Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Composites: Part A
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesa

An experimental study of mechanisms behind wrinkle development

during forming of composite laminates
P. Hallander a,, M. Akermo b, C. Mattei c, M. Petersson a, T. Nyman a
a

SAAB AB, SE-581 88 Linkoping, Sweden

Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering/Lightweight Structures, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
c
Division of Engineering Materials, Department of Management and Engineering, Linkoping University, SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 10 January 2013
Received in revised form 10 March 2013
Accepted 15 March 2013
Available online 26 March 2013
Keywords:
A. Carbon ber
A. Laminates
E. Forming
E. Prepreg

a b s t r a c t
A general problem when forming quasi-isotropic, multilayer unidirectional (UD) prepreg over a double
curved geometry is out-of-plane wrinkling. The presented study aims to show the existence of compression in the laminate in a recess area that is globally under tension during forming. Further it aims to
investigate the inuence of compression on the out-of-plane wrinkle development.
An experimental study is performed with pre-stacked UD prepreg on a forming tool with varying cross
section. Investigated parameters include lay-up sequence, prepreg ply thickness, inter-ply friction and
prepreg ply impregnation. Experimental evaluation is performed on the out-of-plane defect height, type,
location and number. Further, measurements are performed on the outer-ply deformation in the z-direction and inside the formed component using Micro CT. The study show that compression is to some
degree always developed during forming of a recess area but that the lay-up sequence has a dominant
effect on the wrinkling development.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The trend in composite aerostructures manufacturing is increased automation in order to meet demands on reduced cycle
time and cost. If the bers are continuous the manufacturing bottle
neck and automation challenge mainly involves the lay-up and
forming processes. This statement, on general, holds for the entire
composite industry. However, for aerospace components, prepreg
technology is believed to stay around for the next coming generation due to lack of reliable alternative technologies as well as already invested infrastructure. From the materials perspective, UD
prepreg offers best performance to cost ratio. Consequently, automation is mainly limited to AFP (Advanced Fibre Placement) or ATL
(Automatic Tape Lay) in combination with multi-layer forming.
While lay-up with AFP is currently often considered to be too
expensive and time consuming, automation of ATL, on the other
hand, has come quite far in the development of increased manufacturing speed. This puts the forming of pre-stacked UD laminas in
focus.
Forming of pre-stacked laminas can be achieved through vacuum forming, mechanical forming or robotic forming. An example
of vacuum forming is Hot Drape Forming (HDF), where a prepreg
lay-up is placed on a mould, heated to a temperature well below
Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 734 184168.
E-mail address: per.hallander@saabgroup.com (P. Hallander).
1359-835X/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2013.03.013

the curing temperature and formed down to the mould with a rubber carpet using vacuum, see Fig. 1.
A general problem when forming a quasi-isotropic unidirectional (UD) prepreg lay-up over a double curved geometry is outof-plane wrinkling. It is obvious that out-of-plane wrinkling occurs
due to ber compression in areas with excessive material, as in e.g.
convex areas. However, in several studies it is shown that out-ofplane defects also often occurs during forming of a recess area
[1], such as a joggled spar ange area (see Fig. 2), where the material should be globally under tension. It is also known that [0, 90]
and [45, 45] lay-ups in a UD prepreg are less sensitive for outof-plane defects compared to a quasi isotropic lay-up.
Generally, existing theories of forming consider several material
specic, inherent mechanisms, such as intraply shear, interply
shear, ply bending, intra-ply axial loading and compaction/consolidation [2]. A commonly used theory for intraply shear of a dry woven fabric is the Pin-Jointed Net (PJN) model [3]. The theory
assumes that draping occurs through shear, resulting in a rotation
at the cross over points between warp and weft.
Larberg et al. [4] has show that the PJN theory, commonly used
for explaining the shear behavior of dry woven reinforcement, also
may be valid for a cross plied UD prepreg with thermoplastic
toughener particles in the matrix providing relatively high interply
friction [5]; at least if the lay-up sequence is [45, 45]. UD prepreg
with relatively lower interply friction did not following the PJN
assumption as well, probably depending on in-plane slippage

