0913HPC Lowres PDF

SEPTEMBER 2013 / Vol. 21 / No.
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Lotus Formula 1: Composite design software NASAs Space Launch System payload fairing Fast 3-D preforms via Tailored Fiber Placement Paris Air Show & CFK-Valley Stade Reviews
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
features
34 Paris Air Show 2013 Review
Torrential rains couldnt dampen the spirit of innovation or stop the ood of aerospace business announcements.
COLUMNS
5 From the Editor
HPC editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan looks back to HPCs beginnings in September 1993
40 CFK-Valley Stade 2013 Review
34 54
7 Market Trends
Quality papers, candid speakers and compelling subject matter put the Carbon Composite Valley on the international map.
Altair VP Robert Yancey asks if automakers will follow aeromanufacturers in embracing carbon ber.
48 HPC Turns 20
By Jeff Sloan
9 Composites: Perspectives & Provocations
Celebrating two decades of composites advocacy.
Consultant Dale Brosius challenges the auto industry to think big and take risks in composites R&D.
13 By the Numbers
54 Tailored Fiber Placement: Besting Metal in Volume Production

By Ginger Gardiner
Gardners director of market intelligence Steve Kline, Jr. updates the Composites Business Index.
15 Testing Tech
Affordable automated production of highly optimized preforms and parts.
Dr. Donald F. Adams recommends best practices for double-notch shear test specimens.
62 Inside Manufacturing: Tooling Up for larger Launch Vehicles
DEPARTMENTS
62
Composites spell cost advantage in tooling for a prospective 10m/33 ft diameter payload fairing for NASA launch vehicle. By Ginger Gardiner
19 News 71 Calendar 73 Applications 76 Marketplace 77 Showcase 77 Ad Index
SEPTEMBER
volume: twenty-one number: ve
2013
on tHe cover
Moving from an aerodynamic concept like HPCs September 2013 cover image to a carbon composite-intensive Formula 1 chassis t for the racetrack requires a large set of engineering design tools and processes. See how the Lotus F1 Team (Enstone, U.K.) does it with advanced interprogram communications software, in our Focus on Design feature, p. 78.
Source: Lotus
focus on desiGn
78 Formula 1 Team Optimizes Car Designto-Build Process
FEA-to-CAD software translation tool opens doors to cross-department communication for the Lotus Formula 1 Team and frees up time for increased R&D and test-part manufacture. By Karen Wood
SEPTEMBER 2013
ADVANCED MATERIAL SOLUTIONS

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EDITOR
FROM THE EDITOR

feat for a woman in a malen the fall of 1987, I was dominated, manufacturing-oria sophomore journalented industry. (See p. 48 for a ism major in at Cololook back at HPCs debut.) rado State University. In For more than a decade, one of my classes, PubJudy carried the title of publication Management, lisher and editor, and in that I had to write a busirole exerted over the magazine ness plan for the rst her vision of what it should be ve years of a startup and represent: Technically asmagazine, including the tute, trusted, accurate, timely, editorial topic, focus and jeff @ compositesworld.com forward-thinking, visually atphilosophy, subscribertractive and relevant. She was base demographics and the face of the magazine at trade shows confersize; potential advertisers; marketing plans; paper, ences and seminars. She knew and was known. She printing, mailing and subscription-maintenance managed the sales staff, marketing, layout, design, costs; staff salaries, benets and payroll taxes; circulation and edited every feature story in each isand anticipated revenue. We were graded on the sue. She asked the hard questions and sent back thoroughness of our work and the viability of the articles that didnt meet her expectations. She enterprise a subjective metric to be sure. Our proted from the rapid expansion the composites professor reminded us repeatedly that most magaindustry but also saw the magazine through downturns that might have As High-Performance Composites turns 20 pushed lesser leaders out of business. this month, we give thanks to its founder The result, today, is not just HPC the magazine, but HPC the brand, surand thanks, as well, to you, its readers. rounded by a sister publication (Composites Technology), a digital presence on the Web, a weekly newsletter, technical conferences zines fail within three years of launch, so the viabiland, in my opinion, a sales, editorial and marketing ity bar was set pretty high. staff without equal in the composites industry that On paper, my publication-to-be appeared edi still shares the passion and interest that launched torially and nancially stable, and maybe even the magazine two decades ago. Judy retired after viable. But what I didnt know then was that any the sale of HPC and CT to Gardner Business Memagazine, no matter how sound the premise and dia in 2007, but what she envisioned lives on. The data on which it is founded, needs one key ingrecore staff of editors and writers she assembled still dient that does not show up in the business plan gratefully navigates the course she set. and was not mentioned by my professor: At least That said, theres one other absolutely indis one person who is passionate not only about the magazine, but about what it represents a person pensable element: readers. Thats you. HPC magain whom the magazines market is ingrained, who zine ultimately proved viable because you continue knows and is known, who is willing to be the maga- to subscribe to it, and benet from whats on its pages. So, to you, we owe a debt of gratitude as zine, craft its vision and make sure that every issue well. In payment, were launching into the next hews closely to it. In short, a successful magazine, 20 years with the same commitment to accuracy when launched, needs an evangelist. HPCs evangelist from day one was Judy Hazen. and relevance that youve come to know and love. Thanks for reading, and thanks for your support. She worked in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a sales representative for Advanced Composites. When that magazine was effectively folded by the company that owned it, Judy saw a hole in the market and moved to ll it with HPC. She launched the rst issue 20 years ago this month, in 1993 no mean Jeff Sloan
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MARKET TRENDS
MARKET TRENDS
CaRBOn fiBER cOMPOSiTES: InTO THE aUTOMOTivE MainSTREaM?
