PROCESS OF PRODUCING A STRUCTURAL CELL NUCLEUS, STRUCTURAL CELL NUCLEUS, STRUCTURAL COMPONENT, AND AIRCRAFT WING PRODUCED BY IT

摘要

A structural component including a structural cellular core for use in highly loaded structures such as those required on aircraft is constructed by (i) providing a plurality of mandrels, (ii) wrapping those mandrels in fibre reinforced thermosetting or thermoplastic material, (iii) arranging the wrapped mandrels in such a manner as to produce a charged mandrel assembly in which no two opposed faces of any two adjacent mandrels are without an intervening layer or layers of core material, (iv) subjecting the charged assembly to a consolidation treatment to bring the core material into a consolidated state and (v) removing the mandrels to produce the structural cellular core. A skin or skins can be bonded to the core so as to close off the core at one or both ends either by attaching skins to the consolidated core or including skin material in the consolidation treatment.