Limitations of processing carbon fibre reinforced plastic/polymer material using automated fibre placement technology

Automated fibre placement was used to optimise the tow steering of carbon fibre reinforced plastic/polymer whereby the minimum defect-free steering radius (R min ) achievable. The results revealed that in the case of the woven ply surface with unheated tool the R min , using 1/4 inch tows, is found...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of reinforced plastics and composites Vol. 35; no. 21; pp. 1527 - 1542
Main Authors:	Smith, RP, Qureshi, Z, Scaife, RJ, El-Dessouky, HM
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	01-11-2016
Subjects:	Automation Carbon fiber reinforced plastics Computer programs Fiber placement Polymer matrix composites Reinforced plastics Software Steering
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Automated fibre placement was used to optimise the tow steering of carbon fibre reinforced plastic/polymer whereby the minimum defect-free steering radius (R min ) achievable. The results revealed that in the case of the woven ply surface with unheated tool the R min , using 1/4 inch tows, is found to be 1350 mm. For the bare tool surface, the tool temperature had to be raised to 30℃ in order to achieve the same R min of 1350 mm. To attain a seamless transition from part design to manufacture using CAD, automated fibre placement was equipped with software tools (TruPLAN and TruFIBER). From the results of software validation and steering trials on a variable radius tool having a pre-laid UD ply, it is found that the ability to steer around a tighter radius was a vast asset of the 1/8 inch tow over the 1/4 inch one, which makes it the preferred choice for the more geometrically complex parts.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0731-6844 1530-7964
DOI:	10.1177/0731684416659544