Automated Fiber Placement Head for Manufacturing of Innovative Aerospace Stiffening Structures

In the research project “High-performance Production of CFRP Structures” (HP CFK) a new automated fiber placement (AFP) system for laying thermoset CFRP (carbon fiber-reinforced plastic) slit tapes was developed. Its novel, modular designed laying head faces current industrial needs and challenges of prospective carbon light weight applications, e. g. future aerospace stiffening structures. Thus, its compaction unit is optimized for producing complex-curved structures. To allow approximating slopes on curved geometries, it consists of several height-adjustable rollers which, in addition, are each pressure controlled to enable an individual compacting pressure for the lay-up on materials with different compression strength (e. g. foams, metals). Furthermore, the design of the laying heads cutting unit aided the manufacturing of complex structures while being located as near as possible to the nip point to allow very short minimum placement paths. This paper introduces into the general design of the modular laying head as well as preliminary results of validation studies regarding several process limits.