CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/866813
SEPTEMBER 2017 80 CompositesWorld FEATURE: AUTOMATED PREFORMING, PART 2 and document the quality and placement of each patch. Groene says the system produces more than one patch per second, using 30% less material than fabric preforms, yet achieves up to 150% greater stiffness and strength. "is is a new option for series production that was not available before," he adds. Software also is a key part of Cevotec's approach. "When you think about developing preforms for complex composite parts, the software is key to hardware and process efficiency," Groene explains. "Larger parts, especially, are composed of more patches than you can manually handle. Our ARTIST STUDIO software uses powerful algorithms with 'fiber intelligence' to create high-perfor- mance laminates," he continues. "e entire part geometry can be loaded into our ARTIST STUDIO software. Based on just a few, intuitive user parameters, the software automatically creates an FIG. 2 Robotic patch placement for fast 3D parts Cevotec's (Taufkirchen/Munich, Germany) SAMBA automated preforming cell uses two choreographed robots to position tailored-length unidirectional patches onto complex 3D tooling, ready to be molded into 3D parts with no further consolidation or forming steps required. Source | Cevotec typical blank-building technologies," he argues. Cevotec's SAMBA process, he counters, produces 3D fiber preforms with different fiber orientations and thicknesses directly from the CAD file in one step, with no additional forming operations necessary nor a need for draping tools. Launched as an "industrial preforming system" at JEC World 2017 (Mar 14-16, Paris, France), SAMBA is based on fiber patch placement (FPP) technology, with an integrated software suite called ARTIST STUDIO. SAMBA uses a pick-and-place robot and a second tool-manipulation robot to precisely place tailored-length fiber patches at calculated positions along load paths, using a form-adaptive patch gripper to position the patches onto complex 3D molds (Fig. 2, above). Precise cutting of the patches is achieved via laser, and two industrial camera systems continuously inspect