ATL and AFP: Signs of evolution in machine process control. In the July issue of HPC we explored current machinery offerings from suppliers of automated tape laying (ATL) and automated fiber placement (AFP) equipment (see "Learn More," at left). In the last decade, software and hardware advances associated with these critical composites manufacturing processes have enabled the production of large, carbon fiber-reinforced structures that previously were simply unattainable. As a result, ATL and AFP equipment has enabled the development of The Boeing Co.'s (Seattle Wash.) 787 Dreamliner and will soon make possible the manufacture of Airbus' (Toulouse, France) forthcoming A350 XWB as well as a host of other applications in aerospace and other high-performance markets, where manufacturers are eager to take advantage of the speed and accuracy these systems can provide.
As is true in much of the composites industry, however, ATL and AFP- despite the technical strides of the last few years — are still experiencing tremendous change. ATL vs.
UK composite organisations. Robotics makes its mark in the composite industry. (Published on March - April 2008 – JEC Magazine #39) The composite processing industry is looking to grow by building on its many innate advantages while at the same time taking in hand and overcoming its weaknesses. The pressure of productivity, quality consistency and environmental constraints is increasingly brought to bear every day on this industry which strives to be at the cutting edge. From a promising introduction… Already generally established in the manufacture of flat composite panels (refrigerated industrial bodywork), robotic solutions have really made inroads in the composite industry these past two years. Other workshops have turned to robotics for resin/glass fibre spray-up in a variety of fields: reinforcement of thermoformed acrylic parts, industrial parts (cowlings, bodywork) and large parts (one-piece swimming pools)
. … towards full industrialization Developments and the future of robotics in composites. Composites Manufacturing 2009 and Tooling for Composites - Thursday, April 30. Robotic lay-up of prepreg composite plies. Industrial robot. Articulated industrial robot operating in a foundry. An industrial robot is defined by ISO[1] as an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes.
The field of robotics may be more practically defined as the study, design and use of robot systems for manufacturing (a top-level definition relying on the prior definition of robot). Typical applications of robots include welding, painting, assembly, pick and place (such as packaging, palletizing and SMT), product inspection, and testing; all accomplished with high endurance, speed, and precision. Robot types, features[edit] A set of six-axis robots used for welding. Factory Automation with industrial robots for palletizing food products like bread and toast at a bakery in Germany The most commonly used robot configurations are articulated robots, SCARA robots, Delta robots and Cartesian coordinate robots, (aka gantry robots or x-y-z robots).
History of industrial robotics[edit] AFP/ATL design-to-manufacture: Bridging the gap. Automated fiber placement (AFP) and automated tape laying (ATL) advances over the past decade have enabled The Boeing Co. (Seattle, Wash.), Airbus (Toulouse, France), and a growing number of other aircraft OEMs and tier suppliers, for the first time, to manufacture large commercial aircraft structures almost entirely of carbon fiber composites. And the speed, accuracy and efficiency with which today’s AFP and ATL equipment can lay down carbon fiber material holds much promise for volume applications outside the aerospace market.
Although AFP and ATL speed and efficiency owe much to advances in tape/fiber heads, robotics and other mechanical equipment, the programming and control software that drives the systems is of vital importance because it forms the design/manufacturing interface, bridging the gap between the part as designed and the part the AFP/ATL process actually can manufacture. Offline programming 101 Ply zones and postprocessing Machine independence A better CAD/CAM future. Addressing the cost of aerospace composites. March 2004 Addressing the cost of aerospace composites In the aerospace composites industry’s history, millions of research and development (R&D) dollars have been spent addressing cost.
Author: Carroll Grant In the aerospace composites industry’s history, millions of research and development (R&D) dollars have been spent addressing cost. As an industry, we have struggled with the cost issue for many years, yet still have managed a good growth rate. The cost drivers are not a great mystery. More efficient manufacturing processes can help offset the cost of expensive aerospace-grade prepreg materials and make composites much more cost-competitive with metal aircraft structures. In the metal aircraft parts industry, small- and mid-sized shops normally canafford the latest automated processing technologies. Historically, most composites R&D programs have focused on reducing the cost of a specific aerospace composite part, which usually benefits only a specific aircraft program.
Status update on composites automation. In 2004, I wrote a “Speaking Out” article for HPC, offering my perspectives on the aerospace industry’s need to reduce the cost of composite parts through the use of automated processing equipment. My article focused specifically on the need for a greater variety of composites processing machine sizes and configurations. I also recommended that machine suppliers develop more affordable machines that would give more parts manufacturers access to high-tech automated processing methods. In the past seven years, some progress has been made. Suppliers of composites processing equipment are offering a greater variety of machines and have made significant improvements to automated tape laying (ATL) and automated fiber placement (AFP) technologies. MAG IAS (formerly Cincinnati Machine, Hebron, Ky.) offers a wider range of AFP machines than in previous years. Over the years, one of the few negatives about fiber placement has been the perception that it is a slow process.
ATL and AFP: Defining the megatrends in composite aerostructures. For most of its history, most of the aerospace industry has taken advantage of carbon-fiber-reinforced composites at great expense: Individually cut prepreg are painstakingly hand layed by highly trained technicians, the best of whom can place about 2.5 lb of material per hour. Only 10 years ago, if a knowledgeable composite aerostructure pro like Spirit AeroSystems Inc.’s (Wichita, Kan.)
Terry George (then a Boeing Commercial Airplanes employee) had been told that within a decade, he’d be building the massive nose and front fuselage barrel section of a new all-composite wide-body commercial aircraft fuselage from carbon-fiber reinforced epoxy, the idea of doing so with the prevailing manual technology would have seemed a practical and financial impossibility. “Ten years ago, I would never have believed we would be building a composite airplane,” says George. AFP/ATL fundamentals and evolution The “part-purpose” machine. Trends in manufacturing technologies for marine composites. October 2003 Trends in manufacturing technologies for marine composites Scott M. Lewit, CCT, holds an MS in ocean engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology (1985). Lewit is president and founding partner of Structural Composites Inc. and COMPSYS Inc., the managing director of the Navy CCT Marine Composites Technology Center, and a co-inventor of the resin recirculation Author: Scott Lewitt Like people, companies tend to either embrace or deny the need for change.
The recent economic downturn from which we are now emerging forced many recreational boatbuilders to rethink their business operations. But some companies went further, using the slowdown to deploy new manufacturing technologies. Closed molding technology is one of the most interesting developments for the marine composites community. The future for closed molding will be optimization and cost reduction. This is a great time to be involved in composite boatbuilding technology. Coriolis composites - Robot and software for fiber placement - 56100 Lorient - France.