A NOVEL APPROACH TO MANUFACTURE COMPLEX LIGHTLY LOADED STRUCTURES USING VACUUM FORMING; TECHNIQUE AND FIRST TRIALS ASSESSMENT

摘要

Composites are increasingly required to be manufactured at higher and higher rates. This is especially true if we consider the reported numbers of next generation composite aircraft to be manufactured by Boeing and Airbus. As such, high volume manufacturing of composites must be addressed. Whilst automation of some primary structures is conducted, thus far secondary structures have not been addressed. This situation needs to change as in numerical terms secondary structures are arguably the current mainstays. The work therefore presents a step towards automation of secondary structures through the adoption and modulation of a simple vacuum forming table. Process conditions, various material types for drape and effect of sandwich core are considered, with results described. Finally, mouldings made by automated manufacture are compared to a hand draped example, and also a virtual draped model. These investigations will show that automated manufacture of secondary structures is possible.