JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe - 27

Process

«Multi-Material-Head» - New laser-assisted tape placement system
for thermoset-tape, thermoplastic-tape and dry-fiber-placement
The "Multifunctional HybridTLK" can
be added as an end effector to industrial
jointed-arm and linear gantry robots in
variable manufacturing cells. The major
advantages of this innovation are the
handling and processing of different
kinds of fiber-reinforced raw materials
such as thermoplastic tapes, thermoset
prepregs as well as spread dry-fiber
rovings bonded to adhesives with only
one tool. What's more, the all-in-one
"Multifunctional HybridTLK" is the
first flexible and cost-effective fiberplacement system especially developed
for SMEs. Different kinds of common
fiber-reinforced raw materials as well as
a modular design and software architecture were set up in order to enable
flexible production of FRP parts as well
as scientific process investigation. This

way, SMEs can handle different kinds of
fiber-reinforced raw materials commonly used with lowest mechanical expenditure only. Automated manufacturing
by using automated laser-assisted tape
and fiber placement systems has a lot of
advantages such as high reproducibility,
short cycle times and high fiber volume
content (e.g. 60 to 65%, depending on
raw material quality). The laser-assisted
induction of heat allows a precise and
swift temperature control without an
increase of ambient components. Tape
placement itself is a highly automated
process that allows reproducible manufacture of components with minimal
manual labor and scrap rates.
Research and development institutes
will also benefit from the modular
construction and software architecture.

Winner: Fraunhofer IPT (Germany)
Partner(s): AFPT GmbH (Germany)

Aeronautics

Development of a composite annulus filler for Rolls-Royce jet engines
To meet upcoming thrust-to-weight
ratio targets, the development of
high-performance composite fans can
offer advantages. Within Europe's
Sustainable and Green Engine (SAGE)
effort, funded under the Clean Sky
program, the ALPS (Advanced LowPressure System) demonstrator is
being built to prove the feasibility of
such a fan. Within the composite fan
system, there is an opportunity to
develop an advanced annulus filler.
An annulus filler is what covers the
gap between the individual fan blades
and ensures an optimal aerodynamic
profile. The component is manufactured using the resin transfer moulding (RTM) process, using certified
reinforcement and resin material. The
process chain includes automatic cutting of the fibre material, preforming
on dedicated tools and preform stabilization. The RTM tool is mounted in
a press; due to undercuts, a multi-part

mandril made of aluminium is combined with an Invar RTM tool, enabling
easy part demoulding after resin
cure, by taking advantage of different
thermal expansion coefficients of the
tooling materials. Each manufactured component is measured and then
scanned by ultrasonic inspection; all
documentation is of course included
and referenced.
There is a large market potential for
composite annulus fillers: each jet
engine uses up to 22 fillers. Besides
the new generation of engines, which
will include the composite filler as a
standard, thousands of engines could
potentially be retrofitted with the
newly developed filler.
The key benefits of the composite
annulus filler are first of all lower
weight, thus less fuel consumption and
lower CO2 production. Furthermore,
it has comparable (or lower) manufacturing costs to aluminium solutions

Winner: University of Applied Sciences
Rapperswil, Institute for Material Science
and Plastics Processing (Switzerland)
Partnership Network: Rolls-Royce Plc
(UK), FACC (Austria)

and a highly efficient manufacturing
process will enable series production
of 1000 or more parts per year. Finally,
easy maintenance and in-service
replacement thanks to well-known
hook mounting principle make it an
all-around profitable project.

No87 March 2014 /

jec composites magazine 27

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe