FIBER PLACEMENT 22

Don 0. Evans

22.1 INTRODUCTION When starting a course, the tows are

restarted and cogpacted onto a surface. As the
Fiber placement is a unique process combining
course is being laid down, the processing head
the differential tow payout capability of fila-
can cut or restart any of the individual tows.
ment winding and the compaction and
This permits the width of the band to be
cut-restart capabilities of automatic tape lay-
increased or decreased in increments equal to
ing. During the fiber placement process,
one tow width. Adjusting the band width
individual prepreg fibers, called tows, are
avoids excessive gaps or overlaps between
pulled off spools and fed through a fiber deliv-
adjacent courses. At the end of the course, the
ery system into a fiber placement head (Fig.
remaining tows are cut and the head is posi-
22.1). Here they are collimated into a single
tioned to the beginning of the next course.
fiber band and laminated onto a work surface
During the placement of a course each tow
which can be mounted between a headstock
is dispensed at its own speed, allowing each
and tailstock.

FiberPkementHead r

T i Restart Rollers

Collimated Fiber Band Y

ControlledHeat

Fig. 22.1 Fiber

placement head.

Handbook of Composites. Edited by S.T. Peters. Published

in 1998 by Chapman & Hall, London. ISBN 0 412 54020 7
 Introduction 477

tow to independently conform to the surface
of the part. For example, when the head lami-
nates a curved path, the outer tows of the fiber
band pull more length than the inner tows.
A rolling compaction device, combined
with heat for tack enhancement, laminates the
tows onto the lay-up surface. This action of
pressing the tows onto the work surface (or a
previously laid ply) adheres the tows to the
lay-up surface and removes trapped air, mini-
mizing the need for vacuum debulking.
Figure 22.2 is a diagram of a Cincinnati
Milacron 'Viper' Fiber Placement System
(FPS). This system has seven axes of motion
and is CNC controlled. The machine consists
of three position axes (carriage, tilt, crossfeed),
three orientation axes (yaw, pitch, roll) and an
axis to rotate the mandrel. All of these axes are
necessary to make sure the processing head is
normal to the surface while the machine is
laminating tows. The machine also has 24 pro-
grammable electronic bidirectional tensioners,
which are mounted in a creel. These tensioners
provide individual tow payout and maintain a
precise tension. The fiber placement head is
mounted on the end of the wrist. The head
precisely dispenses, cuts, clamps and restarts
individual prepreg tows.
To increase productivity some machines are
equipped with dual mandrel stations (Fig.
22.3). This setup allows two sets of lay-up
tools to be placed on the machine, ensuring a
constant supply of work for the head. During
routine manual operations such as hand lay-
ing small plies, inspecting plies, or vacuum
debulking on one part set, the head simply
shifts to the other mandrel and picks up the
program where it left off.

X-axis (arm crossfeed)