P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

55

Fig. 1. (a) HDF assembly, (b) HDF. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 2. (a) Out-of-plane wrinkling on a joggled spar with a quasi-isotropic lay-up, (b) Micrograph of middle spar ange cut, original magnication 32 (not to scale). (For
interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

between bers. Since most UD prepregs are not fully impregnated

and containing a tiny core of dry ber referred to as engineered
vacuum channels (Fig. 3) [6] there is also is a possibility of slippage in the dry ber core during forming.
At the rst sight axial loading seems to be of limited importance
to forming since loading along an aligned ber typically results in
very large forces and very low maximum strains in comparison to
intraply shear. Fiber roving in prepreg could however differ in its
conguration since the ber roving can be twisted, un-twisted or
never been twisted [7]. If the ber roving is twisted there exists
a possibility of small axial deformation both in tensile and compaction loading. Boisse et al. [8] indicates that the tensile loading of
the bers accounts for the majority of energy dissipated during
forming. In theory there could also exist a chance of intraply mi-

cro buckling in the engineered vacuum channels if the ber tows

are in compaction.
When forming over a radius, ply bending will result in compression loads at the inner plies [9]. The stresses developed are later
partially or fully relaxed by inter-ply slippage at resin-rich layers
at the ply interfaces, which are signicantly weaker than the ber
plies themselves [10]. UD prepreg with thermoplastic toughener
particles in the matrix have relatively high inter-ply friction and
the friction increases further during ply compaction [5], which increases the out-of-plane bending resistance.
A UD prepreg has to go through compaction/consolidation to
reach the Cured Ply Thickness (CPT) due to the engineered vacuum channels mentioned above [11]. The lay-up thickness can
be between 7% and 20% thicker than CPT for different types of prepreg. This thickness difference is known as the bulk factor. In general, most of the consolidation occurs during autoclave curing but
depending on prepreg material, consolidation may also occur during and as part of the forming sequence.
2. Aim of work

Fig. 3. Engineered vacuum channels. Courtesy of Sren Nilsson, Swerea Sicomp.

The aim of the presented work is to show the existence of compression in the laminate in a recess area that is globally under tension during forming and investigate the inuence of compression
on the out-of-plane defect development. The study focuses on
forming of pre-stacked multilayer lay-ups where there does not
exist any xed connections between the different ber directions,
as for weaves. The inter-ply friction therefore plays an important
role for load transfer between the plies. The interaction between
the plies referred to as coupling effects will decide how the forming will perform. Different lay-ups, ply thicknesses and ply precompaction are tested in this work to describe the coupling effects
in relation to the out-of-plane defect development.

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P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

3. Forming of spar with a recess geometry

The forming sequence described in this section is general, but
herein focused on describing what happens during hot drape forming of stacked UD prepreg. When forming a spar with a recess

Recess area
Recess flange
Transitionzone

y
x

geometry as shown in Fig. 4, using stacked UD prepreg, different

forming mechanisms simultaneously come into action: Assuming
that the lay-up initially is xed or nearly xed on the spar web,
ply bending will rst occur in the radii accompanied by interply
shear (and local intraply shear). If the stacked material is not able
to follow the radius, there will be excessive materials causing
wrinkles just beneath the radii after nal forming and compaction.
During the second forming step the material has to compensate for
the recess geometry. This compensation could be divided in three
essential forming sub-steps (see Fig. 5):
A. Fiber rotation due to the folding when entering or leaving
the transition zone.
B. Tension towards the centre of the spar and in a direction
parallel to the radius develops in all layers due to the longer
path through the recess geometry than in the at geometry.
C. Shear to move excess material just outside the transition
zone towards the centre, where there is a lack of material
after folding over the radius in the transition zone.

Straightflange
Spar length [mm]
Web width [mm]
Flange length [mm]
Chamfer length [mm]
Chamfer depth [mm]
Nominal thickness [mm]
Inner Radii [mm]

480
70
55
125
6.25
4.192
2

Fig. 4a. Spar geometry with a ange recess area.

In the end of the forming, ply compaction will occur. If the bulk
factor and the number of plies are large out-of plane defects easily
occur in the radii.
Considering the forming process described above, the second
step seems to be the most critical. Below, each sub-step in the second forming step, are further discussed separately However, it
need to be underlined that these three sub-steps, AC, all act in
parallel and consequently inuence each other.

Fig. 4b. Denition of ber directions.

