Feature Article Figure 5. Tool block set for the orthogrid panel. Panel Demolding After autoclave consolidation, the panel is debagged and lifted from the tool by a frame with vacuum cups. The tool blocks are still in the stringers and need to be removed. Figure 11 shows a test with a pneumatic device on a robot to automatically release the tool blocks. This was not yet fully successful. Especially the clamping force due to spring forward of cap and skin cause high friction, which made the automatic release of the blocks difficult. New stringer forms with a release angle are needed to resolve this. For large panels a setup for demoulding is conceptually shown in Figure 12, where in this case workers are taking out the tooling blocks. Figure 6. Waterjet cut consolidated webs and caps for orthogrid panel stringers. Figure 8. Concept for full scale tool loading. Figure 7. Loading of webs, caps, fillers and tool blocks in Invar IML tool. Skin AFP and Autoclave Consolidation The skin is made by ultrasonic automatic fibre placement, shown in Figure 10. Ultrasonic AFP has been developed by Fokker especially for fast laydown of thermoplastic tape. Once ready the skin is placed on the IML co-consolidation tool. The tool is bagged and placed in an autoclave to melt all parts at high temperature and 6 bar pressure (Figure 11). SAMPE Journal, Volume 52, No. 5, September/October 2016 9http://www.mikrosam.com