MODULAR MOLD AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A PANEL OF FIBER REINFORCED MATERIAL

Abstract

A modular mold for producing a panel including a panel of fiber reinforced material. The panel is configured to form hollow cells having an undulated trapezoidal cross-section. The mold includes at least three molding bars for forming each hollow cell. One of the molding bars has a trapezoidal cross shape. The other two molding bars have a triangular cross shape. The trapezoidal molding bar is located between the two triangular molding bars. The three molding bars when put together its cross-section forms the shape of the trapezoidal cross-section of the hollow cell.

Claims

1. A modular mold for producing a panel, wherein the panel includes a layer of fiber reinforced material and the layer is configured to form trapezoidal hollow cells each having, at least partially, a trapezoidal shape in cross-section, the modular mold includes: at least three molding bars for forming each of the trapezoidal hollow cells of the layer, wherein the at least three molding bars includes: a first molding bar having a trapezoidal shape in cross section, and a second molding bar and third molding bar each having a triangular shape in cross section; wherein the first molding bar is configured to be positioned between the second and third molding bars to form an assembly of the first, second and third molding bars, and wherein the assembly has a trapezoidal shape in cross section which conforms to a cross sectional shape of one of the trapezoidal hollow cells of the panel.

2. The modular mold according to claim 1, wherein the layer is further configured to form hexagonal hollow cells in addition to the trapezoidal hollow cells, wherein for each of the hexagonal hollow cells the modular mold comprises: a hexagonal assembly having a hexagonal shape in cross section conforming to at least one of the hexagonal hollow cells, wherein the hexagonal assembly is formed by two trapezoidal molding bars each having a trapezoidal shape in cross section and four triangular molding bars each having a triangular shape in cross shape, wherein each of the two trapezoidal molding bars are sandwiched between two of the four triangular molding bars.

3. The modular mold according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the hexagonal hollow cells is a reentrant auxetic hexagonal hollow cell.

4. The modular mold according to claim 2, wherein, in the hexagonal assembly, each of the two trapezoidal molding bars are split into two parts along a slope plane perpendicular to a respective base of each of the two trapezoidal molding bars, wherein the slope plane forms an acute angle with a longitudinal axis of the respective trapezoidal molding bar.

5. The modular mold according to claim 2, wherein, in the hexagonal assembly, each of the trapezoidal molding bars and each of the triangular molding bars are split into two parts along a respective slope plane which forms an acute angle to a longitudinal axis of the respective trapezoidal or triangular molding bar.

6. A method for manufacturing a panel comprising a layer of fiber reinforced material, wherein the layer forms hollow cells, the method comprising: for each of the hollow cells open towards a first panel, arranging a first assembly of three molding bars each having a longitudinal axis parallel to the first panel, wherein a trapezoidal molding bar of the three molding bars has a trapezoidal shape in cross section, and two triangular molding bars each have a triangular shape in cross section, wherein the trapezoidal molding bar is positioned between the two triangular molding bars, and wherein each of the first assemblies has a trapezoidal shape in cross section; leaving a gap between adjacent ones of the assemblies arranged on the first panel; applying a first layer of fiber reinforced material to the assemblies and to the first panel such that the first layer conforms to the exposed surfaces of each assembly and to a surface of the first panel at each of the gaps; positioning on the first layer in each of the gaps, a second assembly of three molding bars including a pair of triangular molding bars and a trapezoidal molding bar between the pair of triangular molding bars to form a hollow cell open towards a direction opposite to the first panel, wherein each of the second assemblies have a trapezoidal shape in cross section; positioning a second panel to cover the first layer of fiber reinforced material, the first assemblies and the second assemblies; curing the layer of fiber reinforced material while the layer and the assemblies are positioned between the first and second panels, and demolding the molding bars from the cured layer of fiber reinforced material.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the first assemblies is arranged by positioning a narrow base of the trapezoidal bar and apexes of each of the two triangular bars to face the first panel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the second assemblies is arranged by positioning a wide base of the trapezoidal bar and the apexes of each of the two triangular bars on the layer in one of the gaps.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising applying external layers on the cured layer to form a honeycomb core sandwiched panel.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising applying a sheet of material over at least a portion of the first layer of the reinforced material before the second panel is positioned over the first layer.