Fig. 5a. Forming sub-step A and B in the second forming step. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)

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P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

Fig. 5b. Forming sub-step C in the second forming step. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)

A. Rotation in the transit zone due to geometry. When subjected to a geometrical change that is not in parallel or perpendicular to the ber direction, the ber tows in a ply need
to rotate seemingly as well as being folded. This occurs
within the transition zone in the ange recess area (see
Fig. 4). The calculations of this required rotation presented
herein only consider the movement of one single tow (bundle of bers) assuming that the tows in the ply slide relatively to each other during forming. Further, it is assumed
that the roving length is constant and that the roving moves
like straight segments in the transition zone.
The deformations and the ber angle deviation in the transition
zone are calculated using following equation [12]:

cos h

ab
ax bx ay by az bz
qq
2
2
2
jaj  jbj
2
a a2 a2 b b b
x

where h is the angle between [a, b, c], three general geometrical vectors. The x, y and z directions are given by Fig. 4.
In an ideal case, the deformation in the z-direction of one single
[0] ply in the centre of the recess area is equal to the depth of the
recess. If the transition zone in the recess area is 1:20 and the
depth of the recess is 6.25 mm we know:
Transition zone length = 125 mm.

Max deformation [0] ply = 6.25 mm.

125

6
a; b; c 4 125

0
0

7
6:25 5

125 6:25 6:25

Eq. (1) gives that h = 2.86 for a single [0] ply (see Fig. 6), i.e. equal to
the transition zone angle v since

arctan v

1
) v 2:86
20

When a single [45] ply forms into the recess area it will rotate
into the transition zone with the transition zone angle. The ber
angle deviation will be 2.86 (equal to the transition zone angle),
which results in a ber angle of 42.14 in the left transition zone,
and 47.86 in the right transition zone (see Fig. 6). The opposite
goes for a single [45] ply.
The presented numbers have been checked using CATIA simulation (CATIA V5 Composite Work Bench) showing the same results.
The CATIA simulation assumes zero interply friction.
B. Tension towards the centre of the spar in the direction of the
spar radius develops if the forming rubber touches the tool
outside the recess area before stretching into the recess area.
The required stretching in the x-direction may be hindered
by the stiff [0] direction, which cannot be stretched but

Fig. 6a. Fiber rotation of [0] direction in the transition zone. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)

Fig. 6b. Fiber rotation of [45] direction in the transition zone. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)

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P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

needs to slip relative to its (in this direction) more ductile

surrounding layers. The inuence of the tension in [0] direction is however very dependent on the coupling between the
[0] ply and the surrounding plies [13]: The neighboring layers may be pulled along with the [0] direction. However,
since the surrounding layers may have their stiffness in an
non-perpendicular angle to the [0] direction, the tension
may also develop shear, resulting in a ber rotation.
C. Shear of excess material. Upon moving over the radius in the
transition zone, the material needs to shear to move excessive materials towards the centre of the recess area. This is
obtained as the vacuum rubber compresses the material
towards the ange and from the tension in forming sub step
B. Larberg and Akermo [14] has show that the possibility of
shear is less for a [45/0/45]s lay-up compared with a [45/
45/0]s lay-up and a [45/45]s lay-up. The ber rotation
during in-plane deformation testing is halved for a [45/0/
45]s lay-up compared to a [45/45] or [45/45/0]s layup, at the same displacement.
4. Experimental
An experimental study on the mechanisms of out-of-plane defect formation was performed on a spar with a recess area in one
ange (geometry according to Fig. 4). The geometry was chosen
to create 3-D forming.
4.1. Materials
A 180 C cure epoxy prepreg with thermoplastic toughener particles in the matrix was used in the study because of its high interply friction [5] and predictive shearing behavior (correlation with

