The use of both thermoplastic composites and Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) as means of manufacturing is attracting more interests in recent years. One of the main differences between the thermoset and thermoplastic composites is that in thermoplastics it is necessary that temperature be close to the melting point to shape the desired profile. Combination of anisotropy, high temperature processing and non-isothermal cooling of the part in AFP manufacturing leads to internal residual stresses in the part. Due to high temperature and local pressure used in AFP the viscoelastic behavior of material and part changes from point to point. This can give rise to residual stresses and unwanted deformation.
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