Limitations of processing carbon fibre reinforced plastic/polymer material using automated fibre placement technology

Automated fibre placement was used to optimise the tow steering of carbon fibre reinforced plastic/polymer whereby the minimum defect-free steering radius (R-min) achievable. The results revealed that in the case of the woven ply surface with unheated tool the R-min, using 1/4inch tows, is found to be 1350mm. For the bare tool surface, the tool temperature had to be raised to 30? in order to achieve the same R-min of 1350mm. To attain a seamless transition from part design to manufacture using CAD, automated fibre placement was equipped with software tools (TruPLAN and TruFIBER). From the results of software validation and steering trials on a variable radius tool having a pre-laid UD ply, it is found that the ability to steer around a tighter radius was a vast asset of the 1/8inch tow over the 1/4inch one, which makes it the preferred choice for the more geometrically complex parts.