Process-induced Distortions in CFRP Manufacturing: A bottle-neck for high-rate Production Scenarios

Abstract

Undesired process-induced distortions (PID) are an inherent issue in today's CFRP manufacturing scenarios. Distortions are inevitable due to an interaction of composite-specific and process-specific parameters. In academia it is distinguished in three main phenomena Spring-in, Warpage and Forced- interaction while their specific relevance depends on the part shape at hand. As process distortions remain widely unconsidered in current partdevelopment chains, they induce considerable difficulties and costs in assembly. Time consuming rework of tools and manual shimming becomes necessary what adulterates efficient automated assembly processes. Consequently, industry demands for reliable prediction capabilities in order to overcome today’s experience-based compensation strategies and to end up with a sophisticated design process. In particular, efficient approaches are demanded in industry, which are able to predict PID with satisfying accuracy while their application should be as close as possible to industrial practice. The present paper introduces the acting mechanisms inducing PID, while comments on their technical relevance are given. Subsequently, a novel phenonumerical simulation strategy that focuses on PID is compared with state-of-the-art process simulation. The phenonumerical simulation strategy promises significant advantages in terms of reduced modeling and characterization efforts as available models from structural analysis (SA) can be used to predict PID.