Confidential 1

Advanced Fibre Placement

Chris Gear

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Customer Base

Market

Business

Mix

Sector

Market & Customers

Product Strategy

Current Product Portfolio

Engine

Rotatives

Transparencies

& Coatings

Fuselage

Sections Engine

Structures

Nacelle &

Pylon Flying

Surfaces

Protection

Systems

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Technology – Targeted Innovation

Future Wing

Technologies

Engine

Structures

Engine

Rotatives Transparencies

& Coatings

Ice Protection

Systems

Advanced

Fuselage

Nacelle &

Pylon

Future Product Differentiation

Advanced Process Development

Advanced Metallic Processes

Next Generation Composite Processes

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Advance Fuselages & Flying Surfaces

Current Products

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BACKGROUND

Automated fibre placement (AFP) started as a development project

in 1982 between Boeing and Cincinnati Machine Tools

After initial development Cincinnati filed a patent in1989

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Hand Lay Up

Manual processing dominated

composite manufacture

Reliant on optimisation of

material through operator or

ply cutting machines

High waste, but able to

produce complex shapes

Constrained by material life

and operator skill level

Low non recurring cost

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Filament Winding

First step to automation for the

deposition of tows

Dry fibre has to pass through

resin before deposition on

mandrel

Used in production of

composite parts such as

fishing rods, yacht masts and

missile bodies

Low non recurring cost

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Automatic Tape Laying

One of the first steps in

automation led to the

introduction of automated tape

laying (ATL) for large, flat panels

Deposition rates around 10kg/ hr

Material widths of 300 or 600mm

25%-40% material waste

Produces large flat or minimal

shaped panels

Mid non recurring cost

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ATL vs AFP Waste

Quasi Isotropic lay ups require material to be laid in the 0, 45, 90

and 135 degree directions. As the majority of fibre orientation is in

the 45 and 135 degree direction excess material is generated in the

triangle that over hangs the edge of part

Material Waste

Material Waste

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Advanced Fibre Placement (AFP)

7 degrees of freedom

12-32 tows of material

Choice of 3.125, 6.25 or

12.5mm wide material

Deposition rates up to 10kg/ hr

for large, complex shapes

High non recurring costs for

machine

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Advanced Fibre Placement (cont’d)

First production machine was delivered in 1990 by Cincinatti, with

deliveries made to support the development of the GE90 fanblade.

Subsequent machines were delivered for the V-22 Osprey and F-22

Raptor manufacture

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Advanced Fibre Placement (cont’d)

First European research project that established fuselage barrel

manufactures viability was FUBA-COMP, running between 2001-

2006

Fibre placed fuselages in production today include the Hawker

Beechcraft

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Fuselage Sections

First large scale civil

application of AFP was for

panels of Section 19 for the

A380 manufactured by Airbus

at its Illescas facility near

Madrid

Boeing’s 787 was the first

large commercial use of single

piece fuselage barrel sections

with integrated stiffeners

Typical fuselage single piece

Invar tool weight 80T

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AFP – the step change

First generation machines utilised on low volume programmes or

high value complex parts

Low deposition rates of around 1kg/ hr on complex shapes

“The change”

Demand for greater deposition rates driven by 787 and A350 XWB

needs

Market opens up to new entrants

Innovation in head designs mean reduced number of movements

and the ability to lay material faster

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Outer Spar

Mid Spar Inner Spar

A350 XWB Fixed Trailing Edge and Assembly

Design

Contract awarded in 2008 with Airbus

Inner, mid and outer rear carbon spars and fixed trailing (FTE) assembly package

Total length of three spars 27m with a surface accuracy of +/-0.3mm

Required AFP machines for spar lay-up and a robotic assembly area for the fixing of

spars to ribs

Robotic “large scale” assembly operation undertaken by GKN Aerospace (leveraging

skills from the GKN Aerospace – Filton acquisition)

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Main Wing Spar Manufacture

Machine footprint: 8m x 16m

Working envelope: 13m x 2m x 2m

Band width: 101.6mm (4”)

Tows: 16 off 6.35mm (1/4”) tows

Max. tool weight 3t

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Engine Fan Case

Machine Footprint: 12 x 6m^2

Fan cases up to Ø of 3.5m

Twin robot configuration, 23 axes in total

Each robot laying-up 75mm wide

prepreg tape

Lay-up rate target: >10kg/hr

Integrated flange forming mechanism

and self heating tool for OoA cure

Latest light weight ATL head

development for robot handling

Cut on the fly capability and advanced

paper tensioning system

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But It Is Not Just The AFP Machine!

AFP is not just about a machine, it is also about a holistic approach

to a design and manufacturing solution

Compatability between design and manufacturing systems, ie Catia

V5. Can you simulate the manufacturing cycle? What is the right

programming language for your business?

Tooling solutions can be optimised for shape where ATL’s have

been used to produce blanks for forming, offering lower total cost

and reduced manufacturing lead times

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Where next?

Lightweight robotic systems

Dry fabric

Out of autoclave solutions

Increased agility to produce even more complex shapes

Analytical tools to support complex designs

Consolidation and reduction in parts required to produce assemblies

Multiple heads, multiple tools

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