Title: THERMAL RESPONSE OF THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE TAPE DURING IN-SITU CONSOLIDATION AUTOMATED FIBER PLACEMENT USING A LASER HEAT SOURCE

Authors: Tyler B. Hudson, Charles T. Dolph, Garrett M. Grose, Roberto J. Cano, Ryan F. Jordan, Christopher J. Wohl, Rodolfo I. Ledesma, Brian W. Grimsley

DOI: 10.33599/nasampe/s.23.0101

Abstract: Composite materials have tremendous potential in the design and manufacture of commercial aircraft due to their high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight properties. However, the use of composite materials is currently limited by high cost and long manufacturing time. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated the Hi-rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project to investigate promising composite processing technologies with a goal of vastly improving composite commercial aircraft manufacturing rate (4 to 6 times faster than current production rates). Laser assisted automated fiber placement (AFP) of thermoplastics is a key technology that could increase speed of composite manufacturing, but the technology has not been fully developed. In-situ consolidation AFP of thermoplastics (ICAT) could reduce time and cost even further by eliminating the time and equipment required for post-consolidation. In this work, the thermal response of laser heated ICAT was investigated using forward looking infrared (FLIR) and embedded thermocouples (TCs) to better understand fusion between layers (autohesion). Detailed explanation of the algorithm to combine FLIR and TC data will be presented. In addition, the effect of robot speed on time above melting temperature was quantified.

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Conference: SAMPE 2023

Publication Date: 2023/04/17

SKU: TP23-0000000101

Pages: 13

Price: $26.00