A Quantitative Evaluation of AFP Steered Courses Through Inspection

Authors

Christopher Sacco, Roudy Wehbe, Anis Baz Radwan, Mazen Albazzan, Andrew Anderson, Ramy Harik

Conference

SAMPE Conference & Exhibition, Seattle, Washington.

Abstract

This article will discuss the use of a comprehensive methodology to inspect and track defects of steered Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) tows on a cylindrical surface. The high degree of automation in the AFP process makes the manufacturing method an excellent platform to produce variable stiffness composite structures. A key method in their production is the use of tow steering to create desired stiffness properties. However, with tow steering, there is an increased likelihood for the production of defects such as wrinkles and folds. A profilometry-based inspection method is utilized with a hand-crafted data processing technique to create accurate measures of tow displacement and tow deformation. This information is then used to create a quality metric which can be matched with processing parameters at the time of layup.

Keywords

inspection, automated fiber placement, quality

Citation

Christopher Sacco, Roudy Wehbe, Anis Baz Radwan, Andrew Anderson, Mazen Albazzan, & Ramy Harik. (July 2020). A Quantitative Evaluation of AFP Steered Courses Through Inspection. SAMPE Conference & Exhibition, Seattle, Washington.

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