers of the plurality of consolidated overbraided thermoplastic preforms are tensioned during co-consolidation.

A molding process for the production of a cover wall section for a cover in which the cover wall section has at least one multi-layer fabric that has a reinforcement and, at least on one side, preferably on both sides, a polymer coating, has the following process steps: Provision of at least one multi-layer fabric; draping of the at least one fabric over a molding surface of a mold and stretching of the at least one fabric across the molding surface by at least one tension element; and curing of the at least one fabric and/or the at least one tension element in such a way that the cover wall section is fixed in its shape.

Problems of high impact resistance and “warpage” of a molded body are solved by a method for producing a molded body, including: using a mold MA and a mold MB, which are a pair of male and female molds, to compression-mold a material A and a material B in contact with the mold MA and the mold MB, respectively, in which the material A contains a carbon fiber and a thermoplastic resin M1, and the material B contains a glass fiber and a thermoplastic resin M2, the molded body includes a pair of side walls and a connecting wall that is connected to the side walls, the molded body has a wave shape in cross section, and a relationship between a flatness Fa of the molded body and a height h of the side wall satisfies 0≤Fa/h<1.3.

A system for constructing a composite structure includes a braiding machine, a winding tool and a forming machine. The composite structure is constructed of a wound tubular braiding. The wound tubular braiding is constructed of a biaxial or triaxial tubular braid of unidirectional tape.

A mold for producing a metal-resin composite by press-forming a metal member and integrally molding the metal member that is press-formed and a resin material includes an upper mold and a lower mold that sandwich the metal member and the resin material. The upper mold includes a first press surface for press-forming the metal member and a second press surface for integrally molding the metal member and the resin material. A distance between the first press surface and the lower mold is shorter than a distance between the second press surface and the lower mold.

A polymer composite composition for use in high temperature applications such as furnaces, heat shields and aeronautical jet and rocket motors. In a particular application, the disclosed composition is applied to the manufacture of rocket motor cases, or parts thereof, to provide rigid thermal protection (RTP). The polymer composite composition comprises cyanate ester resin, fine lengths of carbon fibre and refractory filler material.

A composite laminate stiffener is formed to contour with reduced ply wrinkling using constrained creep forming. The tooling apparatus is provided with flexible cauls which constrain the stiffener during the contour forming process. The creep forming is carried out at a slow enough rate so that friction or shear resistance between the resin and fibers of the plies remains low enough that slippage can occur and significant compression stresses are not generated rate, allowing relaxation of residual stresses in the stiffener.