11. The method of claim 6 further comprising: positioning on each of the second assemblies a third assembly of two triangular bars and a trapezoidal bar between the two triangular bars such that the two triangular bars are aligned with the two triangular bars of a corresponding second assembly and the trapezoidal bar of the third assembly is aligned with the trapezoidal bar of the second assembly, and applying a second layer of fiber reinforced material over the third assemblies and the first layer, such that the second layer conforms to exposed surfaces of the third assemblies and the first layer, wherein the positioning of the second panel including cover the second layer and the third assemblies with the second panel.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein apexes of each of the two triangular bars of the third assembly are aligned with apexes of the two triangular bars of the second assemblies along a direction perpendicular to the first panel, and a narrow bases of the trapezoidal bar in each of the third assemblies is aligned with a narrow base of the trapezoidal bar in a corresponding one of the second assemblies.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising positioning on the second layer of fiber reinforced material fourth assemblies each aligned with one of the first assemblies along a direction perpendicular to the first panel, wherein the fourth assembly includes two triangular bars and a trapezoidal bar between the two triangular bars such that the two triangular bars each have an apex facing the second panel and the trapezoidal bar has a wide base facing the second panel.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing a sheet of material between the first and second layers of reinforced material.

15. The method of claim 6, further comprising providing a first external layer the cured layers to cover open cells in the cured layer formed by the first assemblies.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein a second external layer is applied to a side of the cured layer opposite to first external layer.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] To complete the description and in order to provide for a better understanding of the invention, a set of drawings is provided. The drawings form an integral part of the description and illustrate embodiments of the invention. The drawings comprise the following figures.

[0039] FIG. 1 shows a cross section of a first embodiment of a mold and a honeycomb (corrugated) core fiber reinforced layer in the mold.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows a cross section of a second embodiment of the mold and a reentrant core fiber reinforced layer in the mold.

[0041] FIG. 3 shows a cross section of a third embodiment of the mold and a core fiber reinforced layer having a hexagonal hollow cell.

[0042] FIG. 4 shows a cross section of a fourth embodiment of the mold and an auxetic core fiber reinforced layer having a reentrant hexagonal hollow cell.

[0043] FIG. 5 shows the method of manufacturing a core fiber reinforced layer according to FIG. 1.

[0044] FIG. 6 shows the method of manufacturing a core fiber reinforced layer according to FIG. 2.

[0045] FIG. 7 shows the method of demolding the mold according to FIG. 1.

[0046] FIG. 8 shows the method of demolding the mold according to FIG. 2.

[0047] FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C illustrate front view (9A), side view (9B) and bottom view with a mold panel removed (9C) a first embodiment of a closed cell demolding configuration.

[0048] FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C illustrate front view (10A), side view (10B) and bottom view with mold panel removed (10C) of a second embodiment of a closed cell demolding configuration.

[0049] FIG. 11 shows the demolding steps of the embodiment of FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C.

[0050] FIG. 12 shows the demolding steps of the embodiment of FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C.

[0051] FIGS. 13A and 13B show a sandwich panel with embedded alternative materials for potential high energy impacts absorption.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0052] FIG. 1 discloses an embodiment of a honeycomb core being molded from a fiber reinforced panel (10), such as a carbon fiber woven or non-woven material. The core is held between a lower mold panel (1), e.g., table, and an upper mold panel (11). After the molding process and after molding bars (4, 5) are removed, the cured fiber reinforced panel (10) may be sandwiched between external layers which are positioned where the mold panels (1, 11) were positioned. The external layers may be made of a homogeneous material, for instance, a metallic material.

[0053] The honeycomb core is made of a fiber reinforced panel (10) molded to form hollow cells (3). Each cell (3) comprises has a trapezoidal shape in cross-section. Each cell (3) is an open cell in that a side of the cell is open to and formed by one of the external layers (represented by mold panels 1, 11). The hollow cells extend the length of the core fiber reinforced panel (10), wherein each cell extends along a straight line axes parallel to the other cells in the panel (10). An open hollow cell (3, 8) has one side that is adjacent one of the layers, e.g., panels, (1, 11). A closed hollow cell (9, 10) is covered on all sides by a layer(s) (10) of fiber reinforced materials.

[0054] The mold assembly for each of the cells (3) comprises three molding bars (4, 5). Each of the molding bars is straight along a longitudinal axis of the cell and may extend from a front edge to a rear edge of the mold panel (1, 11). One of the molding bars (4) has a trapezoidal shape in cross section. The other two molding bars (5) have a triangular shape in cross section. The trapezoidal molding bar (4) is located between the two triangular bars (5). The three molding bars (4, 5) when assembled form an assembly that has a trapezoidal shape in cross section which conforms to the cross section of the hollow cell (3). The assemblies of two triangular bars (5) and one trapezoidal bar (4) are arranged side by side, such that each assembly of bars (5, 4) is inverted as compared to an adjacent assembly. The assemblies each have a longitudinal axis extending perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1.

[0055] The hollow cells (3) shown in FIG. 1 are formed by assembling the molding bars such that the bases of the two triangular bars (5) and the narrow base of the trapezoidal bar (4) face mold panel (1, 11) and the other surfaces of the assembly of molding bars are covered by the fiber reinforced panel (10). This arrangement of the fiber reinforced panel (10) and assembly of mold bars (4, 5) results in open hollow cells (3) having a wide opening of the cell which is wider than the closed opposite side of the cell. FIG. 5 shows an example for assembling the trapezoidal bar (4) and two triangular bars (5) are assembled for a hollow cell (3) shown in FIG. 1.