der backlogs are measured in years. Auto OEMs dont have that luxury. A third roadblock is that many structural auto applications dont require the mechanical properties of carbon composites, so the motivation for using them is perceived as mere weight reduction. There are multiple ways to reduce the weight of nonstructural parts, and many are less expensive. There are other auto applications where the material properties of a composite can be a negative factor, so that also presents a challenge. For example, high-stiffness composites are not well-suited for crash crumple zones that are designed to absorb impact energy in a controlled manner. Last, metal suppliers are aggressively working to preserve market share by developing materials that weigh less and perform better. Aerospace and automotive OEMs alike need strong, lightweight materials that he use of composites continues to can perform in harsh environments and grow, and all forecasts show that the benet from the corrosion and fatigue composite materials industry will resistance of advanced composites. Both grow at a faster rate than most industries industries must address recycling and during the next decade. Although the repair issues with these materials. But aerospace and wind-energy industries the industries also differ. The aerospace dominate usage today, many forecasters industry has some requirements that do see large growth potential in not pertain to automotive apautomotive. Given the volumes plications, such as structural of material used by the auto certication and buckling staThere is a symbiotic relationship between industry, any signicant use of bility. And the auto industry has automotive and aerospace. composites in mainstream auunique limiting factors beyond tomobiles will lead to a large high material cost, including increase in the composite materials surface nish and impact performance vehicles in the near future. All it means market. In fact, the market in automotive requirements, manufacturing cycle time, is that an increased use of composites could easily outstrip the aerospace maris one option automotive OEMs are in- joining, manufacturing infrastructure ket in a very short time. vestigating to keep up with evolving fuel and volume. In the auto industry, the use of carbon Fortunately, the auto industry can economy standards. composites, to date, has been limited to There are a number of roadblocks that benet from the knowledge and experiracecars, high-end performance vehicles ence that aerospace OEMs have gained have the potential to halt these efforts. and some high-end luxury vehicles. The One is the perennially high cost of com- over the past few decades as it moves higher cost of these materials is more posites compared to metals. Another is forward with composites. Likewise, the easily justied in high-end vehicles, knowledge and expertise that the auto uncertainty about ber supply. Because and the performance advantages justify industry will gain as it addresses its the capital costs of ber production their use in racecars. Driving their potenare very high, carbon ber producers unique challenges will make it back to tial use in mainstream automobiles are are unwilling to invest in new capacity the aerospace industry. There is truly a much more stringent fuel economy stanwithout rm data on future demand. The symbiotic relationship between the two dards in the U.S. and new tail-pipe emisaerospace industry can make long-term industries and, in the end, the consumer sions standards in Europe. commitments for ber because their or- will be the ultimate beneciary.
Dr. Robert Yancey is vice president aerospace solutions at Altair Engineering Inc. (Troy, Mich.), where he focuses on developing and delivering innovative simulationand design-based solutions. Throughout his academic and professional career he has been involved with the characterization, design optimization and analysis of composites in a variety of industries. He holds degrees from MIT, Virginia Tech and the University of Dayton and has been with Altair since 1999.Prior to Altair, he worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, conducting research into nondestructive characterization methods for composite structures.
Although there are a number of design modications that can improve engine efciency, structural weight reduction can accomplish this goal, and it has a multiplier effect on fuel economy. For example, if you reduce the weight of an automobile structure, you can achieve acceptable performance with a four-cylinder, rather than a six-cylinder, engine. This not only reduces fuel consumption, it also reduces engine weight, which leads to even greater fuel economy. One trend that points to the auto industrys interest in carbon composites is the succession of auto OEM/ber supplier partnerships formed over the past few years. BMW and SGL partnered to build a carbon ber production plant in the U.S., which will supply material for the BMW i3 and i8. Since then, General Motors and Teijin have teamed up; Toyota, Toray and Fuji Heavy Industries have joined forces; Ford and Dow are working together; and Aston Martin, Delta Motorsport, Pentangle Engineering Services and Cytec (formerly Umeco) are cooperating. These partnerships are promising, but they are no guarantee that composites will be used in mainstream passenger
SEPTEMBER 2013
COMPOSITES: PERSPEcTIVES & PROVOcATIONS

WanTEd: Big THinkERS and RiSk TakERS
Dale Brosius is head of his own consulting company and the president of Dayton, Ohio-based Quickstep Composites, the U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based Quickstep Technologies (Bankstown Airport, New South Wales), which develops out-of-autoclave curing processes for advanced composites. His career includes a number of positions at Dow Chemical, Fiberite and Cytec, and for three years he served as the general chair of SPEs annual Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition (ACCE). Brosius has a BS in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA. Since 2000, he has been a contributing writer for High-Performance Composites and sister magazine Composites Technology.
n June, while on vacation in France, I visited the Chteau du Clos Luc, in Amboise, near the center of the Loire Valley. Surrounded by large, tranquil gardens, replete with ponds and streams, the chateau was a gift from Francois I, king of France, to Leonardo da Vinci. One of the most brilliant and inventive men of all time, da Vinci spent the nal three years of his life in Amboise and died there in 1519. As an engineer by training, the visit captivated me. Placed throughout the gardens and in the chateaus museum are full-scale recreations of da Vincis inventions, based on his sketches: swinging bridges, water transport devices, a rolling army tank, a glider with bat-shaped wings, trilevel machine guns, ball-bearing transmissions and other devices, many of which were not perfected unSource: Fiberforge
til decades or centuries after his death and the principles of which form the basis of many vehicles and other machines we take for granted today. Within a week after my return to the U.S., I received a press release about the closure and liquidation of Fiberforge (Glenwood Springs, Colo.). It got me thinking about how difcult it is for small companies to get new innovations to market in a time frame that will allow them to generate enough revenue to survive. Lengthy delays are typical largely because the market doesnt readily embrace risk or invite exploitation by inventors with out-of-the-box ideas. Fiberforge was created out of the Hypercar concept, developed by the Rocky Mountain Institute (Boulder, Colo.) in the mid-1990s. Incorporated in 1998 to develop and market technologies for automated cutting, layup and press cure of continuous ber thermoplastic composites using carbon and glass bers, the company received a number of research contracts and did paid prototype work in the automotive and aerospace markets. But those efforts had not yet culminated in full-edged production cells, the sale and licensing of which might have pro-
vided the revenue stream necessary to keep the company alive. Although in this case its possible that a larger company might yet buy the companys assets and technology and give it a future, the question remains: Why is it that inventions meet such resistance in the marketplace and take so long to be implemented? First, old ways die hard. It requires a fair bit of risk-taking to see a new process through to approval on a major program. Without clear and compelling drivers, many novel ideas fail to gain market traction and eventually disappear. One notable exception is resin infusion, which has taken a big share of the wind energy and marine markets. But much of that growth was forced on processors by styrene regulations, not necessarily driven by the promise of improved processing. Of course, now that it is widely practiced, everyone sees the benets. But thats hindsight, not foresight. Likewise, rapid-cure thermoset resins and high-speed processing are quickly being developed and are seeing implementation in the automotive industry as composites replace metals. But these, too, are driven by mandates to increase fuel economy and reTailored blank for car seatback
After two years of prototyping and development, Fiberforge secured a development contract with tier supplier Johnson Controls Inc. (Milwaukee, Wis.) that produced a prototype carbon fiber composite seatback frame for a car seat. The companys Automated Laying System (ALS), a selfdeveloped tape-laying machine, is shown laying tape for a flat tailored blank that was postformed to the final shape at right.