Y-axis (arm tilt)
Z-axis (carriage longitudinal movement)
&axis (pawmandrel rotation)
i-axis (head yaw)
$-axis (head pitch)
-axis (head roll)
-axis (redirect roller angular position)
-axis (tow restart linear position) Fig. 22.2 Fiber placement
system.
478 Fiber placement
Fig. 22.3 Fiber placement machine dual station.
22.2 MATERIALS
A fiber placement machine can dispense
prepregged fibers that are commonly used by
the aerospace industry such as carbon, KevlaP
and glass. These fibers need to be impregnated
with a resin and formed into tows or slit tape.
The width of tow or slit tape used by fiber
placement range from 3.2 mm (0.125 in) to
6.4mm (0.250 in) After the tows are impreg-
nated with a resin matrix they are flattened to
a desired width and wound onto a 7.6 cm (3
in) diameter by 28 cm (11 in) long core in a
helical pattern. A typical length for a 2.3 kg (5
lb) spool of prepregged IM7-12K tow, 3.2 mm
(0.125 in) wide, is 3350 m (11 000 ft).
Slit tape is fabricated by running a 7.6 cm
(3 in) wide tape through a slitter creating
smaller widths of slit tape. These slit tapes are
then wound onto a number of 7.6 cm (3 in)
diameter by 28 cm (11 in) long cores. When the
slit tape is wound onto the spool a backing
film which is wider than the slit tape must be
added. If the backing film is not used, the slit
tape cannot be removed from the spool
because of stringers, which will occur during
the despooling operation. The edge of the slit
tape separates and stays on the spool while the
rest of the tape is despooled. This will cause
the tape to eventually break. During part fab-
rication this backing film is removed before
the fiber reaches the fiber placement head.
When selecting a tow that is to be used by a
fiber placement machine, it is important to
consider the cross sectional area of the fiber.
This cross sectional area will be a major factor
in determining the ply thickness of the lami-
nate. This is because the width of the tow is
fixed and the thickness of the tow varies
depending on the cross sectional area of the
fiber and the resin content.
The following equations can be used to
determine the thickness of a given tow. Since
resin content is usually given as a percent of
resin by weight, it is first necessary to calculate
the resin volume fraction, which is the percent
of resin by volume.
where rvf = resin volume fraction, rwf = per-
cent of resin by weight fraction, rd = resin
density (g/mm3), r f = fiber density (g/mm3).
Using the resin volume fraction the thick-
ness of fiber can be calculated using the
following equation:
(22.2)
where fh = tow thickness (mm),fa = fiber cross
sectional area (mm2),fw= tow width (mm),rvf
= resin volume fraction.
For example the thickness of a Hercules
IM7 fiber impregnated with a Hercules 8551-7
resin containing a 32% resin content by weight
and flattened to 3.2 mm (0.125 in) would be
0.14 mm (0.0055 in).
To increase or decrease the thickness of the
tow, the cross section of the fiber must be
changed by adding or subtracting 6K or 12K
fiber bundles. With slit tape this is not a prob-
lem because the thickness of the tape is
determined when it is prepregged and before
it is slit to width.
 Tooling considerations 479

The tow width of the material is very guided through a fiber delivery system and
important in controlling the gap between the head, but high tack is needed when it is being
prepregged tows. For example if the fiber compacted onto the surface.
placement head is designed to lay down tows Materials that have a low tack can be
that are 3.24.38 cm (0.125+0.015in) wide, the despooled with a fiber tension of 0.45 kg (1lb)
tows will be compacted onto the surface in or less. These low tensions are achieved
3.2 mm (0.125in) spacings. If the tow is exactly because the resin does not stick to the spool or
3.2 mm (0.125in) wide, there will be no gap the components of the fiber delivery system.
between the tows. If the tows are 2.5mm This lower fiber tension is needed while fiber
(0.100in) wide, there will be a 0.63 mm placing concave areas. A higher tension will
(0.025in) wide gap between the tows. If the cause the fiber to bridge over concave areas.
tows are 3.8 mm (0.150 in) wide, there will be Materials with low tack levels also have less
a 0.63 mm (0.025in) overlap. tendency to deform or rope while being pulled
Figure 22.4 shows a typical width his- through the fiber delivery system. They also
togram of a spool of tow material. To develop transfer less resin to the components of the
this histogram a spool of tow was run through fiber delivery system and head. This reduces
a measuring device, which measured the the number of times that these components
width at 1100 locations. The average width is need to be cleaned because of resin build up.
3.20 mm (0.126 in) and the standard deviation Resin build up in the head causes it to mal-
is 0.13 mm (0.005 in). A typical width his- function.
togram of a slit tape will show an average The tack of most resins can be reduced by
width of 3.18 mm (0.125 in) and a standard lowering their temperature. To accomplish
deviation of 0.08 mm (0.003 in). Maintaining this, most fiber placement machines are
the quality of tow and slit tape will greatly equipped with an air conditioned creel. The
improve the quality of the composite laminate fiber placement head also has some means of
and the reliability of the process. cooling the components that come in contact
The ideal fiber placement material has no with the tow material. To achieve the desired
tack at 21°C (70°F) and high tack from 27°C to tack required to adhere the tow material to the
32°C (80°F to 90°F). Low tack is needed when surface, the area where the material is com-
the material is being pulled off the spool and pacted onto the surface is heated. This is
accomplished by blowing hot air at the nip
point of the compaction roller (Fig. 22.1).

