Manufacture of high performance isogrid structure by Robotic Filament Winding

Aeronautical and aerospace industries require light and robust structures. This target can be achieved designing isogrid structures made of composite material. In fact, such structures present both lightness and structural resistance. However, some problems can arise during the manufacturing process of these structures. In the present work the RFW (Robotic Filament Winding) technology is used for manufacturing an isogrid cylinder, made of composite material. The work was carried out in different steps. In the first, a suitable deposition head for fibres stratification was designed, then it was utilized to manufacture isogrid structures. Finally, both geometrical and structural tests were carried out on these structures and their results were compared with those one obtained from handmade structures. The comparison highlighted a better quality of the RFW structures. In fact, these structures complied with the geometrical tolerances, presented a lower void content and exhibited a higher resistance to axial compression load.