DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED MATERIALS PLACEMENT (AMP) SYSTEM FOR COMPOSITE PROCESSING

摘要

Suppliers of composites processing equipment are offering a greater variety of machines andhave made significant advances to automated tape laying (ATL) and automated fiber placement(AFP) technologies. Companies are moving beyond standard thermoplastic and thermosetprepregs and are looking at placing OOA prepregs as well as dry fabrics. To aid in thesedevelopments, a custom built Automated Materials Placement (AMP) system has beendeveloped at the University of Delaware's Center for Composite Materials that can placethermoset and thermoplastic prepregs, dry fabrics as well as metal matrix composites on flat orcylindrical surfaces.The AMP is designed to be modular so that various heating and consolidation methods can bestudied and optimized with low risk on hardware investment. These flexible modules can beswapped or reordered to include high energy infrared heating, volumetric induction heating,roller or shoe consolidation, a sprayable bagging module, ultrasonic welding, powderimpregnation system or in line fabric stitching module. The system is fully instrumented withthermal and modular force measurement capabilities as well as visual inspection and laserposition sensors. The modular design allows multiple research projects to use the system withlittle downtime. The system as a whole provides an ideal environment for process design andoptimization for a number of industries including aerospace, wind and automotive. Thisequipment will also be instrumental at generating original research findings for academia as newmaterials and processes are developed. This paper summaries the hardware design, modules builtto date, control system design and configurations being studied.