TEN COMMON MISTAKES IN COMPOSITE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

摘要

The design process for any composite involves both laminate and component design and must also include considerations of the manufacturing process and eventual environmental exposure. These steps are all interdependent with composites and the most efficient design must involve true concurrent engineering. The requirements of concurrent design mean that someone from Materials and Processes, Manufacturing, or Manufacturing Engineering on the design team be aware of some of the pitfalls still inherent in composite design. Too many times, in spite of the most sophisticated computer routines and the most powerful FEA analyses the design and manufacturing process develop problems because of some minor anomaly that could have been avoided with the right experience. The following are tips gleaned from many sources along with this author’s own mistakes. As far as can be ascertained, the composite community is still making the same mistakes that were prevalent when the advanced composites era started. The following summarizes several of the subjects that the composite designer should be aware as a list titled ten common mistakes: 1) Inappropriate Laminate Configuration Including appropriate areas for and contrary to quasi-isotropic laminates and balance and symmetry options 2) Not Preparing for Outer Surface Damage to Composite 3) Ignoring Corrosion Concerns 4) Selecting a Manufacturing Method for the wrong reasons 5) Inattention to out-of-plane or unanticipated loads 6) Inattention to subsequent joining/bonding requirements 7) Inattention to tooling requirements 8) Not combining substructures 9) Not using appropriate design allowables or knockdowns 10) Inattention to cost considerations related to tolerances, production quantities, joints, machining, surface finish, and inspectability