INDUSTRY NEWS | Engineering Capacity
New markets for composites A new state-of-the art automated fibre placement and tape layup cell (AFP-ATL) could pave the way to expanding the use of composites in renewable energy, construction and transport. The innovations provided by AFP and ATL have transformed the aerospace industry allowing fuselage sections and wing spars to be manufactured at an industrial scale, not previously possible using traditional composite manufacturing methods. Currently though, these breakthroughs have almost exclusively benefitted the traditional composites manufacturing industries mentioned. Through collaboration, the NCC believe that AFP-ATL has the ability to reduce the barrier to entry to these game changing technologies and expand the composite market into other areas such as renewable energy, oil & gas, construction and rail. The cell, created in partnership with Electroimpact (Flintshire, UK) is a uniquely designed capability that combines both AFP and ATL in a single system. The dual system can be used individually or together to collaborate and create large, complex structures with minimal downtime. The robot is intended for medium to large scale manufacturing with high performance and accuracy robotic motion platform. The new cell is the exciting final piece in an impressive £36.7m 12
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jigsaw of ten new fully digital automated composite manufacturing capabilities that have been installed in the past 18 months. The Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) process head utilises x 8 tows, each measuring 12.7mm wide, with either an infrared heater to manufacture thermoset composites, or the novel humm3® flash technology which has been developed by Heraeus Noblelight Ltd and tested at the NCC for to manufacture thermosets of low temperatures (30-60 degrees) and high temperature thermoplastics or bindered dry fibre (100-300 degrees). The Automated Tape Layup (ATL) head can deposit tapes of 75, 200 or 300mm widths using the same heating systems and material processing capability as AFP. Vertical and horizontal rotators allow for complex tools to be used to create geometries such as convex and concave panels, large scale diameter pipes, spars or
barrel/tower structures. The rotators enable components of up to 4.6m diameter, and 7m in length to be manufactured. The cell's flat tables also allow for smaller scale analyses such as material testing or prototype trials to de-risk programs and build knowledge prior to larger scale projects. Eva Sastres Collardo from the NCC said “The NCC's AFP-ATL capability is a perfect test bed for automated composite manufacturing at a medium to large scale level. The system will enable new and existing markets to build up their innovation platforms from the ground up, from small scale prototyping and material testing through to full scale demonstrators and data analytics. The output for customers will be the enabling of high-performance products, created at high volume with reduced cost and waste to achieve step change technology in their field.” 8 nccuk.com MAY 2021