73 20 mm
0.13 mm

: 3.56mm
2.74 mm

I # of Samples. 1100
22.3 TOOLING CONSIDERATIONS
The tooling for fiber placement provides the
shape of the part being fabricated and a suit-
able surface for the machine to lay tows onto.
It also has features that can be used to associ-
ate the electronic data’s coordinate system,
which describes the laying surface, to the
machine’s coordinate system. The electronic
data must accurately represent the finished
2.03 2.54 4.06
tool. The smaller the surface of curvature is,
TowWdth (mm)
the more important it is that the electronic data
accurately represent the finished tool. If the
Fig. 22.4 Tow width histogram. electronic data does not accurately represent
480 Fiber placement

the lay-down surface the tows will be placed

in the wrong location and there is a chance
that the machine could collide with the tool or
part. It is also important that the electronic
data is in a format that can be used by the
offline programming system. If data is in the
wrong format, the length of time it takes to
program the part is increased and sometimes
there is a loss of surface accuracy. If no elec-
tronic data exist then the tool needs to be
accurately measured and this information
needs to be converted into electronic data that
can be used by an offline programming sys-
tem.
Tooling for fiber placement needs to meet
criteria that are not necessarily required for
other processes. The tool surface must have
sufficient strength so that it does not deflect as
the head compacts tows onto it. When the tool Fig. 22.5 Tooling features.
surface deflects, the tows will not be placed in
the correct position and they will buckle after
the tool springs back into position. Tows that having to rotate the mandrel and they must
are buckled will no longer carry the desired also be described in the electronic data coor-
design loads. Another consideration is that the dinate system used by the part programmer.
tool surface needs to extend 152 mm (6 in) past The probed coordinates are used by the offline
the largest part boundary. This extended area software to create a transformation matrix
is used by the head to roll off and onto the part that will convert the part’s electronic data
as it is starting and ending a course. This coordinate system to the position of the tool in
extended area also needs to be part of the elec- the machine’s coordinate system.
tronic data, because the offline software also If the tool has to be removed from the
uses this area as it is generating the courses machine and then replaced in after each part,
when deciding where the ply boundaries are. it is important that the tool is designed with
This extended area is also used as a place to features that allow it to be located in the same
apply the bagging sealant tape for vacuum position each time it is put back in the
debulking (Fig. 22.5). machine. This will eliminate repeating a time
The tool must also be designed with fea- consuming alignment procedure. If the tool is
tures that can be used to associate the part’s mounted between a headstock and tailstock it
electronic data coordinate system to the is desirable to attach the ends of the tooling
machine’s coordinate system. This can be shafts to the headstock and tailstock with non-
accomplished by perpetually molding or locking tapered adapters. This makes it easier
machining three cross hairs onto the tool sur- to load the tool and when the tapers are tight-
face, in the area of the 152 mm (6 in) ened they are self locating. The tapered
extensions. To provide accurate results, the adapters also need to incorporate a keyway on
cross hairs need to be placed as far apart as the headstock end so the tool can be located in
possible. These three cross hairs are probed by the radial direction. A tool mounted to a flat
the machine to detect the location of the tool plate should be located by a three-point locat-
in the machine’s coordinate system, without ing system incorporating pins or keys.

