Method of fabricating a structural element formed of a resin-hardened velour fabric

Claim 1

A process for the production of a structural element having an internal structure by means of resinification and subsequent hardening of a two-ply fabric, whereby following the resinification of a two-ply fabric excess resin is substantially removed from the internal structure by pressing out, wherein said process comprises: providing a two-ply fabric having a first ply and a second ply separated from each other by a distance to form a cavity and having intermediate ribs extending in an original orientation within said cavity as spacing elements between the first and second plies, each of said intermediate ribs being connected to both said first ply and said second ply, said intermediate ribs being non-woven and consisting of filaments, said intermediate ribs having a resetting force, each of said intermediate ribs having an actual length and a effective length, said actual length being greater than the distance between the two plies in said original orientation, said effective length being less than said actual length and defined as the distance between the two plies in the original orientation; at least partially filling said cavity with a hardenable resin; and subsequently pressing said two ply fabric to evacuate excess resin from said cavity, wherein the amount of excess resin which is evacuated by said pressing is such that the intermediate ribs deform during pressing out of the resin and then spontaneously, based on their own resetting force, return to the original orientation after pressing out thus forming rigid spacing elements after hardening of the resin.