Compacting assembly and method of fabricating a composite blade for a turbine engine

1. A compacting assembly for compacting a woven preform obtained by three-dimensionally weaving yarns in order to form a composite blade for a turbine engine, said preform having portions for predefining the airfoil, the root of the blade, and between the airfoil and the root, the tang of the blade, the compacting assembly comprising a shaper mold defining an upwardly open housing suitable for receiving a woven preform, and a vertically movable compacting tool for co-operating with the shaper mold to form a compacting assembly enabling said preform to be compacted when it is placed in the housing, wherein the compacting tool comprises at least a root portion and at least one tang portion separate from the root portion, further comprising a deformable skin covering at least part of the compacting tool facing the shaper mold.

2. A compacting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the root portion and/or the tang portion is/are subdivided into at least three separate compacting blocks, including a central compacting block, said compacting blocks being configured to move down towards the shaper mold in independent manner, beginning with the central compacting block.

3. A compacting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the root portion is a single block and wherein the tang portion is subdivided into at least three separate compacting blocks.

4. A compacting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the deformable skin covers at least the entire surface of the tang portion facing the shaper mold.

5. A compacting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the compacting tool has at least one window configured to view the position of at least one tracer yarn when the preform is placed in the housing.

6. A method of fabricating a composite blade for a turbine engine, the method comprising the following steps:

a) making a preform by three-dimensionally weaving yarns, said preform having portions defining the airfoil, the root of the blade, and between the airfoil and the root, the tang of the blade, the yarns including tracer yarns that are visually identifiable arranged at least at the surface of the preform;

b) cutting out said preform while leaving intact a series of tracer yarns situated along a reference face of the preform, thereby obtaining a cut-out preform configured to predefine the shape and the dimensions of portions constituting the blade;

c) pre-deforming said cut-out preform using the compacting assembly according to claim 1 , thereby obtaining a pre-deformed preform;

d) pre-compacting said pre-deformed preform using the compacting assembly according to claim 1 , thereby obtaining a pre-compacted preform;

e) wetting and drying the pre-compacted preform, thereby obtaining a stiffened preform;

f) providing an injection mold in which said stiffened preform is placed;

g) injecting a binder comprising a thermosetting resin into said injection mold in order to impregnate the entire stiffened preform and maintain the relative positioning between the yarns of the stiffened preform;

h) heating said injection mold; and

i) extracting from the mold a composite molded part presenting substantially the shape and the dimensions of said blade;

wherein, during step c), said pre-deformation is performed by placing the cut-out preform in a housing defined by a shaper mold and in that, during step d), the pre-compacting is performed.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein, during step d), at least the root portion of the preform is pre-compacted.