Developing a Contoured Deposition Head for in situ Tape Laying and Fiber Placement

摘要

A conformable compaction system employing three individual compactors has been designed for integration into fiber placement and tape laying deposition heads for out-of-autoclave fabrication of thermoplastic contoured parts. The compactors are intended to perform against two geometry specifications: (1) a general minimum radius of curvature limit of 180cm (71-in), and (2) a pad- up specification with a maximum height of 2.5mm (0.1411) and a minimum ramp of 25mm (1- in). The mirrored specification is applicable to a pan-down. The three designs include a hot line compactor capable of a lOOON (400-lb) force at 450DGC over a 114mm (4.5-in) width, a hot area compactor capable of a 400N (100-lb) force at 450DGC over a 114mm width by 76mm length (4.5- in by 3-in), and a cold compactor that combines the features of a line and an area compactor. The cold compactor's line segments act with a 2800N (700-lb) force across a 127mm (5-in) width, while the cold compactor's area segments act with a lOOON (250-lb) force over a 127mm by 102mm (54x1 by 4-in) area. Two of the designs, the hot line and hot area compactors, have been constructed, developed, and proven out in hot mode to compact actual thermoplastic composite plies over undulating geometry. IM-7PEEK (0/90/0/90)s pan-down and IM-7PEKK (0/-45/90/45)2s pad-up laminates have been fabricated and photomicrographs show good microstructure.