Tuesday, October 23

Advancements in Automation
     New ways to save money and time making use of factory automation

Using NC Program Simulation to Improve Inspection of the Automated Fiber Placement Layup Process
Bill Hasenjaeger, Product Manager, CGTech

Inspection methods for AFP layup often attempt to meet two different requirements:

• Inspect the process to correct for process drift and detect manufacturing defects.
• Inspect material placement to ensure the part meets design requirements.

Inspecting to ensure the process is correct is common in any manufacturing endeavor. But it should not be the inspector’s job to ensure the manufactured result meets design requirements. Attempting to meet this second requirement creates additional time-consuming inspection steps that should not be done in the workshop. Today it is possible to use software to virtually inspect a simulated layup created directly by the AFP NC program. The simulated layup can be checked to ensure it meets design requirements in a much more sophisticated way than any physical workshop technique. Once the theoretical layup created by the NC program is validated, the inspection process in the workshop can focus on making sure the physical process meets the manufacturing intent. This session will discuss how AFP layup simulation directly from an AFP NC program works, some of the layup features that can be inspected, and how this can help improve inspection efficiency in the workshop.

Big Parts Demand Big Changes to the FP Status Quo
Robert Harper, Director Technical Sales, MAG-IAS and Allen Halbritter, Boeing Research & Technology

As most aircraft programs go, initial low rate production gives a manufacturer time to choose equipment and define a manufacturing process capable of producing good parts. As rate increases, sometimes by 2 to 3 times, manufacturers must take a proactive approach in exploring all avenues of the operation, equipment and its processes in order to make rate. This case study examines how an intelligent machine design, coupled with an optimized process, can greatly increase production throughput.

Automated Fiber Placement - A Buyer's Perspective
Burak Uzman, Principal Consultant, ALA Group

The presentation will provide a comprehensive framework that would enable a would be purchaser of an AFP system to get a more realistic assessment of what is possible with AFP. The presentation will start with a description of a typical AFP System with all its major components, hardware, software, head technology, drivers, controllers...etc.. Building up on this more detail will be provided on key technical features, capabilities, limitations and leverage points of the AFP process. To bring the context into an operations environment and to tie the technical performance of the systems to the cost analysis, a description of various productivity terminologies used in the industry for laydown rates and cycle times will br provided. To build up for the Return On Investment analysis presented later in the presentation, price points for various types of machines; robotic, gantry, horizontal...etc will be presented. In order to conduct a realistic ROI, the evaluator would also need to know what is really happening with AFP in the industry in terms of usage, utilization, cycle times, down times, laydown rates...etc.. The take away of the presentation will be a case study on several different types of parts (e.g. wing skin, engine nacelle, spar/frame) and the idea of purchasing machines for different purposes (R&D, prototyping vs production). ROI calculations will be provided for these cases. To provide the audience with an optimistic future on AFP, some novel ideas around what AFP can enable the airframe designer/analyst to do in the future. Some of the topics that would be presented are; the idea of "Design For AFP" via fiber steering, fabricating damage tolerant parts via in-situ weaving, and limitations of current engineering design tools for composite parts built via AFP.

2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Session

Automotive Applications
     An industry embraces the benefits of light weight composite materials

Advances in Low-Cost Lightweight Composite Constructions
Scott Lewit, MS, President, Structural Composites, Inc.

A new generation of lightweight affordable composites has the potential to play a major role at improving the fuel efficiency of many forms of transportation. This session will show how a Navy SBIR technology is not only advancing the next generation of combatant craft, but is also being applied to several cost sensitive emerging markets. These include an integrated recreational vehicle chassis /floor system and bus floors. The framed single skin approach can be applied to parts being fabricated using open molding, infusion and VARTM. This session will feature examples of the technology along with the weight savings achieved and the performance benefits obtained.


ACPT’S Composite/Graphite Drive Shafts Provide Torque Delivery with Lowest Mass, Maximum Safety, and Vibration Damping
Dr. James C. Leslie, COB, ACPT Inc.

