Analysis and control of the compaction force in the composite prepreg tape winding process for rocket motor nozzles

In the process of composite prepreg tape winding, the compaction force could influence the quality of winding products. According to the analysis and experiments, during the winding process of a rocket motor nozzle aft exit cone with a winding angle, there would be an error between the deposition speed of tape layers and the feeding speed of the compaction roller, which could influence the compaction force. Both a lack of compaction and overcompaction related to the feeding of the compaction roller could result in defects of winding nozzles. Thus, a flexible winding system has been developed for rocket motor nozzle winding. In the system, feeding of the compaction roller could be adjusted in real time to achieve an invariable compaction force. According to experiments, the force deformation model of the winding tape is a time-varying system. Thus, a forgetting factor recursive least square based parameter estimation proportional-integral-differential (PID) controller has been developed, which could estimate the time-varying parameter and control the compaction force by adjusting the feeding of the compaction roller during the winding process. According to the experimental results, a winding nozzle with fewer voids and a smooth surface could be wounded by the invariable compaction force in the flexible winding system.