Source: HPC/Photo: Anne Ross
SEPTEMBER 2013
duce CO2 emissions. Without nancial with epoxy OOA prepregs has mainly build-it-and-break-it prototypes, this commercialization cycle could be shortpenalties to enforce these regulations, investigated trying to get autoclave properties in an oven with vacuum pres- ened. Promising technologies could would this be happening? Resistance to the new is especially sure only, but long cycle times remain, be put on a fast track to qualication, and vacuum debulk times are often ex- benetting both inventors and larger prevalent in the aerospace and defense entities. Inventors whose developments tended by hours. That said, a number of markets. Despite all the discussions fall short could pursue less deabout trying to nd out-ofmanding applications or seek autoclave (OOA) solutions and other markets. the need for faster, less-expenThe building-block approach to Even da Vinci, the genius, sive processing, actual implemenqualication is a years-long process, didnt get everything right. He tation has been quite slow. Resin creating a risk that these companies failed in trying to divert the ow transfer molding (RTM) and of the Arno River in Florence, for vacuum infusion developments may cease operations before they see example, and none of his ying have been modestly funded for their technologies adopted. machines ever got off the roughly 30 years, but today these ground. But his backers supprocesses produce less than 2 ported these failed full-scale enpercent of the aerospace comsmall companies around the world have deavors along with his successful ones. posites volume. NASA funded a successful infused wing project in the late introduced nonautoclave methods of More aerospace companies need to take such risks today. structural composites fabrication that 1980s; yet only now, on the Bombardier (Dorval, Quebec, Canada) CSeries, is a do offer higher production rates, lower resin-infused wing headed for qualica- tooling costs and lower recurring costs. But the building block approach to tion on a commercial aircraft platform. LEARN MORE qualication is a years-long process, Although they can be consolidated @ www.compositesworld.com creating a risk that these companies outside the autoclave, thermoplastic may cease operations before they see composite structures are still few and Read more about Fiberforge, its genesis and far between, despite the fact that con- their technology adopted. If large aerothe pictured seatback project at http://short. tinuously reinforced material forms space OEMs and their Tier 1 suppliers compositesworld.com/LvFR7nP1 were willing to underwrite early stage have been around for decades. Work
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BY THE NUMBERS
BY THE NUMBERS
COMPOSiTES BUSinESS IndEX 47.7 COnTRacTiOn AccElERaTES
Steve Kline is the director of market intelligence for Gardner Business Media Inc. (Cincinnati, Ohio), the parent company and publisher of High-Performance Composites . Kline holds a BS in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati.
THE COMPOSITES BUSINESS INDEX

SubIndices New Orders Production Backlog Employment Exports Supplier Deliveries Material Prices Prices Received Future Business Expectations Composites Business Index July 47.4 48.0 41.0 51.1 46.7 51.7 64.5 48.3 67.8 47.7 June 47.6 50.6 44.1 50.3 47.1 51.8 61.9 49.4 64.5 48.6 Change -0.2 -2.6 -3.1 0.8 -0.4 -0.1 2.6 -1.1 3.3 -0.9 Direction Contracting Contracting Contracting Growing Contracting Lengthening Increasing Decreasing Improving Contracting Rate Faster From Growing Faster Faster Slower Less More More More Faster Trend 3 1 14 5 15 20 20 2 20 2
n June, the Composites Business Index (CBI) of 48.6 showed that composites business activity contracted for the rst time since January this year. New orders contracted and did so at a faster rate than in May. Although it was the sixth consecutive month of production growth, production grew at a slower rate. The relatively strong performance of production compared to new orders, however, resulted in backlog contraction, which prolonged an already lengthy period of contraction, begun in June 2012, that could indicate excess capacity. Employment grew again in June but did so at its slowest rate since January. With the dollar strong, exports continued to contract. Supplier deliveries lengthened as they have each month since the CBI was created in December 2011, but the rate of was the slowest since November 2012. This could indicate excess capacity in the composites supply chain. Material prices increased in June, but the rate was among the slowest since November 2012. Prices received by fabricators decreased for the second time in three months. This hurt protability and was another sign of excess capacity. Business activity at large facilities outpaced that at small facilities through June. Shops with 100 to 249 employees reached their highest index level since January while shops with more than 250 employees reached their highest index level since July 2012. But shops with 50 to 99 employees contracted for the rst time since December 2012, and shops
with fewer than 50 employees continued to contract, but faster. Regionally, the strongest performer in June was the West North Central. Also strong were the South Atlantic and West South Central. All others contracted. Future capital spending plans were at their second lowest level of 2013. It was also the second time in 2013 that such plans fell below the historical average. Compared to June 2012, spending plans were down 26.7 percent. With a reading of 47.7, the CBI for July showed that business activity in the composites industry contracted for the second month after peaking in March. Employment was the only positive in July, expanding for the fth straight month. All other subindices performed worse in July than in June. New orders contracted for the third month and at a slightly faster pace. Production moved from growth to contraction for the rst time this year. Backlogs continued to contract, and contracted further than the other subindices. Backlogs contracted at their fastest rate for the year to date. Exports remained mired in contraction. Supplier deliveries continued to lengthen, having done so at a fairly constant rate in 2013. Material prices increased in July at the fastest pace since March 2013. Prices re-
ceived by fabricators decreased for the third time in four months. The combination of increasing material prices and decreasing prices received had a signicant negative impact on protability. But future business expectations improved noticeably in July. They reached their second highest level since May 2012. Throughout 2013, the business activity at large facilities has been much higher than at small facilities a trend amplied in recent months. Facilities with more than 250 employees have grown at a consistently strong rate since December 2012. Facilities with 50-249 employees grew in all but a couple of months in that same period. However, fabricators with fewer than 50 employees had contracted four straight months. Facilities with fewer than 19 employees contracted at the fastest rate since the CBI began. In 2013, the strongest region is the West North Central, which has grown for ve straight months. The Mountain region experienced the fastest growth rate in July, its rst growth since February 2013. All other regions contracted. Future capital spending plans were at their second lowest level since June 2012. Planned spending was more than 25 percent above the historical average. Compared to July 2012, spending plans in July 2013 were up by 16.1 percent.
SEPTEMBER 2013
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FIVES is proud to announce the acquisition of MAG Americas and its international brands Cincinnati, Giddings & Lewis and Lin Machines.
