Patent ID: 9669587
Date: 2017-06-06
CPC Classifications: B29C,B29D,B29K,B29L,B32B,Y10T

Claim:
1. A method of fabricating a composite structure, comprising: forming a first composite layup and a second composite layup; staging at least a first portion of the first composite layup and a first portion of the second composite layup by partially curing each of the first portion of the first composite layup and the first portion of the second composite layup to a stage in which the first portion of the first composite layup and the first portion of the second composite layup are each substantially rigid but less than fully cured, with a second portion of the first composite layup and a second portion of the second composite layup each being fully cured; subsequently, assembling the layups, including using fully cured second portions of the first composite layup and the second composite layup as reference surfaces to locate the first composite layup relative to the second composite layup, bringing the first portion of the first composite layup into contact with the second composite layup and bringing the first portion of the second composite layup into contact with the first composite layup; and subsequently, cocuring the first portion of the first composite layup with the first portion of the second composite layup, including wherein other portions of the first composite layup other than the first portion located along a width of the first composite layup are brought to a full cure without cocuring the other portions to the second composite layup.