Towards toolless manufacturing of aerospace CFRP components via thermoplastic AFP

Kurzfassung

Modern commercial aviation needs to decarbonize at high rates to support climate action. One aspect is the consistent use of lightweight materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP), that requires novel manufacturing processes. This paper expands on the development of dual-robot thermoplastic Automated Fiber Placement, that enables toolless production of CFRP structures. A hardware and software setup are developed to conduct material tests and evaluate the achievable part quality using the process. It is shown that the process is feasible to manufacture quality on par with conventional, in-situ AFP.