Patent ID: 9724891
Date: 2017-08-08
CPC Classifications: B29C,B29L,B32B,Y10T

Claim:
1. A beaded composite part fabricated by the method of: forming at least one opening in at least one ply of a prepreg material or a composite dry fiber cloth; placing the at least one ply on a tool having a raised bead feature, wherein placing the at least one ply on the tool includes aligning and forcing the at least one opening down over the raised bead feature so as to substantially conform the at least one ply to a contour of the raised bead feature, and wherein forcing the at least one opening down over the raised bead feature produces a gap in the at least one ply; at least partially filling the gap with a filler; fabricating a composite patch; and placing the composite patch over a top of the at least one opening in the at least one ply.