Fabricating symmetric and asymmetric shapes with off-axis reinforcement from symmetric preforms

摘要

A device for obtaining off-axis reinforcement of a woven object. The device is made up of a fixed mandrel and a rotating mandrel. The rotating mandrel is connected to the fixed mandrel by a shaft that rotates through the middle of the fixed mandrel. The shaft allows the rotating mandrel to move up and down in relation to the fixed mandrel. A portion of the woven object can be clamped to the fixed mandrel while a second portion of the woven object can be clamped to the rotating mandrel. When rotated, the rotating mandrel causes the warp fibers in the woven object to twist off the 0° direction while fill or hoop fibers remain substantially parallel to the 90° direction.