CompositesWorld
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NEWS 37 CompositesWorld.com simple flat panels but ultimately resulted in a conformable head capable of producing panels with mild curvature, pad-ups, drop offs, titanium honeycomb core and TPC stiffeners. "ese were gantry-based systems that used hot shoes, hot rollers, IR lamps, gas torches and chilled rollers to process the thermoplastic tapes with automated placement onto a 1m-by-1m rotary table," says Smoot. "Accudyne produced a similar rotatory table for Fiberforge's first RELAY machine, placing tape at whatever angle was necessary." Now-defunct Fiberforge (Glenwood Springs, CO, US) sold its RELAY technology to Dieffenbacher (Eppingen, Germany). Accudyne used the in-situ laminator to make hundreds of panels and characterized the laminates via open hole compres- sion (OHC), short beam shear (SBS) and many other tests, achieving 89-95% of autoclaved composite properties. "e head could in-situ laminate CF/PEEK panels at 3.05 m/min with voids less than 2%," notes Smoot, "but it was difficult to get below 1% voids, partly due to the incoming materials having void contents as high as 20% and a rough surface, which limited the intimate contact of the mating plies." Advancing consolidation for aerostructures By the early 2000s, Fokker, TenCate and NLR had amassed signifi- cant experience with thermoplastic structures fabrication and KVE Composites Group (Den Haag, e Netherlands) had pioneered induction and resistance welding. NLR not only had characterized a wide range of thermoplastics, from polyamide (PA) to poly- etherimide (PEI), PPS, PEEK and PEKK, but also had researched the effect of crystallinity on mechanical properties and focused on automated processing, including welding and ISC technology. "We began with an Automated Dynamics gas torch-heated machine but later replaced that with a Coriolis system because we saw the benefits of laser heating and also the potential to use FIG. 3 Coriolis Composites' closed simulation chain TPC parts produced on Coriolis AFP machines now benefit from a closed simulation chain that includes computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE), enabled by the company's bidirectional software interface and integration: 1) design; 2) import stacking, fibers to generate AFP programming; 3) export "as-built" fiber angles to FEA solvers; 4) structural analyses; 5) FEM draping/forming simulation; 6) post-processor into final AFP code; 7) export data for PLM. Source | Coriolis Composites infrared heating in a single machine," de Vries explains. Coriolis Composites (Quéven, France) began producing AFP systems in 2000. "From the beginning, all of our machines have been devel- oped to handle thermoplastic, thermoset or dry fiber materials," says Coriolis chief technology officer and director Alexandre Hamlyn. NLR's more in-depth work on ISC included how to compress the material, "and how to do this on doubly curved surfaces, which is quite complicated," he adds. "We also looked at laser optics. We developed a computer model to look at the laser heating process starting from the creel up to full consolidation of the laid material. We worked with Coriolis to refine this process and the equipment." e heating cycle is complex, notes de Vries, "because you must process fast without burning the material." "Airbus has really been the major force developing in-situ consolidated thermoplastics technology," Hamlyn points out. "It has many competitive projects in France, Spain, Germany and the UK, and is also working with the NLR in e Netherlands." However, Airbus R&D; in automated laying of TPC materials began in France, led by the company's chief technology office (CTO) in Suresnes. "We worked with Coriolis to develop robotic AFP into an industrial solution with the FlashTP machine," recalls Cyrille Collart, Airbus head of (HO) Innovation & Development, Manu- facturing Technologies Composites (Nantes, France). He notes the Flash TP machine is still used in Airbus TPC developments, installed at the Technocampus EMC2, a research and technology transfer center located adjacent to Cetim (see Learn More) and the Airbus production facility in Nantes. Pursuing large, primary structures ere is a TPC development roadmap in Europe, supported by Airbus and a variety of national aerospace consortia — e.g., ISC of TPCs, Part 1 PAM-FORM 1 2, 3, 4 4 3 5 2