Patent ID: 8703629

Claim:
An integrally woven three-dimensional preform with at least one sidewall in at least one direction constructed from a woven base fabric, the base fabric comprising two or more layers, wherein: the layers comprise fibers in a first direction and fibers in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; there is at least two interwoven regions comprising fibers of a first layer in the first direction interweaving with fibers of a second layer in the first direction; there is at least two integral sidewalls in the second direction and formed at the interwoven regions, wherein the integral sidewalls are formed by cutting and folding, perpendicular to the base fabric, a first portion of the first layer on a first side of the interwoven region together with a second portion of the first layer on a second side of the interwoven region; and there is at least two discontinuous non-integral sidewalls formed between the at least two interwoven regions such that the discontinuous non-integral sidewalls are cut and folded at angles relative to the integral sidewalls, and wherein the discontinuous non-integral sidewalls are joined to adjacent integral sidewalls and adjacent non-integral sidewalls to form one or more polygonal cells, each of the one or more polygonal cells being formed by joining a first end of each of the discontinuous non-integral sidewalls to one of the adjacent integral sidewalls and joining a second end of each of the discontinuous non-integral sidewalls to one of the adjacent non-integral sidewalls.