Continuous tow shearing for manufacturing variable angle tow composites

Byung Chul Kim, Kevin Potter, Paul M. Weaver

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Automated fibre placement (AFP) is the key technology for manufacturing variable angle tow (VAT) composites with tailored fibre paths. Although it was developed in the 1980s, much research still focuses on the minimization of the process-induced defects because the fundamental principle has not been changed. In this work, a novel fibre placement technique using the shear deformation characteristic of dry tow has been developed, which was named 'Continuous Tow Shearing (CTS)'. Through the prototype tests, it is shown that CTS could significantly reduce process-induced defects such as fibre wrinkling, resin rich areas and fibre discontinuity. Also, an intuitive notation for defining a curved tow path using piecewise quadratic Bezier curve is developed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1347-1356
Number of pages10
JournalComposites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Volume43
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Automated fibre placement (AFP)
  • E. Automation
  • E. Lay-up (manual/automated)
  • E. Tow

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