The first composite drive shafts were designed and manufactured by ACPT in 1987 to resolve a vibration problem for All American Racers of Santa Ana California. This contributed to their first IMSA Championship. Our composite drive shafts are now being manufactured and used on a routine basis for transportation and commercial, marine, defense, performance motorsports and aerospace applications.

This paper presents the development and current status of composite drive shafts. In addition, it briefly reviews the manufacture and basic properties of composite materials which provide the qualities responsible for the unique characteristics provided by these drive shafts.


Additive Manufacturing & Microfiber Composites: A Winning Combination in Motorsports
Stewart Davis, Director of Operations, CRP USA

In motorsports the race cars are designed to push boundaries to advance the sport. The DeltaWing team put forth an effort that pushed beyond the bounds of conventional motorsport thought and created a new direction to test the concepts and ideas of the future of racing.

During this process, Laser Sintering was used not only in prototyping and testing, but in actually critical applications on the car during the 24 hours of lemans race. The DeltaWing team was able to move the bar for both racing and Additive Manufacturing applications forward.

This paper examines the parts, the areas of application and the materials and methods used to create the end use components for the car and team. The use of Windform XT 2.0 a carbon reinforced microfiber composite and the parts created via laser sintering will be detailed both for the construction, on car use, and the challenges associated.

3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Session

Composite Manufacturing Applications
     Practical applications continue to advance the use of the material

AH-64D Helicopter Composite Vertical Stabilizer Structure Designed for Manufacturing an Assembly
Robin Zwick, The Boeing Company

The Boeing Company in Mesa Arizona has designed and built a prototype composite vertical stabilizer (CVS) for the AH-64D Apache helicopter as part of a fuselage modernization effort. The design requirements for these new structural composite vertical stabilizer is that is to cost less, weigh less, and be capable of carrying greater flight loads than the metallic counterpart. The design to meet these goals was executed in a multi-discipline Integrated Product Team (IPT) structure. Lean design best practices such as Design for Manufacturing and Assembly and Model Based Definition (MBD) have enabled achieving theses design goals. One benefit of using MBD is that low cost composite tooling can be developed to fabricate the structural components. Parts, tools, numerical control (NC) programs, and inspection data are all derived from the model, minimizing the potential for error in secondary process steps.

Resin Selection and Design Considerations for Helicopter Rotor Blades
Brock Strunk, Erickson Air-Crane Inc., Barry Meyers, TenCate Advanced Composites USA, Inc.; and Daniel Leeser, TenCate Advanced Composites USA, Inc.

This paper describes how and why composite materials were selected as the material of choice to replace aluminum extrusion for the S-64 heavy lift helicopter main rotor blades. Material selection was based on performance, fatigue live, cost and labor considerations. Resin selection was based on out -of-autoclave low pressure cure database similitude, fiber translation and fatigue. Design consideration and manufacturing methods are summarized. Tooling concepts and design is described. Details of FAA considerations are outlined. Path forward and lessons learned are provided. The author companies are now ready and capable of providing replacement composite rotor blades for a variety of rotocraft platforms and applications.

Weight Reduction and Manufacturing Benefits of LORD Ultra-Conductive Coatings for Lightning Strike Protection of Composite Aircraft
Scott Durso, M. Eng., LORD Corporation Chemical Research

As composite materials begin to replace traditional aluminum skins in commercial aircraft, the need for lightweight, easy to apply solutions for mitigating electromagnetic effects (EME) becomes increasingly important. LORD Corporation has addressed this need with the development of highly conductive coatings. These coatings, termed UltraConductive materials, are available in both film and spray forms, and are capable of providing Zone 1A lightning strike protection to painted aerospace grade composites at roughly half the weight of existing expanded metal foil solutions. Moreover, the coatings provide EMI shielding levels on carbon skins that approach those of solid aluminum skins. In the sprayable form, these self-assembling, non-nano coatings are applied with standard HVLP industry coating equipment and offer opportunities to reduce manufacturing time associated with applying EME protection - particularly on complex shaped parts. In addition, the resulting surface finish is such that use of a sandable surfacing compound is not necessary, prior to painting. This paper will acquaint the audience with both LORD UltraConductive material forms. Details will be provided on how the sprayable form can impact manufacturing and translate into weight and cost savings for the aerospace composites industry.

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