Manufacturing flat and cylindrical laminates and built up structure using automated thermoplastic tape laying, fiber placement, and filament winding

Automated thermoplastic filament winding, tape laying, and fiber placement have been demonstrated by manufacturing thermoplastic-reinforced carbon-fiber laminates and stiffened parts using in situ consolidation. Material feedstock requirements were met with polyimide and polyetherketone placement-grade tows and tapes from Cytec Engineered Materials. The thermoplastic in situ heads integrate material deposition with a polymer process that combines preheating, generation of layer-to-layer intimate contact, interlayer bond development by reptation healing, consolidation/squeeze flow, and freezing/void compression in the laminate. The in situ winding process combines sequential [0degrees] tape laying and filament winding to fabricate [0degrees/90degrees] and [0degrees/90degrees/not equalqdegrees] monocoque and ring-stiffened cylinders from polyetherketone composite material systems with outstanding property translation. Finished parts and systems have been commercialized The automated fiber placement process has been developed for flat skins with twelve simultaneous 6.35mm (0. 25-in) tow placement or one 76mm (3-in) tape placement capability. Thermoplastic and cross-linking composites and coated titanium foils have been placed. A large number of demonstration parts have been fabricated including flat laminates with and without padups, stringer- and honeycomb-stiffened skins, and TiGr (interleaved Titanium and Graphite/thermoplastic layers) skins alone or sandwiching Titanium-honeycomb core. In general, 85% to 100% property translation is available with in situ processing, and 100% if post-autoclaved cured, for example to advance a cross-linking polyimide resin.