FIVES is an industrial engineering group with over 200 years of history. FIVES manufactures machines, processing equipment, production lines and turnkey plants for the biggest global companies of the aluminium, steel, glass, cement, automotive, logistics, energy and sugar industries. The acquisition of the world-renowned brands Cincinnati, Giddings & Lewis and Lin Machines conrms the growth strategy of FIVES in the sector of high-performance industrial equipment. Ever since their creation in 1859 for Giddings & Lewis and 1884 for Cincinnati, these brands have been icons of the American machine tool industry. 1000 professionals in 5 countries will join the 6500 employees of FIVES, bringing their expertise in high-precision machine tools and high performance composite processing machines. In addition to these skills, this acquisition will also contribute its 400 million dollars turnover to the Group, bringing FIVES total annual turnover to close to 2 billion euros by the end of the year. The personnel of MAG Americas are joining the industrial success story of FIVES, famous since 1812 for works such as the Alexandre III bridge or the lifts of the Eiffel tower in Paris. With this acquisition, FIVES conrms its role as leader among the industrial greats of the world of tomorrow.
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TESTING TECH
TESTING TECH
THE DOUBlE-NOTcH SHEaR TEST SPEciMEn fOR cOMPOSiTE MaTERialS
Dr. Donald F. Adams is the president of Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc. (Salt Lake City, Utah). He holds a BS and an MS in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D in theoretical and applied mechanics. Following a total of 12 years with Northrop Aircraft Corp., the Aeronutronic Div. of Ford Motor Co. and the RAND Corp., he joined the University of Wyoming, directing its Composite Materials Research Group for 27 years before retiring from that post in 1999. Dr. Adams continues to write, teach and serve with numerous industry groups, including the test methods committees of ASTM and the Composite Materials Handbook 17.
shear test method for composite materials, typically termed DoubleNotch Shear, has been in existence for many years and is still used, but not without controversy. It is dened by ASTM Internationals (West Conshohocken, Pa.) Standard Test Method for In-Plane Shear Strength of Reinforced Plastics (ASTM D 3846). Even its title is controversial because it is not an in-plane shear test, but rather an interlaminar shear test. That is, it measures the through-the-thickness shear strength of the composite, just as the Short Beam Shear test method (ASTM D 2344) does. Presumably, the two test methods should produce the same shear strength values. But they dont. A third shear test method, commonly called the Iosipescu Shear test method (ASTM D 5379), is primarily used for determining in-plane shear properties, but it can also be used to determine interlaminar shear properties. ASTM D 5379 is ofcially known as the V-Notched Beam Method because ASTM prefers not to use proper names (Nicolae Iosipescu of Romania is the original developer of the method). The result is confusing: we have both a Double-Notch Shear
test method and a V-Notched Shear test method that despite the fact that the V-Notched specimen also has two notches are totally different in their operating principles. The Double-Notch Shear test speci men geometry is shown in Fig. 1. Because the ber reinforcement in the composite specimen is presumably planar, and its principal axis is along the specimen axis, planes of low shear strength will be present, including the plane that is parallel to the bottoms of the two opposing notches. When an axial compressive end loading is applied, a shearing action is induced along the specimen centerline between the notch roots, presumably leading to a failure on this shear plane. The area of this shear plane is LxW. Originally, a specimen of similar geometry was loaded in tension and governed by ASTM D 2733, Standard Test Method for Interlaminar Shear Strength of Structural Reinforced Plastics at Elevated Temperatures, introduced in the late 1960s. Note that its title correctly identies it as an interlaminar shear test method. ASTM D 3846, introduced in 1979, changed the loading method to compression, and ASTM D 2733 was subsequently withdrawn in 1981. Its inaccurate title aside, the ASTM D 3846 standards shift to compressive loading is advantageous because a tensile loading induces a through-thethickness tensile normal stress in the specimen on the shear plane between the notches, but compressive loading induces a compressive normal stress in this same region. In typical composite materials, the interlaminar
(through-the-thickness) tensile strength is not nearly as high as the interlaminar compressive strength, so a tensile loading can cause a premature tensile failure before the desired shear failure. Because the relatively thin specimen, as shown in Fig. 1, will likely buckle when loaded in compression on its ends, it must be laterally supported. ASTM D 695, a standard plastics compression test method in existence since 1942, features lateral supports to prevent buckling. The authors of ASTM D 3846 adopted the same specimen length used in ASTM D 695, so the same lateral supports could be used in both methods. This made the new shear test method more attractive for potential users because ASTM D 695 test xtures were generally available. Unfortunately, the fundamental prob lem with the Double-Notch Shear test method is that signicant stress concentrations occur at the roots of the notches, resulting in premature failure. A number of studies of specimen geometry modications have been performed over the years in an attempt to eliminate or signicantly reduce these stress concentrations, but with little success. (A detailed summary of these works, including both numerical and experimental results, was compiled by Jiang and Adams.1) The various studies indicate that there is no signicant inu-
d d w w L L
T T Fig. 1 Double-Notch Shear Test specimen configuration.
W W
| Fig.1DoubleNotchShearTestSpecimenConfiguration
SEPTEMBER 2013
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TESTING TECH
ence on the magnitude of the notch root stress concentration when the notch spacing is increased (the L/T ratio, see Fig. 1), but there is a signicant inuence on the measured average shear strength.2 That is, the stress concentration (the maximum stress) remains relatively constant. But because the shear area (LxW) increases as L increases, and the experimentally determined shear strength is dened as the applied force at failure divided by the shear area, the (apparent) shear strength decreases. This is the (average) shear strength that is measured experimentally. But the more meaningful value is the maximum shear stress at the notch tip stress concentrations, where failure occurs. Therefore, the L/T ratio should be kept low. Analyses and experiments suggest values of 1.0 or less, so the measured (average or apparent) shear strength will be close to the maximum (actual) shear strength.2,3 Essentially, the distance between the notches should be equal to or less than the specimen thickness. Note that in ASTM D 3846, the allowable L/T ratio can range between 1.0 and 2.5. Based on the discussion thus far, the
lower limit of that allowable L/T ratio range should be used. Notch depth is another consideration. In theory, each notch should be onehalf the specimen thickness to create a shear plane through the notch roots. But because it is difcult, in practice, to ensure that each notch is exactly one-half the specimen thickness, ASTM D 3846 allows each notch depth to be slightly more than one-half (but not less) the specimen thickness. Studies indicate that these slightly deeper notches do not signicantly inuence the results. Interestingly, the rectangular-shaped notches, even with sharp corners as shown in ASTM D 3846 (although not explicitly dened there), appear to be desirable. Studies of alternate notch shapes, including fully radiused notch roots, have veried this. One nal geometric parameter to con sider is notch width (w). The ASTM standard suggests a relatively narrow allowable range (1.0 to 1.7 mm/0.04 to 0.07 inch). However, both numerical and experimental studies indicate that increasing w by at least a factor of 10 is benecial. The maximum and the average shear stress are
increased on the order of 10 percent. This is signicant because the Double-Notch Shear test method inherently produces lower shear strength values than the other methods. For example, it was noted earlier that the Short Beam Shear test method also provides interlaminar shear strength values. The Double-Notch Shear test tends to produce shear strengths on the order of 25 percent lower, and with much more scatter. In short, the Double-Notch Shear test method has little to offer and should be avoided.
