Design and Process Development of Thin-Ply Composites

Composites Automation LLC (CA), our academic partner University of Delaware – Center for Composite Materials (UD-CCM) are teaming up in this STTR Phase II project to evaluate automated tape placement (ATP) processing of thin-ply composites, including material and process development, creation of a modeling foundation capturing thin-ply placement, test panel fabrication and mechanical performance evaluation. Keys to successful transition of standard ply to thin-ply ATP processing, is the ability to fabricate uniform high fiber volume and fiber distribution composite parts at or below 1% void contentPhase II will investigate other material options beyond the North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT) material investigated in Phase I, evaluate their microstructure and down-select for further investigation. Our ATP robotic system will be reconfigured to include a material handling system that eliminates tape geometry changes during placement of thin-ply material. A key innovation will be the development of a comprehensive modeling approach capturing the complete placement, debulking and autoclave cure process for thin-ply material addressing the critical challenges found in Phase I. This will allow definition of material requirements and optimization of the placement conditions such as speed and head pressure for any thin ply material, recommend the number of debulking steps for thicker geometry parts and provide cure cycle guidance in particular for complex geometry components. The comprehensive software will evaluate the sensitivity of incoming tape material quality on production rate and performance, and enable a virtual modeling environment for thin-ply material. We will demonstrate the approach by building and testing standard coupons as well as complex geometry components to validate and transition the technology to NASA.