Patent ID: 6837952

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a bowl of thermostructural composite material formed by fiber reinforcement densified by a matrix, the method comprising making a preform constituting the fiber reinforcement by draping two-dimensional fiber plies on a former of a shape corresponding to the shape of the bowl to be made, and densifying the preform with a material constituting the matrix of the composite material, the method further comprising: using deformable two-dimensional fiber plies, superposing said plies on the former, deforming the plies so that the plies fit closely on said former by deforming without forming folds, bonding the superposed plies to one another by means of fibers extending transversely relative to the plies so as to obtain a one-piece bowl preform which is subsequently densified, and wherein the deformable two dimensional fiber plies used are whole, being free from any cutouts or slots, thereby obtaining a preform for a complete bowl in one piece, and densification is performed on the complete bowl preform, and a hole is made through the bottom of the preform prior to densification of the preform by chemical vapor infiltration, and the hole is subsequently closed by a plug.