References 1 Jiang, W., and Adams, D.F., Evaluation of the Short Beam Shear and Double Notch Shear Test Methods for Composite Materials, Report UWCMRG-R-99-108, University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyo.), Grant No. 94-G-009 by the Federal Aviation Admin. (Atlantic City, N.J.), September 1999.
2
Markham, M.F., and Dawson, D., Interlaminar Shear Strength of Fibre-Reinforced Composites, Composites, July 1975, pp. 173-176. Dadras, P., and McDowell, J.S., Analytical and Experimental Evaluation of Double Notch Shear Specimen of Orthotropic Materials, Experimental Mechanics, June 1990, pp. 184-189.
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NASAs composite cryogenic tank passes pressurized temperature tests
Target application is upper stage of forthcoming SLS launch vehicle
he National Aeronautics and Space Admin. (NASA, Washington, D.C.) announced on July 2 that it recently completed a major space technology development milestone by successfully testing a large, pressurized cryogenic propellant tank made of composite materials. The composite tank will hold fuel for the next generation of rockets and spacecraft needed for space exploration. Cryogenic propellants, which are gasses chilled to subfreezing temperatures and condensed to form highly combustible liquids, provide the high-energy propulsion solutions critical to future long-term human exploration missions beyond low-Earth orbit. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen have been the traditional cryogenic propellants used to provide the enormous thrust to launch large rockets and Space Shuttles. In the past, propellant tanks have been fabricated from metals. The almost 8-ft/2.4m diameter composite tank tested at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, Ala.) is considered important because composite tanks could signicantly reduce the cost and weight of launch vehicles for other space missions. These successful tests mark an important milestone on the path to demonstrating the composite cryogenic tanks needed to accomplish our next
generation of deep space missions, says Michael Gazarik, NASAs associate administrator for space technology. He continues, This investment in game-changing space technology will help enable NASAs exploration of deep space while directly beneting American industrial capability in the manufacturing and use of composites. Switching from metallic to composite construction holds the potential to dramatically increase the performance of future space systems through a dramatic reduction in weight. A potential initial target application for the composite technology is an upgrade to the upper stage of NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket. Built by The Boeing Co. (Chicago, Ill.) at its Tukwila, Wash., facility, the tank arrived at NASA in late 2012. Engineers insulated and inspected the tank then put it through a series of pressurized tests to measure its ability to contain liquid hydrogen at extremely cold temperatures. The tank was cooled to -423F/-253C and underwent 20 pressure cycles as engineers increased the pressure to 135 psi. This testing experience with the smaller tank is helping us perfect manufacturing and test plans for a much larger tank, says John Vickers, cryogenic tank project manager at Marshall. The 18-ft/5.5m tank will be one of the largest composite propellant tanks ever built and will incorporate design features and manufacturing processes applicable
Source: NASA Source: NASA
to a 27.5-ft/8.4m tank, the size of metal tanks found in todays large launch vehicles. The NASA and Boeing team are in the process of manufacturing the tank, which will be tested at Marshall next year. According to Boeings cryogenic tank program manager at Marshall, Dan Rivera, the tank manufacturing process represents a number of industry breakthroughs, including automated ber placement of oven-cured materials, ber placement of an all-composite, leakproof tank wall design and a tooling approach that eliminates composite tank joints. Such joints, especially bolted ones, have been particularly prone to leaks in the past. Boeing and its partner, Janicki Industries (Sedro-Woolley, Wash.), developed novel tooling to eliminate the need for heavy joints. Boeing has experience building large composite structures, and Marshall has the facilities and experience to test large tanks, explains John Fikes, cryogenic tank deputy project manager at Marshall. It has been a team effort, with Boeing working with NASA to monitor the tests and gather data to move forward and build even larger, higher performing tanks, he says. View a video about cryotank manufacturing and testing here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRutJfOsglI.
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France-based Fives completes acquisition of MAG Americas
n July 29, Fives (Paris, France) announced that it had consummated its acquisition of MAG Americas (Hebron, Ky.). With this strategic deal, Fives becomes one of the global leaders in high-precision machine tools used to manufacture large, complex equipment, including several lines of highperformance composites processing machines. Included in the acquisition are three MAG brands: MAG Cincinnati, Giddings & Lewis and Forest-Lin (the latter was acquired by MAG Europe GmbH in 2011). The deal solidies Fives intention to strengthen its position in high-growth sectors, including aerospace, renewable energy, mining and special equipment. Frederic Sanchez, president of the Fives executive board, said, The technological expertise gained through the acquisition of MAG Americas is key to successfully support and achieve the innovation strategies and requirements of our major customers.Acquiring MAG Americas ts well with our growth strategy and allows us, on one hand, to acquire a leading position in the technology of composite materials, which is anticipated to have a bright future in many industrial sectors. Secondly, it enables us to achieve our ambition to design and manufacture key production equipment and machines for leading industrial sectors such as aerospace, heavy equipment, and energy.It also provides us with new opportunities in emerging markets and a greater footprint in the United States. The employees of MAG Americas, based in the U.S., France, Canada, China, South Korea and Russia will join 6,500 Fives employees in 30 countries. In 2012 MAG Americas achieved a turnover of approximately $400 million, 67 percent of which was generated in the U.S. Since January, Fives also has acquired two other companies, one a metallurgical consultancy and the other an Italian manufacturer of automated systems for steel tubes and proles aimed at the oil and gas sector. Fives is an industrial engineering group with a 200-year heritage in engineering. Fives forecasts a turnover of 2 billion ($2.65 billion USD) in 2013.
