COMPOSITE TOOLING STRUCTURES
COMPOSITE TOOLING STRUCTURES FOR TRANSPORT, ASSEMBLING JIG STRUCTURES FOR AEROSPACE COMPONENTS
TRANSPORT
POSITIONING AND ASSEMBLING JIGS ASSEMBLING WIND TURBINE BLADE SHELLS
TRANSPORT BOXES
Support for INVAR egg box moulds Light weight box combined with resistance to moisture, acid, aging ‌
80% weight reduction when using Acrosoma composite tooling structure technology instead of a steel structure.
FROM STRUCTURAL COMPOSITE PANEL
but a structural composite competition to high tensile steel alloys, aluminum and in some cases even titanium.
The tooling structure is based on beams made of Acrosoma panels. This tri-dimensional reinforced sandwich panel has the exact properties needed for light weight tooling structures. High stiffness to weight ratio No delamination of skin Low thermal expansion Excellent corrosion resistance
TO BEAM
The Acrosoma continuous production process makes a panel in endless lengths. The infeed allows various combinations of resin (vinyl ester and epoxy) and fibers (carbon, aramid and glass). Due to strict monitoring, the panels have a constant quality over the whole length. Regular sampling is done to check the quality. This process allows very fast production and thus production of large quantities.
The long panels are cut in length and glued together in an hydraulic jig with high precision.
BEAM DEMONSTRATOR
Connection of panels
The Acrosoma beam demonstrator is available on request. It is designed to demonstrate the construction with various connection systems and local reinforcements. It consists of a main beam and a crossmember. The goal of this demonstrator is to show the customer’s engineers all possible applications of the Acrosoma Composite Tooling structure technology and reinforcements possible.
BEAM CONNECTIONS AND INTERFACES
The panels of the demo beam are adhesively bonded together with glass /carbon fiber reinforces profiles.
The tooling structure can have different types of interfaces. Steel plates with threaded holes bonded on the panel. Insert nuts that range from M8 to M12 as an alternative. These nuts are riveted to one side of the panel. Glass-epoxy laminate plates used to introduce point loads or a local reinforcement as well as a connection between two panels using a threaded hole.
REALISATIONS
Assembly structure for A350 outboard flap assembly Minimal thermal expansion (0.25mm on 13m for 10°C) Minimal deflection (0.45mm at 1 ton center load)
Full composite lifting beams. Equivalent steel and aluminum: 375kg. Equivalent composute beam: 22kg.
Minimal thermal expansion (0,25mm on 10m for 10째C) A350 leading edge assembly base plates 40m
The Acrosoma transport frame is designed for the transport of the largest composite part ever. Acrosoma used its experience in road transportation to design this aerospace tooling. The FEA results were confirmed with reality.
DESIGN,
TESTING,
With fiber optic sensors and our own test bench, large structures are tested with a force of up to 450kN at 3Hz.
Acrosoma has developed an in-house methodology to simulate the behaviour of the Acrosoma structures: 3D CAD-modeling using CATIA V5 FEA using ESAComp and ABAQUS combined with Acrosoma methodology Dimensional control using laser radar Panel tests and full scale testing Stress monitoring using fiber optic sensors
FEA,
QUALITY CONTROL
An Instron machine is used to accurately check the properties. These results are continuously fed back to the FEA.
FEA results using ABAQUS
With the ESAComp software, Acrosoma engineers are able to integrate different densities of fibers in ABAQUS. These programs conduct accurate calculations. For the dimensional control of the Acrosoma structures, a Nikon Metric laser radar is used. This radar is also used to evaluate structures under load. For applying loads, Acrosoma test bench is able to test final products. The strains are measured using optical fibers.
Dimensional control of Acrosoma structures using a Nikon Metris laser radar.