The Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) process is a composite manufacturing process for constructing layered parts by placing tapes of material on a tool using a compaction roller and heat to make the material tacky. Manufacturing artefacts, such as unintentional tow twists, gaps, overlaps and even missing tows during the layup process may occur during layup. These defects deviate the manufactured structure from the as-designed structure, and have been proven to introduce stress concentration sources, which can ultimately undermine the performance of a structure. To detect and avert these defects during manufacturing, a profilometry driven topology analysis system can be used to scan the placed tows, check for layup defects, and record a history of the part. However, for certain materials and environmental conditions certain profilometers do not currently return reliable readings of the material topology, resulting in noisy or missing topology data. An experimental investigation into the feasibility of improving scan results of specific thermoset composite materials is summarized by investigating settings on commercially available profilometry scanners. Additionally, the impacts of material characteristics including surface quality are explored. Presented are the challenges, analysis, and potential solutions discovered to improve scanning results.
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