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NEWS
oray Industries Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) announced on July 17 that it has purchased a 20 percent share in automotive composites specialist Plasan Carbon Composites Inc. (Wixom, Mich.). Toray says the investment is a bid to strategically expand its carbon ber composite material business globally in the automotive eld. Plasan, which produces carbon ber composite parts for the Chrysler Groups (Auburn Hills, Mich.) SRT Viper, General Motors (Detroit, Mich.) Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and other high-performance vehicles, has expanded its automotive manufacturing presence substantially in the past few years, working in particular on development of its Pressure Press high-speed molding technology. Plasan uses Toray Composites (America) Inc.s (Tacoma, Wash.) rapid curing, thermoset resin prepreg, based on carbon bers produced by Torays U.S. subsidiary Toray Carbon Fibers America Inc. (Flower Mound, Texas), in its Pressure Press and autoclave processes. Plasan president Jim Staargaard told HPC that Toray would now have access to Plasans infrastructure, operability and experience with carbon ber composites. He adds that Plasan was interested in gaining access to Torays proprietary resin transfer molding (RTM) process, plus any other technologies that Toray might launch in the
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automotive market. Staargaard says Plasan had been developing its own RTM process several years ago, but progress was slowed by work on the Corvette and Viper. Plasan now plans to move forward with RTM and seek structural applications for RTM parts. Toray says its capital participation in Plasan also enables Toray to establish a distribution channel to U.S. automobile manufacturers and a manufacturing and development base for carbon ber composite auto parts in North America, completing a supply chain that ranges from production of raw carbon ber to intermediate base materials and molded components. Toray adds that it has been working to enhance its business bases around the world, creating a carbon ber market for automotive applications. For Japan and the rest of Asia, the company has been designing carbon ber composite products and developing manufacturing technologies and products primarily at the Advanced Composite Center (ACC) and Automotive Center (AMC), the core facilities of the A&A (Automotive & Aircraft) Center in Tokyo, its comprehensive technology development base that targets automotive and aircraft markets. To better serve the European market, Toray in 2008 took a stake in ACE Advanced Composite Engineering GmbH (Immenstaad, Germany), a manufacturer and distributer of carbon ber composite parts, and in 2011 it established Euro Advanced Carbon Fiber Composites GmbH (Esslingen, Germany) jointly with Daimler AG (Stuttgart, Germany) to drive applications and market development.
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NEWS
New joint SAMPE/ACMA show formally named
he Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE, Covina, Calif.) and the American Composites Manufacturers Assn. (ACMA, Arlington, Va.) announced July 31 that their jointly owned and operated trade show and conference will be called CAMX the Composites and Advanced Materials Expo. SAMPE and ACMA, which traditionally have each operat ed their own trade shows, announced late last year that they would launch a combined show in 2014, effectively consolidating the former SAMPE Show and ACMAs COMPOSITES show into a single fall event. The result will be one North American trade show for the entire composites industry. SAMPE brings with it composites professionals who primarily serve the aerospace market and other advanced materials applications. ACMA has served a broad range of applications, including those in the marine, wind energy, automotive, infrastructure and industrial markets. Gardner Business Media Inc. (Cincinnati, Ohio), which owns and publishes High-Performance Composites and sister publication Composites Technology, will be a CAMX media partner. CAMX will take place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., and will comprise a conference program and exhibition, held Oct. 13-16, 2014. For more, visit the CAMX Web site: www.thecamx.org.
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High-Performance Composites for Aircraft Interiors 2013 agenda set
he publishers of High-Performance Composites report that the agenda is now set for its High-Performance Composites for Aircraft Interiors conference, Oct. 2-3. Colocated with Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas 2013 at the Washington State Convention Center, in Seattle, Wash., the event will focus on new developments in the elds of hightemperature and re-resistant applications, including recent changes in FAA FST requirements. The extensive conference program will include the following notable presenters: Chris Red, principal, Composites Forecasts and Consulting LLC (Mesa, Ariz.), will speak on Current market for advanced composite components and materials in use on commercial aircraft, specically in interiors. Carl F. Varnerin, VP of R&D, Barrday Composite Solutions (Millbury, Mass.), will present A Comparison of Various Flammability Test Methods used in Aerospace, Marine and Rail Markets. Bill Pardo, global marketing manager, Performance Materials, DuPont Protection Technologies (Richmond, Va.), will describe Nomex XF: New Lightweight, Thin Flame Barrier for FAR 25.856 and 25.853 Applications. The conference fee includes access to the Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas 2013 show oor. See the complete agenda at http://short.compositesworld.com/D3kjXkS9.
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Frost & Sullivan (Mountain View, Calif.) has recognized carbon ber manufacturer Zoltek Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.) with its 2013 North American Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award, bestowed in honor of its commercial carbon ber, Panex 35. Frost & Sullivan credited the material with addressing the key automotive industry challenge of lightweighting. Panex 35 commercial-grade carbon ber stands out in terms of capacity, quality, consistency and low cost [<$19/kg or <$8.55/ lb], says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Sunney Fotedar. Panex 35 applied to sheet molding compound (SMC) applications enables the production of lighter parts and improved surface nish. Although Panex 35 has higher material costs than steel and glass ber, it can, according to Fotedar, substantially reduce tooling, maintenance and machinery costs and, ultimately, increase the prot margin for automotive OEMs. Each year Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value-added features and benets of the product and the increased return on investment it offers customers, which, in turn, increases customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.
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Flying car makes rst air show ight at EAAs AirVenture in Oshkosh
errafugia (Woburn, Mass.) returned for its eighth year as an exhibitor at EAA AirVenture, held July 29-Aug. 4 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis. The company marked the event with the rst ight of its roadable aircraft at an air show. The Transition took wing as part of the Worlds Greatest Aviation Celebration with a ight demo at 3:40 p.m. on Monday, July 29. More demos followed later in the week, as Terrafugia demonstrated the crafts ability to convert from driving to ying conguration and back again, and inluded a driving pass in front of the crowd. Terrafugia Latin for escape the earth is a growing aerospace company founded by pilots and engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, Mass.) and is supported by a network of advisors and investors. Terrafugia was founded and began work on the Transtition in 2006. That summer the company launched publicly at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, where it met its rst angel investors and received the rst refundable deposits for the Transition.
