METHOD FOR FABRICATING A SANDWICH BOX IMPACT BEAM

摘要

A method for fabricating a sandwich box impact beam for a vehicle. The method includes fabricating inner and outer facing sandwich structures each including an inner facesheet, an outer facesheet and a micro-truss core therebetween. The micro-truss cores are an ordered three-dimensional network of self-propagating polymer waveguides grown from a photo-monomer resin using a controlled exposure to collimated UV light sources at specified orientations through a plurality of apertures in a mask. The method includes mounting the inner and outer sandwich structures so that an open area is provided therebetween where the inner facesheets face each other across the open area.

主权项

1. A method for fabricating a sandwich box beam, said method comprising:
providing a first inner facesheet; positioning a first mold in contact with the first inner facesheet so that the first mold and the first inner facesheet define a first enclosure; filling the first enclosure with a liquid photo-monomer resin; positioning a first mask with patterned apertures relative to the first mold; irradiating the liquid photo-monomer resin in the first enclosure through the apertures in the first mask with collimated UV light from a plurality of sources to form a partially cured first micro-truss core having a plurality of interconnected self-propagating photopolymer waveguides in a lattice configuration coupled to the first inner facesheet; removing uncured liquid photo-monomer resin from the first mold; removing the first mold from the partially cured first micro-truss core and the first inner facesheet; securing a first outer facesheet to the first micro-truss core to provide an outer facing sandwich structure; fully curing the first micro-truss core to a rigid state; providing a second inner facesheet; positioning a second mold in contact with the second inner facesheet so that the second mold and the second inner facesheet define a second enclosure; filling the second enclosure with a liquid photo-monomer resin; positioning a second mask with patterned apertures relative to the second mold; irradiating the liquid photo-monomer resin in the second enclosure through the apertures in the second mask with collimated UV light from a plurality of sources to form a partially cured second micro-truss core having a plurality of interconnected self-propagating photopolymer waveguides in a lattice configuration coupled to the second inner facesheet; removing uncured liquid photo-monomer resin from the second mold; removing the second mold from the partially cured second micro-truss core and the second inner facesheet; securing a second outer facesheet to the second micro-truss core to provide an inner facing sandwich structure; fully curing the second micro-truss core to a rigid state; and mounting the outer facing sandwich structure to the inner facing sandwich structure so that an open area is provided between the outer facing sandwich structure and the inner facing sandwich structure so that the first and second facesheets face each other across the open area.