TOWARD FULLY UNITIZED STITCHED INFUSED COMPOSITE AEROSPACE STRUCTURES

Stitched resin infused composite structures offer a number of benefits over traditionally manufactured composite aerospace components. Among these benefits are reduced weight and reduced production time, frequently realized as a reduction in number or total elimination of traditional fastening methods (i.e., bolted joints or rivets). However, best practices for the design and manufacture of stitched resin infused composite parts are still under development. In this paper the development of the manufacturing process of a stitched resin infused composite strut as part of a 15 ft structural test article under the Advanced Air Transport Technology (AATT) and Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities (FDC) projects at NASA Langley Research Center is discussed. Topics covered in detail include design for manufacturing of a stitched resin infused composite strut, development of tooling, iterative manufacturing demonstrations, and development of stitching and composite-preform manufacturing processes. A discussion of lessons learned and proposed amendments to common practices for the development of stitched resin infused composite structures serves as a conclusion to this effort.