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Mold care products news: Chem-Trend acquires Zyvax
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hem-Trend (Howell, Mich.), a manufacturer of release agent solutions for multiple industries and applications, reported on July 15 that it has acquired competitor Zyvax Inc. (Ellijay, Ga.). Chem-Trend says the acquisition will enable the combined companies to offer customers and distributors an expanded portfolio of product technologies for use in growing advanced composites markets. Zyvax will become a brand within Chem-Trend. Todays move will result in synergies derived from the innovation capabilities in release agent technology and the composites industry expertise of both companies, which will help us further enhance the product and service offering to our customers, says Chem-Trend president and CEO Devanir Moraes. With the acquisition of the Zyvax business, Chem-Trend will provide end-users and distributors with release systems and complementary molding process aids that create even greater value, efciency and productivity in the development and manufacturing of FRP and advanced composite components. Zyvax, a recognized and respected maker of molding process systems, was founded in 1985 by Nancy Layman, who was an early leader in, and dedicated most of her career to, developing specialty release systems for the com-
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posites industry. According to Layman, it has always been her vision to drive innovation globally with the most efcient products for use in advanced composites manufacturing. Layman is condent that as Zyvax becomes part of Chem-Trend, the move will benet the entire market and will continue her vision of strengthening and expanding the Zyvax brand throughout the world. Layman is actively supporting the transition, working with Chem-Trend and Zyvax customers toward a successful integration of the Zyvax product line as an integral part of the Chem-Trend portfolio. Much like Chem-Trend, Zyvax has advanced the industry with performance-oriented products, scientic know-how and forward thinking, says Layman. Our reputation mirrors that of Chem-Trend for high-quality release systems, leading-edge technology and manufacturing efciency. Customers will enjoy the benets of this seamless integration as Chem-Trend extends its portfolio in the aerospace and other advanced composites markets with Zyvaxs premium products and industry expertise. Zyvax was the rst to market with a line of solvent-free, water-based release systems engineered to meet the requirements of advanced composite processes. Today Zyvaxs customers include major OEMs and molded parts manufacturers in the aerospace, wind energy, automotive, sporting goods and oil and gas markets.
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NEWS
Sikorsky awards additional contract to Spirit AeroSystems for CH-53K parts

pirit AeroSystems Inc. (Wichita, Kan.) reported on June 27 that it has received a $60 million (USD) contract from Stratford, Conn.-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to supply the major composite structural cockpit and cabin components of four additional CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters. Designated as System Demonstration Test Articles (SDTA), the four productionrepresentative aircraft will be used by the U.S. Marine Corps to evaluate the helicopters mission capabilities in service operating conditions. SDTA aircraft are expected to enter Operational Evaluation in 2017, when the Marine Corps will verify the CH-53Ks capability to carry 27,000 lb/12,247 kg more than 110 nautical miles under high hot ambient conditions. The new capability will nearly triple the external load-carrying capacity of the current CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter. To date Spirit has supplied Sikorsky with the cockpit and cabin
structures, valued at $150 million, for ve prototype CH-53K test helicopters and two nonying test articles as part of a $3.5 billion System Development
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and Demonstration (SDD) contract awarded to Sikorsky in April 2006. The Navy modied the SDD in May 2013 to include $435 million in funding for the four SDTA aircraft, which Sikorsky is expected to deliver to the Navy by the end of March 2017. Spirit will begin work on the four SDTA cockpit and cabin sections during 2013 at its Wichita facility. Deliveries to Sikorskys CH-53K prototype assembly line in West Palm Beach, Fla., are scheduled to begin in 2014. We are pleased to be moving forward with Sikorsky to the next phase of hardware and systems testing. The CH-53K program is now one step closer to providing critical heavy-lift capability to the Marines, says David Coleal, executive VP and general manager of Spirit AeroSystems. We are pleased to have Spirit AeroSystems on the CH-53K team, providing critical structures for these Operational Evaluation aircraft, says Dr. Michael Torok, VP of Sikorskys CH-53K program. Spirit has demonstrated strong performance and reliability as a key supplier during the System Development and Demonstration phase. We look forward to their continued success. The Navy program of record plans for an additional 196 CH-53K aircraft under future production contracts to support Marine Corps operational requirements.
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Source: Spirit AeroSystems

AR
Quickstep logs rst Quickstep Process sale, fast-tracks RST development

uickstep Holdings Ltd. (Bankstown Airport, New South Wales, Australia) announced on July 25 the rst commercial sale of its patented Quickstep Process system. The company has secured a 4.2 million ($6.0 million AUD) contract to provide the system to aircraft composites manufacturer ORPE Technologiya (Obninsk, Russia) for the manufacture of large carbon composite components. The Quickstep Process involves composite part cure with heated liquids, which is said to transfer heat 25 times faster than traditional autoclave or oven curing methods, reportedly enabling composite components to be cured more efciently at a fraction of the cost. The Quickstep Process will be used to produce large carbon shielding for satellite payloads, opening up the aerospace navigation, telecommunications and weather satellite markets for Quicksteps technology. The contract will be executed over an 18-month period and will involve all parts of Quicksteps global organization. Quickstep managing director Philippe Odouard said, We are delighted with this rst commercial sale of the Quickstep Process, which validates our business model and the quality of our research and development. The value of the Quickstep Process is that it is cost efcient and suited to mass production of composite components. ORPE Technologiya supplies businesses in 20 countries, including Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, the U.K., India, China and South Korea. OEMs served include Airbus (Toulouse, France), The Boeing Co. (Chicago, Ill.), Siemens AG (Munich, Germany) and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. NV (EADS, Leiden, The Netherlands). Quickstep also is fast-tracking commercialization of its patented Resin Spray Transfer (RST) technology for automotive application. Quickstep says RST meets the industrys three key manufacturing objectives: It enables production of strong vehicle parts at high speed and low cost, with a high-quality nish. The robotized process fully automates production of lightweight carbon ber composite car panels. Panels can be molded in minutes and at very low cost compared to other, more capitalintensive methods, says Quickstep. Quicksteps Odouard says, In the emerging emission-legislated world, every leading car manufacturer is aiming to develop cars that are lighter, more affordable and consume less fuel. This can be achieved using Quicksteps Resin Spray Transfer technology. We are delighted to have demonstrated RSTs technical success by repeatedly manufacturing carbon ber composite panels with our pioneering automatic plant in Sydney. It delivers car parts with a ClassA surface nish, without the need for the re-work that is commonly required with the manufacture of carbon ber automotive panels. He says Quickstep plans to manufacture exterior parts and to license the molding technology to automakers. Parts molded via RST reportedly maintain their surface quality, and painted parts do not show print-through or other defects, even after the extreme environmental aging tests required for high-end supercars Quickstep says it is pursuing largevolume production tests in cooperation with industrial partners in Germany, including Auto OEM Audi AG (Ingolstedt, Germany). A few days before these announcements, Australias Minister for Defense Materiel, the Hon. Dr. Mike Kelly, was on hand when Quickstep celebrated the delivery its 100th manufactured carbonber composite part for its F-35 Lightning II contract with Northrop Grumman Corp. (Falls Church, Va.). Odouard noted that the milestone meets production commitments agreed to more than two years ago. Quickstep will manufacture 21 different parts for the JSF program at its Bankstown Airport facility. The overall agreement, under which Quickstep will supply JSF parts to several OEMs, is valued at up to $700 million (USD) over two decades.
