Appeal No. 2006-0132
Application No. 09/946,627
FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND APPEALED SUBJECT MATTER
The subject matter on appeal “relates to assembly of
components using Z-pins….” See the specification, page 1. This
appealed subject matter is defined in twenty-eight claims. See
the Brief, page 2. Of these claims, claims 1, 3, 7, 11, 13, 18,
22, 23, 27 and 28 are representative and read as follows:
1. A method for bonding a woven preform to a composite
component, the method comprising:
(a) providing a woven pi-shaped preform having a base and a
pair of spaced-apart legs that extend from the base and define a
slot having inner surfaces, the preform being infused with
uncured resin; then
(b) placing the base of the preform adjacent a surface of a
composite component that is infused with an uncured resin; then
(c) inserting a plurality of pins, the pins extending into
the base and into the component after insertion; then
(d) curing the resin in the preform and the resin in the
component.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein:
step (c) comprises inserting the pins through the base
outside of the legs and through the base between the legs, the
pins being inserted through the base between the legs being
parallel with the pins being inserted through the base outside of
the legs.
7. A method for assembling first and second laminate
components, the first component having an uncured resin, the
second component having a cured resin, the method comprising:
2
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Last modified: November 3, 2007