22.4 PLY SHAPE
Fiber placement is used to fabricate simple
parts such as flat panels or complicated parts
such as an inlet duct, which is square on one
end and round on the other (Fig. 22.6).The ply
shapes can be any size or geometric form. A
ply shape can also include interior ply bound-
aries which create holes.
When generating ply shapes, the designer
must consider the shortest tow length the
machine can lay down. This length is the dis-
tance from the start of the lay-down point to
where the tow is cut in the head. Figure 22.7
shows exterior and interior ply shapes of an
I I I
Fig. 22.6 Fiber placing an inlet duct.
aircraft structure. The black areas are the areas
that cannot be fiber placed because the length
of the required tow is less than the shortest
allowable fiber length. These areas could be
laid in by hand, or the ply shape could be
adjusted, as in Fig. 22.7, so that the required
fiber length
" is longer" that the shortest cut
Ply shape 481
length. The exterior ply boundaries can the
extended in the areas where there are mini-
mum cut length problems. These extended
areas can later be cut off. Interior plies must be
reshaped to match the fiber angles.
The designer must also consider the end
locations of the tow. Each tow is cut at a 90"
angle; because of this the ending angle of the
tows may not match the angle of the ply
boundary. Figure 22.8 shows three different
ply boundary conditions for a 45" ply. The
Outer Pb bunday 45'
Inner Ply bunday -5.
Boundaries With Missing Tows
Adjusted Boundaries With No MissingTows
Fig. 22.7 Ply boundary adjustments.
amount the tows can cover the ply bound-
aries is specified by the percent of ply
boundary coverage. A 100% value is typically
used on the larger ply boundaries that are
later trimmed to shape. This makes sure that
all of the fibers go to the edge of the bound-
arv. A 50% value is used on interior plv I d
482 Fiber placement
PLY BOUNDARIES
0% 50% 100%
Fig. 22.8 Ply boundary conditions.
boundaries. The 50% value allows some of
the fibers to go past the ply boundaries; but it
makes sure that the correct volume of mater-
ial has been placed in the ply. The percent of
ply boundary coverage is specified in the
offline programming software.
22.5 STEERING
The ability to steer the fiber band allows the
designer to maintain a constant fiber angle on
a complex surface, or align the fibers with
some applied stress. Steering is made possible
because of differential payout and because the
impregnated tow has enough tack to over-
come any sliding forces. Differential pay out
of the individual tows is one of fiber place-
ment's key features. This feature is required to
allow each tow within the fiber band to main-
tain a unique length as the laminating action
of the head pulls the tows off the spools and
compacts them onto the part surface. When
the head is required to laminate a curved
path, the outer tows of the band will pull
more length than the inner tows. Similarly, as
the head laminates over a contour, some tows
must dispense more length than others. This
allows the fiber placement machine to steer
the fiber band.
Steering can be defined as the binormal
radius of curvature along a fiber path. An
example (Fig. 22.9) shows O", 45" and 90"
courses laid on a cone shaped mandrel. On
the right side of the figure, the same courses
are shown on the unwrapped mandrel sur-
face. On the unwrapped mandrel surface it is
easier to see which courses are being steered.
The 0" course is straight showing that no
steering is necessary. On the 45" course the
amount of steering changes as the course is
laid from the larger end to the smaller end of
the cone. The steering radius on the larger end
is 58.4cm (23.0in). It decreases to 20.3 cm
(8.0 in) on the smaller end. On the 90" course
the center line steering radius of the 2.54 cm
(1.0 in) wide course is 28.7 cm (11.3 in). The
90" course also illustrates the need for differ-
ential payout. The fibers on the inside steering
radius are 32.14 cm (12.653 in) long. The fibers
on the outside steering radius are 35.11 cm
(13.821 in) long. This is a 2.97 cm (1.168 in)
difference in length.
Tape is typically laid along it's 'natural
path', but can be steered by small amounts. A
tape laying machine can steer a 7.6 cm (3 in)
wide tape along a 20.3 m (800 in) radius with
small amounts of buckling. The buckling
occurs because the fibers on the outside steer-
ing radius are in tension and the fibers on the
inside steering radius are in compression. A
typical fiber placement machine using
3.2 mm (0.125 in) wide materials can steer a
fiber band along a 63.5cm (25in) radius
without buckling the individual tows. When
steering a radius smaller than 63.5 cm (25 in),
the tows will begin to buckle if laid on a flat
or a convex surface or 'Venetian blind' if laid
on a concave surface. 'Venetian blinding'
occurs when the fibers on the inside steering
radius of the individual tows are adhered to
the surface and the outside steering radius
fibers are in the air.
 Dropping and adding tows 483

