The following aspects were addressed during the second reporting period (RP2) from Month 13 to Month 30:
Design of a novel RTM tool with distortion compensation capabilities.
Tooling design and manufacture has been completed for both the FLEX Tools; the Small Tool (1m span demonstrator) and the Large Tool (3m span full-size part tool). These were delivered to TWI and Saab, respectively, to enable the manufacturing trials described under the project to be undertaken. The Small Tool was then used to manufacture part demonstrator to validate the thermal control system and the as-moulded part distortion, to assess the tool capacity for adjustment
Reduce the lead time to compensate for part distortion and spring back.
The surrogate model and thermal control of the part were developed and successfully demonstrated the capability of the model to predict the part distortion as a result of the part curing and to identify the resulting adjustments necessary to produce a part on nominal shape as intended
Induce compensated mould shape through a set of external actuators that impose the correct shape based on a closed loop feedback control system.
The FLEX Small Tool was cycled through the full ±2mm range of the actuators for adjusting the tool shape during the tool validation process at LRT. The feedback system was designed and implemented but not fully tested due to the challenges relating to COVID and Brexit that affected the final trial phase significantly
Efficient thermal management of the tooling operation.
The thermal management system was implemented by ETS, using the heater elements embedded within the tool by LRT. Integration of the chosen heater elements within the tool material was challenging, however it provided an opportunity to demonstrate the on-line quality control through the thermal management system, in conjunction with the cure monitoring, to validate the part had the correct final properties. Work continued on the development of the fibre alignment monitoring system (WP3.2) and this demonstrated a potential system for assessing fibre angle deviations during layup through camera monitoring and control software, developed by BU. The injection strategies necessary to manufacture the parts, in the individual tools were developed and implemented through close collaboration between LRT, TWI and BU, with the high part quality from each first article produced demonstrating a successful infusion.
A methodology for an overall design and evaluation of the production cell.
The FLEX Large Tool was successfully integrated into the Topic Manager facilities to enable the manufacture of demonstrator parts. The Small Tool was delivered to TWI and formed part of a representative proof-of-concept manufacturing process. The demonstration of all the automated steps identified in the deliverable were not fully realised in a single location.
The project outputs have been disseminated via two separate conference proceedings, a peer-reviewed journal article is in preparation and the learning on tool design has already contributed to the SEER project, where the advances through self-heated benzoxaine resin tooling is being used to provide smart, self heated tooling. LRT are, in particular, keen to provide this tooling technology to commercial clients as the impacts of COVID ease on the aerospace manufacturing sector.
