US-12618177-B2 - Method of manufacturing a woven fabric for a composite component for a turbine engine

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a woven fabric for a composite component for a turbine engine. The method includes weaving a plurality of reinforcing fiber tows to form a woven fabric with a surface. The reinforcing fiber tows include a plurality of first fiber tows and a plurality of second fiber tows oriented transversely to the plurality of first fiber tows. The woven fabric is a three-dimensional woven fabric. The method also includes forming, during weaving the plurality of reinforcing fiber tows, a cavity extending in the first direction. Forming the cavity includes positioning the plurality of first fiber tows to create the cavity and weaving the plurality of second fiber tows around the cavity. The method further includes forming, during weaving the plurality of reinforcing fiber tows, a slit connecting the cavity to the surface.

Inventors

• Mingchao Wang
• Mitchell Boyer
• Ming Xie
• Douglas Lorrimer Armstrong

Assignees

• GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20240524

Claims (19)

1. 1 . A method of manufacturing a woven fabric for a composite component for a turbine engine, the method comprising: weaving a plurality of reinforcing fiber tows to form a woven fabric with a surface, the reinforcing fiber tows including a plurality of first fiber tows, a plurality of second fiber tows oriented transversely to the plurality of first fiber tows, and a plurality of interlocking fiber tows, the woven fabric being a three-dimensional woven fabric having a first direction, a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and a thickness direction orthogonal to each of the first direction and the second direction, the plurality of first fiber tows being arranged in the thickness direction to form a plurality of first fiber layers and the plurality of second fiber tows being arranged in the thickness direction to form a plurality of second fiber layers, and the plurality of interlocking fiber tows extending in the first direction and the thickness direction; forming, during weaving the plurality of reinforcing fiber tows, a cavity extending in the first direction by: positioning the plurality of first fiber tows to create the cavity; and weaving the plurality of second fiber tows around the cavity; and forming, during weaving the plurality of reinforcing fiber tows, a slit extending in the second direction and connecting the cavity to the surface.
2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first fiber tows is a plurality of warp fiber tows and the plurality of second fiber tows is a plurality of weft fiber tows.
3. 3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first direction is a warp direction and the second direction is a weft direction.
4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the woven fabric includes a first portion and a second portion opposing the first portion with the slit therebetween, the plurality of second fiber tows being woven to extend from the first portion around the cavity and to the second portion.
5. 5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first portion and the second portion are free from interconnection across the slit by the plurality of second fiber tows.
6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the woven fabric includes a first portion and a second portion opposing the first portion with the slit therebetween, the first portion and the second portion being free from interconnection across the slit by the plurality of interlocking fiber tows.
7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, during weaving the plurality of reinforcing fiber tows, a portion of one or more second fiber tows of the plurality of second fiber tows extends beyond the surface in a region of the cavity.
8. 8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising trimming the portion of the one or more second fiber tows that extends beyond the surface.
9. 9 . A method of manufacturing a preform for a composite component for a turbine engine, the method comprising: preparing a woven fabric using the method of claim 1 ; inserting a tube through the slit; and positioning the tube in the cavity, the tube having an opening extending in the first direction.
10. 10 . A method of forming a composite component, the method comprising: preparing a preform using the method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of reinforcing fiber tows includes prepreg fiber tows comprising a matrix material; and curing the preform including the matrix material to generate the composite component.
11. 11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the composite component is an airfoil including a spanwise direction, and the method further comprises positioning the woven fabric with the first direction extending in the spanwise direction.
12. 12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein curing the preform removes the slit.
13. 13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the tube is in contact with the matrix material after curing the preform.
14. 14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the matrix material surrounds the tube.
15. 15 . A method of forming a composite component, the method comprising: preparing a preform using the method of claim 9 ; injecting a matrix material into the preform to generate an infiltrated preform; and curing the infiltrated preform to generate the composite component.
16. 16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the composite component is an airfoil including a spanwise direction, and the method further comprises positioning the woven fabric with the first direction extending in the spanwise direction.
17. 17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the curing the infiltrated preform removes the slit.
18. 18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the tube is in contact with the matrix material after curing the preform.
19. 19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the matrix material surrounds the tube.

Description

GOVERNMENT INTEREST This invention was made with United States Government support. The United States Government may have certain rights in the invention. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to three-dimensional woven fabrics and methods of forming the woven fabrics, particularly, woven fabrics used in composite components for aircraft engines. BACKGROUND Turbine engines used in aircraft generally include a fan and a turbo-engine section arranged in flow communication with one another. A combustor is arranged in the turbo-engine to generate combustion gases for driving a turbine in the turbo-engine of the turbine engine, and the turbine may be used to drive the fan. A portion of air flowing into the fan flows through the turbo-engine as core air, and another portion of the air flowing into the fan bypasses the core section and flows through the turbine engine as bypass air. The turbo-engine section may include one or more compressors to compress the core air before the core air flows into the combustor. Composite materials may be used to manufacture various components of the turbine engine, particularly, when the turbine engine is a turbine engine for an aircraft. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following description of various exemplary embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. FIG. 1 is a schematic, cross-sectional view of a turbine engine of for an aircraft. FIG. 2A is a schematic view of a three-dimensional fiber weave pattern. FIG. 2B is a schematic, cross-sectional view of the fiber weave pattern shown in FIG. 2A taken along line 2B-2B in FIG. 2A. FIG. 2C is a schematic, cross-sectional view of a fiber weave pattern shown similar to fiber weave pattern shown in FIG. 2A, but with a different interlocking fiber pattern. FIG. 2D is a schematic, cross-sectional view of a fiber weave pattern shown similar to fiber weave pattern shown in FIG. 2A, but with another interlocking fiber pattern. FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a general process for manufacturing a composite component that may be used in the turbine engine of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view, taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 1, of an airfoil that may be used in the turbine engine shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a woven fabric that may be used to form the airfoil shown in FIG. 4. FIGS. 6A and 6B are schematics views illustrating steps of manufacturing a preform using the woven fabric shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 6A is a first step and FIG. 6B is a second step subsequent to the steps shown in FIG. 6A. FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view, from a perspective similar to FIG. 4, of an airfoil that may be used in the turbine engine shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 8 is a schematic view of another woven fabric that may be used to form the airfoil shown in FIG. 7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Features, advantages, and embodiments of the present disclosure are set forth or apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, the following detailed description is exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the disclosure as claimed. Various embodiments are discussed in detail below. While specific embodiments are discussed, this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without departing from the present disclosure. As used herein, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and the like, may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. The terms “coupled,” “fixed,” “attached,” “connected,” and the like, refer to both direct coupling, fixing, attaching, or connecting, as well as indirect coupling, fixing, attaching, or connecting through one or more intermediate components or features, unless otherwise specified herein. As used herein, the terms “axial” and “axially” refer to directions and orientations that extend substantially parallel to a centerline of the turbine engine. Moreover, the terms “radial” and “radially” refer to directions and orientations that extend substantially perpendicular to the centerline of the turbine engine. In addition, as used herein, the terms “circumferential” and “circumferentially” refer to directions and orientations that extend arcuately about the centerline of the turbine engine. The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Here and throughout the specification and claims, range limitations are combined and interchanged. Such ranges are identified and include all the sub-ranges contained therein unless context or language indicates otherwise. Fo