' 0 DEGREE COURSE

ON MANDREL
0 DEGREE COURSE
FLAT LAYOUT

p., /STEERING: 58.4 R

A5 DEGREE COURSE
ON MANDREL 45 DEGREE COURSE
FLAT LAYOUT

STEERING: 30.0 R
LENGTH: 35.11 cm

STEERING: 27.4 R
LENGTH: 32.14 cm

ON MANDREL 90 DEGREE COURSE

FLAT LAYOUT

Fig. 22.9 Steering.

the compactor lays the ends onto the surface

22.6 DROPPING AND ADDING TOWS
To start a course, the delivery head is posi-
tioned to the start point and the tows are fed
out under the compactor. While following the
fiber path, the delivery head can change the
fiber band width by adding or dropping indi-
vidual tows. This feature allows all or any
combination of tows to be removed or added
to the band width in increments equal to one
tow width. With this capability, it is possible
to decrease the band width to prevent adja-
cent courses from overlapping each other. A
course is ended by cutting all of the tows as
of the mandrel.
Each tow is cut at a 90" angle. When adja-
cent courses are placed next to each other, this
can leave a triangular gap or overlap (Fig.
22.10). The designer can use the off-line soft-
ware to specify the percent of overlap between
courses. A zero percent specification will leave
a triangular gap between courses. In this case
the outside tow of the course being laid is
dropped when it touches the adjacent course.
On the other extreme, a 100% overlap will
leave a triangular overlap and no gaps. The
100% overlap specification can leave a part
484 Fiber placement

TRIANGULAR GAP
\

/'
,' 0% OVERLAP
/'

a
,'

'.
'. '.
u
50% OVERLAP

TRIANGULAR OVERLAP-/'\ /
u
100% OVERLAP

Fig. 22.10 Overlap between courses.

'bumpy' because of the overlaps. The 50% which is to be manufactured by fiber place-
specification is most commonly used because ment. The first is concave surfaces and the
the smaller gaps and overlaps tend to average second is areas with small radii of curvature.
out each other as the laminate is built up. The When consideringa part with a concave sur-
other technique that helps average these trian- face area, the designer must make sure the
gular gaps and overlaps is to offset each ply byfiber placement head can fit into the concave
one and a half tow widths. This ensures that area without hitting the surface of the part.
the small triangular gaps and overlaps do not There are some techniques that can be used to
align on top of each other. overcome some of these limitations. To help the
head fit into a concave area the offline software
has a feature known as collision avoidance.
22.7 SURFACE GEOMETRY
The software knows the part and head geome-
Fiber placement can automate the fabrication try. It constantly checks to see if the two are
of many composite part geometries that in the colliding. If they collide, the software will rock
past could only be laminated using hand lay- the head off the surface normal away from the
up. The types of surface geometries that can be collision. Figure 22.12 shows a part with a
fiber placed range from fan blades to full 360" small concave area being fiber placed. As the
asymmetrical shells (Fig. 22.11). There are two head stays normal to the surface and
surface features that the designer needs to pay approaches the concave area, it will collide into
special attention to when designing a part the part, as shown in the upper exploded view.
 Surface geomety 485

Fig. 22.11 Fiber placing a fan blade.

SURFACE NORMAL
2 COLLISION POINT

NO COLLISION AVOIDANCE

SURFACE NORMAL 7

C"
1
'-,a I-
I O " COLLISION AVOIDANCE

Fig. 22.12 Collision avoidance.

