Innovative Methods for Thermoplastic Composites on ATL/AFP

With the increasing use of composites in aerospace structures, the need to reduce cycle times and recurring costs while maintaining part quality is essential to any competitive manufacturing process. Thermoplastics composites (TPC) have potential performance, storage and shelf life advantages over traditional thermoset composites. Material deposition and methods such as Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) and Automated Tape Layup (ATL) offer the potential for reduced recurring costs and cycle time improvements if deposition rates can be improved with in-situ consolidation resulting in autoclave like quality levels. In addition, to optimize deposition rates and part quality, Convergent Manufacturing Technologies-US proposes the development of a theory-guided neural network model to be integrated with the existing Convergent AFP/ATL COMPRO deposition simulation framework taking advantage of OEM innovations in active heating and pressure equipment. In this Phase I effort, CMT-US will develop a physics-based, in-situ consolidation and characterized crystallization/melt kinetics model for the assessment of weld quality.