Area for MicroCT

Area for micro
graphy

Measurementof
outer-ply
deformation

the PJN assumption) for a cross plied [45, 45] laminate [4]. IM ber was used in the prepreg system offering a larger stiffness difference between ber and matrix compared to HT ber. The
materials contains engineered vacuum channels, see Fig. 7. The
study also includes 977-2/HT as reference material. Except for
the lower ber modulus (HT instead of IM), this material has
approximately 10 times lower interply friction than the previous
material [5], and a CPT of 0.131 mm. Further, it has been shown
that 977-2/HT undergoes substantial slip during deformation of a
cross plied lamina [4], i.e. it does not deform only through pure
shear.
4.2. Investigated parameters
The investigated parameters are summarized in Table 1. Two
different prepreg thicknesses were used in the study: 0.131 mm
and 0.262 mm (CPT), respectively. The difference in ply thickness
was used to investigate the inuence of ply stiffness and the number of interfaces in the lay-up.
Some of the material was consolidated at 70 C and 6 bar pressure to obtain full impregnation before use. The consolidation was
performed separately on each ply before lay-up with the purpose
of increasing the interply friction [5] and minimizing the effects
of the engineered vacuum channels.
Two different lay-ups were used: A = [(45, 0, 45, 0)n]s and
B = [(90, 452, 452, 90, 02)n]s. The layups are designed to either reduce the material shear, lay-up A, or promote shear, lay-up B,
according to [13]
Further, due to the difference in stacking sequence, different
neighboring effects on the potential slippage in the short [0]
layer, sub-step B, is obtained. A QI = [(45, 0, 45, 90)4]s lay up
was used as a reference and as conrmation that the stacking sequence is more important than the actual number of plies in the
different directions: the QI lay-up has the same stiffness as the B
lay-up but with different plies surrounding the [0] direction plies.
The QI lay-up was also considered for the 977-2/HT reference
material.
4.3. Forming of spars

y
x
z

Fig. 7. Areas of measurement.

The spars were Hot Draped Formed (HDF) using the set-up
shown in Fig. 1.
The forming started by stacking at laminas according to the
test matrix, Table 1. The pre-stacked lamina was thereafter placed
on top of the mould, see Fig. 1, where after the vacuum bag was
loosely sealed on top of the lamina. After heating up to the desired
temperature, vacuum was applied forcing the material to form towards the mould. The vacuum was held until the laminate temperature was cooled to room temperature. Support walls were used
during HDF and the forming temperature was controlled using a
thermo couple placed under the laminate close to the tool radius.
The support walls were higher than the HDF tool to ensure that

Table 1
Process parameters in HDF trial QI = quasi isotropic.
Sample ID

CPT (mm)

Lay-up

Impregnation level

HDF temp. (C)

No. of trials

ATF
AtF
ATN
AtN
BTF
BtF
BTN
BtN
QI Ref.
QI 977-2

T = 0.262
t = 0.131
T = 0.262
t = 0.131
T = 0.262
t = 0.131
T = 0.262
t = 0.131
0.131
0.131

A = [(45, 0, 45, 0)2]s

A = [(45, 0, 45, 0)4]s
A = [(45, 0, 45, 0)2]s
A = [(45, 0, 452 )4]s
B = [90, 452, 452, 90, 02]s
B = [(90, 452, 452, 90, 02)2]s
B = [90, 452, 452, 90, 02]s
B = [(90, 452, 452, 90, 02)2]s
[(45, 0, 45, 90)4]s
[(45, 0, 45, 90)4]s

F = Full
F = Full
N = Normal
N = Normal
F = Full
F = Full
N = Normal
N = Normal
Normal
Normal

65
65
65
65
65
65
65
65
65
65

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
1

P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

the forming rubber was in tension during forming. Three spars

were formed for each test conguration. In order to enable evaluation, spars from each test conguration were cured at 180 C and
7 bar pressure.
4.4. Experimental verication
The resulting deformations were measured on different scales
by visual inspection and by using micrographs and micro CT in
the spar areas shown in Fig. 7.
5. Out-of-plane defect
Optical micrograph was used to measure the out-of-plane defect in 2-D in the recess area. The different out-of-plane and in
plane defects are dened as shown in Fig. 8. The out-of-plane defect was measured as the height of the defect in the 3rd ply from
the inside of the ange (see Fig. 9). The reason for measure the
3rd ply from the inside was that this always was a [45] or a
[45] layer, and always involved in the out-of-plane defect, if it existed; therefore best suited for comparison. The number of defects
could be more than one wherefore the number and location of the
out-of-plane defects are dened in Fig. 10. Further, the distance between the radius and the out-of-plane defect closest to the radius
were measured in accordance with Fig. 10.

Fig. 8a. Out of plane deformation wrinkle.

Fig. 8b. Out of plane deformation waviness.

Fig. 8c. In plane deformation in plane waviness.

