The purpose of AUTOW is to develop a fully automated and integrated dry tow placement process for the fabrication of complex carbon fibre preforms, including a corresponding capability for design, analysis and process simulation.
The objectives of AUTOW are to:
(a) Obtain a fabrication capability for automated dry tow placement of pre-forms, by adapting current machines intended for pre-impregnated composite materials and using innovative tooling;
(b) Obtain dry tow material, which can be thermally activated on command to make it stick to the lay-up tool;
(c) Obtain process window and material properties by fabricating and testing pre-forms and test articles;
(d) Obtain a corresponding design engineering approach to satisfy design requirements and manufacturing constraints, and to exploit the new fabrication capabilities;
(e) Obtain an understanding of the benefits of the new capability versus current fabrication methods, with a trade-off design study for several representative components; and
(f) Obtain a validated new technology by design, analysis, fabrication and test of a full-scale component
The objectives of "Strengthening Competitiveness" are met, since the above measures will:
(a) Decrease time and cost of the fabrication of fibre reinforced composite structures, by: - Enabling automated fabrication of complex pre-forms; - Allowing a high degree of part integration, reducing assembly; - Reducing materials, tooling and processing costs, compared to prepreg/autoclave manufacturing.
(b) Increase reproducibility, by: - Minimising tolerances; - Avoiding errors typical for hand-manufacturing preforms.
(c) Improve design capability, by: - Integrating manufacturing constraints into the design in early stages; - Improving performance of the designs through optimal tailoring (weight saving).