Abstract

Abstract

In recent years many of the developments in the field of composite materials have focused on processes of dry carbon fiber, and efforts have been directed to achieve with these materials the same levels of industrialization as with pre-impregnated materials, since it is a technology of low cost and with a high productivity.

The objective of this project has been to develop dry carbon fiber manufacturing methods to obtain an automated, robust and efficient process for reaching manufacture the lower skin of a wing with stringers and integrated spars by automatic laying in Fiber Placement, posterior Hot forming and finally a process of resin infusion by "Vacuum Assisted Process".

To achieve this objective, the Fiber Placement machine has been set up to optimize the laying parameters for the processing of the material to be used (½” Hexcel Hi-Tape fiber).
On the other hand, several tests of hot forming of this laminates have been carried out by means of the previous process, modifying process variables, tooling details and forming bag configuration, in order to obtain the preforms of stringers and spars.

Finally, the integration of spars, stringers and skin was performed by a resin infusion process using the VAP technique "Vacuum Assisted Process".

Abstract

This document describes an innovative manufacturing process for the production of omegas with high curvature. Starting from the shape of an omega in plane, the geometry of an omega with high curvature is obtained in a second manufacturing process, without appearance of wrinkles. With this manufacturing process, curved shapes that are currently made manually can be automated, with the consequent benefit of: Highly repetitive process. Great quality. Easily automated. Recurring cost reduction and Lead Time. This work shows the initial process of obtaining the omega with curvature, to later describe the final process easily industrializable, and the tests performed to validate the process. Although the work focused on obtaining an omega curve, it is easily extrapolated to other configurations, such as Z-frames.

Abstract

The current work contemplates both the scaling in the production of an icephobic coating based on an aeronautical paint as well as the automatic application of the aforementioned coating. In the automation process, a complex geometry demonstrator representative of a composite leading edge was selected. The functionality of the coating, which is based on getting low ice adhesion values, is strongly influenced by the morphology of the last sol-gel layer applied over the paint. For this reason, during the automation process it has been necessary to readjust different parameters of the robotic arm to achieve an adequate size and distribution of sol-gel droplets.