59

6. Outer-ply deformation
Optical micrograph was used to measure the interply relative
slippage in the z-direction in the recess area. The slippage was
measured as the difference between a straight ange outer ply
forming line and the outer ply ange edge in the recess area (see
Fig. 11). This measurement will be referred to as the outer-ply
deformation in the results.

7. Micro-focus X-ray computed tomography (micro CT)

Expected effects of ply in-plane compression are global berangle variations, local ber angle variations (in-plane waviness),
and spreading or tightening of the ber tows as shown in Fig. 12.
These types of variations can be detected and characterized using
destructive techniques such as optical microscopy combined with
image analysis [15], [16]. However this requires a tedious sample
preparation procedure and may even not perform too well when
the plane of interest is not perfectly at as in radii or stepping. Micro CT was recently reported as a valuable and exible technique
for the characterization of internal geometries in woven composite
[17] and is used in this study in order to detect and characterize inplane compression effects at the ply level related to the forming
process.
The measurements were performed with a commercial microfocus CT X-ray system (Zeiss Metrotom 800). Samples were cut
from the original U-spar in the region below the radius and around
the expected out-of-plane waviness. A typical sample size
20 mm  20 mm  4 mm was chosen leading to a voxel size of
around 20 lm3. The position of the sample area is shown in
Fig. 6. Comparative measurements were made in the 3rd ply from
the inside of the ange (see Fig. 13) since this ply was either a [45]
or a [45] for all the used lay-up sequences. However, the system
allows extracting cross sections in any plane within this 3D volume
as shown in Fig. 13.
Since the contrast in X-ray images arise from local density variations it was found that information on ber angle and geometry
appears more clearly on both sides of the resin-rich interface between the plies. Within these planes, zones with high ber contents (ber tows) are separated by resin-rich strips leading to
local density variations that can be used to assess ber directions,
in-plane waviness and ber spreading. Fig. 13 shows a typical image from a plane slightly above a ply interface.
Analysis of effects associated with in-plane compression was
made by rotating the 3D dataset so that the cross-section lying
at the upper or lower side of a ply interface could be extracted.

Fig. 9. Out of plane defect height 3rd ply from tool side.

Fig. 10. Denition of out of plane defect location and distance between radius and defect 1.

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P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

Fig. 11. Denition of outer-ply deformation. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 12. Effects associated with in-plane compression: (a) global ber-angle variations, (b) local ber angle variations (in-plane waviness) and (c) spreading or tightening of
the ber tow. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 13. Cross section in a plane within a 3D volume. The picture down to the left shows a typical image from a plane laying slightly above the interface between the plies. (For
interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 14 shows an example were local in-plane waviness is easily

identied. Moreover lower density zone and porosity can also be
clearly seen. These in-plane and local effects are associated with
in plane compression effects taking place during the manufacturing process.

8. Results
The results of all trials are summarized in Table 2. Visual inspection of the defect orientation and size showed almost identical results from all 3 trial iterations, indicating a robust forming process.

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P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

Fig. 15a. Wrinkle free laminate, sample ID BtF, original magnication 13 (not to
scale). (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader
is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 14. Local in-plane waviness.

As shown, the B lay-up does not show any out-of-plane defects

(wrinkling or waviness) while the A lay-up always does (see
Fig. 15).
The measurements of the outer-ply deformation show that the
size of the deformation correlates well with the size of the out of
plane defect height. Larger outer-ply deformation is related to less
out-of-plane defect, see Table 2. The B lay-up always shows a larger outer-ply deformation than the A lay-up. The results further
show that the outer-ply deformation decrease when the interply
friction increase (controlled by the impregnation level) especially
for the A-lay up with the thinner material (see Table 2). In general
the out-of-plane defect height does not differ much for the A layup except from the samples with thick material and normal
impregnation, which shows less out of plane defect height.
The results further show that, although no out-of-plane defect
occurs, the outer-ply deformation increases with decreasing interply friction for the B lay-up with the thinner material (see Table 2),
as expected. The thicker material shows however the opposite
result.
Both QI lay-ups show the same level of outer-ply deformation
independently of material system, however the measured out-ofplane defect differ signicantly, where the out-of-plane defect of
the 977-2 is low. Both QI lay-ups show an outer-ply deformation
at a level in-between the A and B lay-ups.
Unfortunately, only the thicker material shows really good resolution in the micro CT, while the thinner material is more difcult
to analyze with this method due to too little resin in the interface
between the layers. The existence of out-of-plane defect further
complicates the measurements. For this reason, all results from micro CT measurements on thin plies are lacking in Table 2. However,

