Method and apparatus for forming contoured composite stiffeners

摘要

Tooling apparatus (68) for forming a composite charge (55) into a contoured composite blade stringer (50) includes an elongate punch and an elongate die flexible along their lengths. The charge is press formed by using the punch to drive the charge into the die. The punch and the die are mounted between a pair of flexible plates. A press coupled with the plates contours the charge by bending the plates into a desired contour.