[0056] FIG. 2 discloses another embodiment in which a fiber reinforced panel (10) is molded into open hollow cell (8) that have a narrow open side of the cell as compared to a wide closed opposite side of the cell. The open hollow cell (8) forms a reentrant shape and the resulting molded fiber reinforced panel (10) that can a cured auxetic core between external layers.

[0057] In FIG. 2, each of the hollow cells (8) is formed by positioning the wide base of the trapezoidal bar (4) to face a panel (1, 11), and the tips (apexes) of the triangular bars (5) to face the same panel. A difference between FIG. 2 and FIG. 1 is that the narrow base of the triangular bar (4) faces the fiber reinforced panel (10) in FIG. 2 and the wide based of the triangular bar (4) faces the fiber reinforced panel (10) in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the fiber reinforced panel (10) is arranged such that it faces the narrow base of the trapezoidal bar (4) and the bases of both the triangular bars (5). The fiber reinforced panel (10) is sandwiched between sides of adjacent triangular bars (5) in both FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 6 depicts the molding process for open cells (8) shown in FIG. 2.

[0058] FIGS. 3 and 4 show closed hollow cells (9, 10) formed by stacked rows of triangular (5, 6) and trapezoidal (4, 7) molding bars with the previously described configuration. The molding bars (3, 4, 5, 6) in FIGS. 1 to 4 are arranged to be parallel to a longitudinal axis of the core (2) and parallel to the interior surfaces of the layers (1, 11).

[0059] Pairs of open cells (3, 4) described in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2 may be combined to form a closed cell (9, 10) as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The molding process of a closed cell is similar to that for an open cell (3, 4) configuration. To form a closed cell a pair of assemblies of molding bars (4, 5 and 6, 7) are stacked one on top of the other. The molding process is replicable for as many cells as needed.

[0060] Specifically the assemblies of molding bars used to form a closed hollow cell (9, 10) includes two triangular bars (5) which sandwich a trapezoidal bar (4), and a second assembly of two triangular bars (6) and one trapezoidal bar (7). The two assemblies are stacked one on the other. The stacked pair of assemblies may form in cross section a hexagonal shape as shown as (9) in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the stacked pair of assemblies may form another polygon shape, such as (15) shown in FIG. 4. The hollow cells (9, 15) having an upper surface adjacent and parallel to the interior face of the upper panel (11) and the lower surface of the cell (i) is adjacent and parallel to the interior face of the lower panel (1).

[0061] Between each of the stacked assemblies forming a closed hollow cell (9, 15) are a pair of three molding bars (4, 5 and 6, 7) which each form a hollow cell (3) similar to those shown in FIG. 1. Two fiber reinforced layers (10) are arranged such that the layers cover entirely the outer surfaces of the stacked assemblies defining the hexagonal closed hollow cell (9). The two fiber reinforced layers (10) cover a portion of the outer surfaces of the hollow cells (3) but do not cover surfaces of the hollow cells (3) that face and are adjacent one of the layers (1, 11).

[0062] The pairs of assemblies of molding bars (4, 5, 6, 7) may be arranged to form an hexagonal hollow cell (3) or a reentrant polygon hollow cell (3) depending on how the trapezoidal molding bars (4, 7) are assembled.

[0063] FIG. 5 illustrates a method for forming the honeycomb core panel shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 6 illustrates a method for forming the honeycomb core panel shown in FIG. 2. Both methods include the following steps:

[0064] (i) providing the first external panel (1),

[0065] (ii) providing on the first external panel (1), an assembly of three molding bars (4, 5) for each open hollow cell (3) which is to open towards the first external panel (1). The assembly includes a trapezoidal molding bar (4) sandwiched between a pair of triangular molding bars (5). The molding bars are arranged such that their longitudinal axes are parallel to each other and to the surface of the panel (1). Also, the axes are perpendicular to the plane shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. A gap (16) on the panel (1) is left between the assemblies for another assembly of three molding bars.

[0066] (iii) providing a layer(s) (10) of fibers reinforced layers (s), such as carbon fiber composite layers, over the assemblies of molding bars (4, 5) arranged on the first external panel (1). The fiber reinforced layer(s) (10) conforms to the exposed outer surfaces of the assemblies of molding bars (4, 5) and to the exposed surface of the first external panel (1) at gap (16).