Fig. 15b. Out of plane wrinkling laminate, sample ID AtF, original magnication
13 (not to scale). (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend,
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

the micro CT study of the A lay-up samples with thick material

shows compression, of all three types (dened in Fig. 14) in the
area between the radii and the defect in all plies through the thickness. Example of the compression in the 3rd ply from the inside of
the ange is shown in Fig. 16. In the samples with the B lay-up,
only compression of type b was detected in all plies through the
thickness in the same area. The samples with B lay-up do not show
the same amount of compression of the bers in the area between
the radii and the defect. Example of 3rd ply from the inside of the
ange with this lay-up is shown in Fig. 16.

Table 2
Results.
Sample ID

Outer-ply
deforma-tion
average (mm)

Outer-ply
deforma-tion
Std dev

Out of plane
defect height
(mm)

Out of plane
defect type

Location and number

of out of plane
defect (Fig 10)

Distance
radius-out of
plane defect 1 (mm)

Micro CT type of
defect (Fig 12)
3rd ply (Fig 16)

ATF
AtF
ATN
AtN
BTF
BtF
BTN
BtN
QI Ref
QI 977-2

2.6
2.0
3.5
2.4
5.4
4.0
4.6
5.3
3.89
3.71

0.4
0.3
0.3
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.1

1.6
1.62
0.75
1.76
No defect
No defect
No defect
No defect
0.87
0.19

Wrinkle
Wrinkle
Wrinkle
Wrinkle
No defect
No defect
No defect
No defect
Wrinkle
Waviness

1
1 and 3
1
1, 2 and 3
No defect
No defect
No defect
No defect
1 and 3
1

8.4
9.07
9.2
8.19
No defect
No defect
No defect
No defect
8.24
6.9

a, b and c

a and b

Limited b

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P. Hallander et al. / Composites: Part A 50 (2013) 5464

Fig. 16d. Micro CT of sample ID BTF, original magnication 19 (not to scale). (For
interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred
to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 16a. Micro CT of sample ID ATF, sample turned 180, original magnication
19 (not to scale). (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend,
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 16b. Micro CT of sample ID ATN, original magnication x19 (not to scale). (For
interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred
to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 16c. Micro CT of sample ID BTN, original magnication 19 (not to scale). (For
interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred
to the web version of this article.)

9. Discussion
The experimental study shows that the lay-up sequence has a
dominant effect on the out-of-plane defect development during

forming in a recess area. In the section Forming of spar with a recess geometry it is discussed that the combination of [45] and [0]
layer may reduce the materials ability to deform through shear
compared to stackings when the [45] is paired with a [45] layer.
In the second forming step, when the material needs to form into
the recess geometry, material shear is needed in order to enable
movement of the excess material outside the transition zone and
towards the centre.
The micro CT study shows in plane compression in both the A
and B samples and in all layers throughout the thickness. The A
lay-up shows however more type of in plane compression effects
(a, b and c) compared to the B lay-up. The detected compression
is somewhat un-expected, since there initially is too little material
in this area, which would instead put the material under tension. It
should however be noted that all samples studied in micro CT have
been cured in autoclave after forming and that the observed effects
consequently are those remaining after consolidation, compaction,
and curing.
From the beginning of this work it was believed that out-ofplane defect development would start as an in plane compression
(see Fig. 14) in the area between the radius and the out of plane defect 1 and micro CT study was therefore performed in this area. In a
later related work [13] it has however been seen that the most critical area for wrinkling initiations seems to be further out in the recess area, closer to the transition zone.
It could be discussed if the forming sub-step B (tension towards
the centre of the spar in the direction of the spar radius) in the second
forming step plays a major part in the out-of-plane defect development since the required stretching in the x-direction may be hindered by the stiff [0] direction, which cannot be stretched. In that
case the number of [0] plies itself will affect the deformation in
the z-direction and the out-of-plane defect development, therefore
the A lay-up could be seen as less preferable. However the QI Ref.
(with direct couplings between the [0] and [45] direction) and the
B lay-up (with lack of direct couplings between the [0] and [45]
direction), which have nearly the same stiffness in the [0] direction,
still shows a great difference in the out-of-plane defects development (height, type, location and number) and outer-ply deformation
(deformation in z-direction). It is therefore not likely that ber tension in the [0] direction only by itself will cause the out-of-plane defect development and it is still believed that all three forming substeps in the second forming step are of importance.
The differences in outer-ply deformation between samples with
the same lay-up shows that the other parameters investigated also

