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Session: Session 6: Automated Fiber Placement
Session starts: Wednesday 15 April, 14:30
Presentation starts: 15:30
Room: Main

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Gamar Ismayilova (TU Delft)
Andre Florindo (SAM XL)
Daniël Peeters (TU Delft)

Abstract:
Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) with in-situ consolidation provided by the Humm3 pulse lamp allows for the automated production of thermoplastic composites without the high variably coming from hot air and safety requirements from lasers. Yet, on the search for lower production times, the increasingly higher heating and subsequent cooling rates can adversely affect the tape’s surface topology. Such irregular surface together with features such as gaps and overlaps increase the likelihood of air pockets that not only reduce the interlaminar bonding quality, it also undermines follow-up joining methods such as welding. As gaps and overlaps might be unavoidable, this research focuses on reducing the tape’s surface irregularities by introducing a combined heating and compacting step right after each tape’s placement. This step is typicality named either repassing or in-situ annealing and has rarely been reported in the literature, especially using the Humm3. This paper aims to investigate the effects of repassing on the tape’s surface topology and its implication while staking layers. In this study, a KUKA KR 210 R2700 robot equipped with the pulse light Humm3 is used to manufacture thermoplastic specimens made of carbon fiber LM-PEAK. Each sample contains manufactured overlaps of different dimensions by varying compaction force while keeping the nip-point temperature constant. Surface topography is then measured with a laser line scanner mounted on the AFP head and later validated against an optical microscope. The conclusions of this work aim to analyze the effects of the repassing step on the tape’s geometry, including its surface roughness, thickness and width. This work will therefore further expand the knowledge of the deconsolidation phenomenon that affects AFP with in-situ consolidation and evaluate an approach to mitigate its effects. These findings will ultimately contribute to improve the reliability of automated production of thermoplastic composites.