[0067] (iv) providing over the reinforced core panel (10) and in the gap 16 between assemblies of molding bars (4, 5), additional assemblies of three molding bars (4, 5) each having a trapezoidal molding bar (3) sandwiched between a pair of triangular molding bars (4). Each of the assemblies of molding bars has a shape in cross section similar to a trapezoidal shape of the open hollow cell (3) to be formed from the fiber reinforced layer(s) (10). The additional assemblies positioned on the panel (10) as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are each to be open to and face an inner surface of the second external panel (11),

[0068] (v) providing the second external panel (11) over the fiber reinforced panel (10) and the molding bars (4, 5) (see FIGS. 1 and 2),

[0069] (vi) curing the fiber reinforced panel (10) while conforming to the outer shapes of the assemblies of molding and the inner surfaces of the first and second external layers (1, 11), and

[0070] (vii) demolding the molding bars (4, 5) by removing the bars from the cured fiber reinforced layer.

[0071] For the demolding process of the open hollow cells (3), in the case of the re-entrant shapes, as shown in FIG. 8, the demolding must be carried out opposite to the molding. The trapezoidal molding bar (4) has to be extracted first, as this is the molding bar that holds both triangular molding bars (5) in place. Right after the trapezoidal shape (4) has been removed the triangular shapes (5) can be extracted. In the case of corrugated shapes, the trapezoidal (4) and triangular (6) bars can be demolded at the same time.

[0072] For the closed hollow cells (3) configuration, the demolding is performed by removing the bars from the cells (3) along the longitudinal direction. In order to do so, two different concepts have been devised and are shown in FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C, and in FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C, as well as FIGS. 11 and 12.

[0073] FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C show a first demolding process in which the triangular molding bars (5, 6) are kept unaltered. However, the trapezoidal molding bars (4, 7) are split into two parts along a slope plan (12) perpendicular to the bases of the trapezoidal bars (4, 7) and forming an angle with the longitudinal axis of the molding bar (4, 7). The split in the trapezoidal bar (4, 7) aids in removing the bar from the hollow cell.

[0074] The demolding sequences of a closed cell differ from the one performed in the open cell (3). With an open cell, some or all of the molding bars may be lifted from the cured in a direction out of the plane of the exterior panel (1). The out of plane direction of extraction is not an option with the closed cells. Consequently, molding bars (4, 5, 6, 7) have to be extracted axially from the open lateral sides of the molds, as it can be seen in FIG. 11.

[0075] More specifically, each triangular part (5, 6) is joined to a split of the trapezoidal part (4, 7), those parts forming a unit. These units are extracted in their predefined demolding directions by means of the vertical sloped splitting plane (12) perpendicular to the bases of the trapezoidal molding bar (4, 7) and forming an angle with the longitudinal direction of the trapezoidal molding bar (4, 7). Ones in a first step in one of the longitudinal directions of the cells (3), and the remaining ones in a second step in the opposite longitudinal direction of the cells (3). This is shown schematically in FIG. 11.

[0076] FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C show a second process for the demolding process in which both the trapezoidal cross shape molding bars (4, 7) and the triangular molding bars (5, 6) are split into two parts by a slope plane (13) perpendicular to a plane perpendicular to the bases of the trapezoidal and triangular bars (4, 5, 6, 7) in the longitudinal direction and that forms an angle with the longitudinal direction of the molding bars (4, 5, 6, 7). The sloped plane (13) is placed horizontal instead of vertical, and in order to ease the demolding it must cut all the adjacent parts per cell, trapezoidal and triangular (4, 5, 6, 7), thus achieving less commonality than the first embodiment. In this case the molding bars (4, 5, 6, 7) can be joined in groups of three by means of a joint so that more parts can be demolded at the same time.

[0077] The demolding process is similar to the first embodiment. The parts must also be demolded in their predefined by means of the horizontal sloped splitting plane (13) demolding directions. This process is detailed in FIG. 12. In a first step the inner cells (3) parts are extracted in alternative longitudinal directions of the cells (3), and in a second step the remaining ones are extracted in the opposite alternative longitudinal direction of the cells (3).

[0078] The mold and the process also give the opportunity to embed different types of materials as can be seen in FIGS. 13A and 13B, in which a sheet of material (14) is located between the external layers (1, 11) and the core panel (10) at the head of the hollow cells (3) and a sheet of material (14) is also provided between two fiber reinforced layers (10) of adjacent cells (3) or even between the molding bars (4,5) and the reinforced panel (10). This opportunity is especially interesting for high energy prone impact cells faces. Those materials range from high compressive strength materials to shock absorption polymers. Some examples of these embeddable materials could be: ceramics, elastomers, metals.

[0079] While at least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention(s) is disclosed herein, it should be understood that modifications, substitutions and alternatives may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the exemplary embodiment(s). In addition, in this disclosure, the terms comprise or comprising do not exclude other elements or steps, the terms a or one do not exclude a plural number, and the term or means either or both. Furthermore, characteristics or steps which have been described may also be used in combination with other characteristics or steps and in any order unless the disclosure or context suggests otherwise. This disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the complete disclosure of any patent or application from which it claims benefit or priority.