Actions for Design and Manufacturing of Tow-Steered Composite Shells Using Fiber Placement

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Design and Manufacturing of Tow-Steered Composite Shells Using Fiber Placement

Author
Wu, K. Chauncey
Published
May 04, 2009.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Swift, Jonathan B., Stevens, Randy S., Achary, David C., Tatting, Brian F., Occhipiniti, Gina P., Thornburgh, Robert P., and Smith, Brett H.
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Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available.
Free-to-read Unrestricted online access
Summary
Advanced composite shells that may offer the potential to improve the structural performance of future aircraft fuselage structures were developed under this joint NASA-industry collaborative effort. Two cylindrical shells with tailored, tow-steered layups and continuously varying fiber angle orientations were designed and built at the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing - Louisiana Partnership. The shells were fabricated from unidirectional IM7/8552 graphite-epoxy pre-preg slit tape material fiber-placed on a constant-diameter mandrel. Each shell had the same nominal 8-ply [plus or minus 45/plus or minus Theta]s layup, where the nominal fiber angle in the tow-steered plies varied continuously from 10 degrees along the crown to 45 degrees on each side, then back to 10 degrees on the keel. One shell was fabricated with all 24 tows placed during each pass of the fiber placement machine, resulting in many tow overlaps on the shell surface. The fiber placement machine's individual tow cut/restart capability was also used to manufacture a second shell with tow drops and a more uniform laminate thickness. This paper presents an overview of the detailed design and manufacturing processes for these shells, and discusses issues encountered during their fabrication and post-cure evaluation. Future plans for structural testing and analyses of the shells are also discussed.
Other Subject(s)
Collection
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Collection.
Note
Document ID: 20090019673.
LF99-7420.
AIAA Paper-2009-2700.
50th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference; 4-7 May 2009; Palm Springs, CA; United States.
Terms of Use and Reproduction
Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright.
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