486 Fiber placement
To correct this problem, the software rocks
back the head 10" off normal, as shown in the
lower exploded view.
There are limits to how much the head can
be rocked off the surface normal. If the head
hits on both front and the back sides, the soft-
ware cannot avoid the collision and the area
should be redesigned. Rocking the head to the
front and back slightly affects the effective
applied compaction force and the minimum
cut length. Rocking the head sideways also
affects the effective applied compaction force
and requires extra compactor compliance.
Examples of small radii of curvature are
shown in Fig. 22.13. On the convex surface
the compactor cannot completely come in
TOOL SURFACE
SMALL CONVEX RADIUS
Fig. 22.13 Small radii of curvature.
contact with the surface. The part can still be
fiber placed but the number of tows in the
fiber band should be reduced to match the
compaction line width. On the concave sur-
face the radius should be increased to allow
the compactor to contact the surface, other-
wise the tows will bridge over the small
radius of curvature.
22.8 INSPECTION
Fiber placement is a very repeatable process
and requires only a small amount of in-process
inspection, but it is important to perform a rig-
orous first article inspection. This inspection is
used to verify that the part program fabricates
a part that meets all of the design require-
ments. This detailed first article inspection
should not need to be repeated unless the part
program has been changed.
The first article inspection should start with
a dry run of each ply. Dry running a program
means to run the machine through the pro-
gram without laying down tows. Dry running
of a program verifies that the electronic data
7
SMALL CONCAVE RADIUS
describing the tool surface matches the actual
tool surface. It also verifies that the transfor-
mation matrix, used to associate the part's
electronic data coordinate system to the tool's
position in the machine's coordinate system, is
correct. This is accomplished by watching the
compactor as it follows the part surfaces. Dry
running also verifies that collision avoidance
worked properly.
 Further reading 487

Table 22.1 Inspection criteria

Discrepancy Criteria Correction procediire

A gap that is greater than Add a tow to fill the gap.

2.54 mm (0.1 in) wide and
is longer than 76.2 mm (3.0 in).
Wandering tow at start A wandering tow that leaves a Pick up the tow and reposition.
and end of course gap greater than 2.54 mm (0.1 in)
wide and is longer than 50.8 mm
(2.0 in). If the tow is captured under
another tow, do not repair the
captured tow.
Twisted or folded tow A twisted or folded tow that is longer Remove twisted or folded tow and
than 76.2 mm (3.0 in). replace.
Wrinkles at start of course A wrinkled tow that is wrinkled more Pick up the wrinkled end of the tow
than 19.05 mm (0.75 in). and straighten it out.
Bridging of tows Bridging is more than 1.57 mm Use a heat gun and hand pressure
(0.062 in) high. to remove bridging or vacuum bag
the part for a maximum of 15 min at
full vacuum.

The next step in first article inspection is to
load the machine with tows and fiber place
each ply. After each ply is fiber placed, the ply
is inspected for the correct fiber angle, ply loca-
tion, band-to-band overlap and for missing
tows. The easiest way to inspect for fiber angle
and ply location is to have a Mylar template
that has the ply boundary plotted onto it and a
line for the fiber angle. The template needs to
be located with alignment marks or pins that
are part of the tool. A Mylar template will not
work on surface geometries with curvatures in
both directions. For these geometries, a formed
inspection tool should be fabricated.
After the first article inspection, subsequent
parts need to have each ply visually inspected
for excessive gaps and overlaps, lost tows,
twisted tows, wrinkled tows and bridging
tows. Table 22.1 is an example of a typical in-
process inspection criteria. Another criterion
used to evaluate gaps is to take a 30.5 cm (12in)
scale and lay it on the ply normal to the fiber
direction.All the gaps along the 30.5 cm (12 in)
distance are measured and summed. If this
value exceeds a pre-determined design crite-
rion the area is reworked.
FURTHER READING
Barth, James R. 1990. Fabrication of Complex
Composite Structures Using Advance Fiber
Placement Technology. 35th Intern. SAMPE
Symp., 2-5 April 1990.
Enders, Mark L. and Hopkins, Paul C. 1991.
Developments in the Fiber Placement Process.
36th Intern. S A M P E Symp., April 1991.
Enders, Mark L. 1991. The Fiber Placement Process.
Intern. Conf: Comp. Mater., (ICCM/8), July 1991.
Evans, Don O., Vaniglia, Milo M. and Hopkins, Paul
C. 1989. Fiber Placement Process Study. 34th
Intern. S A M P E Symp., 8-11 May 1989.
Evans, Don 0. 1993. Design Considerations for
Fiber Placement. 38th Intevn. S A M P E Syrnp.,
10-13 May 1993.