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63

Fig. 17. (a) Out-of-plane defect, waviness in quasi-isotropic 977-2/HT laminate, original magnication 10 (not to scale), (b) zoom in, original magnication 32 (not to
scale). (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

have an inuence on the forming result even if not dominating. For

the samples with the A lay-up both the impregnation level as well
as the ply thickness seem to inuence the results. This is especially
seen in the sample with thick prepreg and normal impregnation level (ATN sample), where the differing size of the defect indicates
that both a high interply friction (a function of the impregnation
level) and a large number of interfaces between [0] and [45] layers,
have a negative inuence of the forming behavior.
The forming of a B lay-up partly relies on the interply slippage
and that explains why the sample with the lower level of impregnation has a larger size outer-ply deformation for the thin prepreg
(BtN sample). The thicker prepreg does not show the same result.
This could indicate that intraply effects in the engineered vacuum channels such as micro buckling could inuence the results.
The QI Ref. sample and the QI 977-2 sample shows the same level of outer-ply deformation but the size of the out-of-plane deformation is much smaller than for the QI 977-2 sample. As can be
observed, some waviness occurs also in the QI 977-2 sample (see
Fig. 17), which shows that the coupling effect between the [0]
and [45] layers results in compression also during forming of this
material. The decreased defect size probably depends on that the
977-2 has much lower interply friction and does not follow the
PJN assumption as good as the other material [4], [5]. For example
slippage in-between bers could occur beside the rotation of the
bers. At the rst impression it might look like a material with
low interply friction (like 977-2/HT) performs better in HDF of recess geometry. However the forming behavior of such a material is
less predictable and other types of defects like ber wash-out
might occur instead. These kinds of defects and the waviness seen
in Fig. 17 are less inspectable since they are neither detected by
ocular control or ultra sonic inspection.
Forming requires a forming load that overcomes the resistance
of the considered material and lay-up. Considering HDF, where the
load is applied by one single membrane, the forming load is mainly
compression normal to the mould surface and to some extent,
stretching as the outer ply attaches to the deforming membrane.
Under these conditions, the forming loads developed in the material as it is forced into the geometry may be of equal or even larger
importance than the loads applied by the membrane. This study
further stresses the importance of shear for forming of a 3D geometry, however further work is needed to investigate how the shear
in interacting with the forming loads developed in the material
during forming.
10. Conclusions
The presented work aimed to investigate the effect of potential
laminate compression in a recess area that is globally under tension during forming. Compression was assumed to occur in the

forming which compensate for the spar geometry. This compensation was divided into essential forming requirements: General
bending and interply slippage during bending over the radius,
Rotation of the different ber directions in the transition zone
due to changes in the geometry, Tension in (mainly) the [0] direction to compensate for the recess geometry, Shear of excess material towards areas lacking material. Different lay-ups, ply
thicknesses and ply pre-compaction were tested to describe the
coupling effects in relation to the wrinkle development.
The study shows that the lay-up sequence has a dominant effect
on the out-of-plane defect behavior during forming in a recess area
such as a joggling area of a curved structure (for example a U-spar).
The lay-up that is more prone to shear, also deforms better during
forming without visible defects. This is both conrmed by measurement of outer-ply deformation and out-of-plane defect height.
However, the development of stresses inside the material during
forming of the recess area may also have a signicant inuence
on the overall forming behavior which is more difcult to see
through. The coupling effects between the plies also depends on
the interply friction and in some cases also the ply thickness even
if this is not considered to have a dominant effect on the wrinkling
behavior.
Acknowledgements
The work was funded by Swedish National Aviation Engineering
Research Program (NFFP) and Saab AB. Special thanks to Bjrn
Weidmann, Anders Lundberg and Jan Andersson for always giving
a helping hand at the shop oor when ever needed.
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