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To accommodate its expanding business, Oxeon AB (Bors, Sweden) has recruited two salespeople. Mark Shioleno has come aboard as sales manager, aerospace North America, and Dave Kolosek is the new sales manager, sporting goods North America. Shioleno has served in various commercial and technical positions during his 29 years in advanced materials. Most recently he was the global aerospace industry manager at AGY (Aiken, S.C.), where he led sales and business development for aerospace applications that use AGYs S-2 Glass and other high-performance glass bers. Prior to joining AGY, he served as global sales manager at Cytec Carbon Fibers (Piedmont, S.C.) and was in business development at Innegra Technologies (Greenville, S.C.). He earned a BS in chemistry from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. Kolosek brings more than 20 years of experience in the sporting goods industry to Oxeon. Prior to joining Oxeon, he managed sales for the northeastern U.S. and select key customers for Newark, Del.-based W.L. Gore. Kolosek also served as the U.S. sales manager for Hillerich & Bradsbys (Louisville, Ky.) TPS Hockey division. He earned his BA in economics from Union College ... Elsewhere, Cytec Industries Inc. (Woodland Park, N.J.) announced on July 31 its initiative to implement cost reductions in its Industrial Materials business segment to address the current market conditions and better position the company for protable growth. The plan includes an immediate head-count reduction of 55 employees, through modication of shift patterns within various operations, centralization of logistics and planning activities, and closure of a small site in Beelitz, Germany. Annual cost savings are estimated to be $5.5 million, and this rate should be reached in second quarter 2014.
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PARIS AIR ShOW 2013:

progress
By Sara Black
Source (both photos): Salon du Bourget Source: HPC/Photo: Sara Black
A century of aircraft
Torrential rains couldnt dampen the spirit of innovation or stop the ood of aerospace business announcements.
he 100th year and 50th edition of the Paris Air Show, held June 17-23 at Le Bourget, kicked off with reworks, provided not by the show organizers but by some fearsome lightning storms. Yet, despite the forte pluie that drenched visitors on opening day and at intervals throughout the week, the massive and multifaceted show and its 2,215 exhibiting companies from around the globe attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. HPC was among them and brought home the following wealth of aerospace industry announcements and news of aircraft technology developments.
On the ground and in the air

The biennial Paris aerospace extravaganza celebrated its centenary the week of June 17 with more than 2,200 exhibitors. Hundreds of thousands of visitors at Le Bourget airfield witnessed the Airbus (Toulouse, France) A350 XWBs first air show flight (photo on left, above).
Big Boeing news Major announcements included news of The Boeing Co.s (Chicago, Ill.) new 787 Dreamliner version, the 787-10. Scott Fancher, Boeings VP and general manager of airplane development, said at a press conference that the new model will be 18 ft/5.5m longer than the 787-9 version (now in nal assembly) and will
transport 300 to 330 passengers up to 7,000 nautical miles/12,964 km, a distance that Boeing says covers 92 percent of the worlds twin-aisle routes and city pairs. According to Fancher, the new version will be 25 percent more efcient than todays similarly sized aircraft thanks to a combination of the larger size, engine conguration and high-efciency wing design and he claimed it will be the most efcient jetliner in history. The design phase is underway, and ight-testing is anticipated by 2017, with rst delivery in 2018. The 787-10 reportedly will compete against Toulouse, France-based Airbus A350900 and -1000 versions. The customers seemed pleased; commitments for 102 aircraft were announced at the show, including Air Lease Corp. (Los Angeles, Calif.), which signed up for 30 aircraft. On the docket at the same press conference was the revamped Boeing 777, or 777X, which will be introduced with a larger 4th generation composite wing. Fancher says the new wing is based on the 787s wing design and will be made with the same materials and aero characteristics. Airbus A350 airborne For its part, Boeings rival, Airbus, diverted its rst ying A350 XWB to the
Euro heavy lifter military transport Airbus Militarys (Barajas, Spain) A400M cargo plane was on static display. Among its composite components are its massive one-shot-process composite bay door and its propellers.
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Russian renaissance One of the biggest stories at the show was the reemergence of Russian aviation, clearly demonstrated by the large number of Russian aircraft companies that were present. A huge chalet housed United Aircraft Corp. (UAC, Moscow, Russia), an umbrella company that includes 23 companies and design bureaus; among them are Moscow-based Sukhoi Co. and IRKUT Corp. In a formal ceremony on Tuesday morning, the rst Sukhoi SSJ100 Superjet for a Western customer was presented to Mexico City-based airline Interjet. During the air show, Sukhois Su-35 Flanker-E ghter jet put on a stunning aerobatic display. The powerful twin-engine, long-range warplane, developed for the Russian Air Force, demonstrated low-speed handling and high-speed maneuverability; the aircrafts composite airframe materials allow additional fuel storage. Later that day, IRKUT held a press event to showcase its narrow-body MS-21 commercial jet. Its 30 percent composite airframe includes a vacuum-infused wing produced by IRKUTs AeroComposit center of excellence, using Hexcels (Stamford, Conn.) HiTape dry carbon out-ofautoclave reinforcements and automated layup. The design is frozen, the aircraft has entered production and testing is already underway, with rst ight scheduled for 2015. AeroComposits president, Anatoly Gaydanskiy, says the composite
wing was designed with a high aspect ratio to improve aero performance, with an eye to the lightest possible weight for the aircraft: We have made substantial progress on new technology, he said, noting that ve wing prototypes have been produced and tested. The sleek interior (see photo below) was designed by Zodiac Aerospace (Plaisir, France). According to
Oleg Demchenko, IRKUTs president, The MS-21 provides more passenger personal space than the 787 or the A350 XWB. IRKUT has 135 rm orders for the aircraft and predicts marketplace success. Antonov (Kiev, Ukraine), another aircraft OEM that went through some tough times after the breakup of the Soviet Union, held its own press confer-
Russian aviation renaissance

Among the large number of recently developed aircraft in Paris from Russia, the Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E fighter jet (left) was a rising star of the air show. That same day, HPC toured the interior of Russias Irkut MS-21. The 30-percent-composite, narrow-body passenger jet reportedly gives its passengers more personal seat space than either the Boeing 787 or the Airbus A350 XWB.
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Source (jet photo): Salon du Bourget Source (interior image): HPC/Photo: Sara Black
Source: Airbus
show on Friday, June 21, (see photo under headline) during its third test ight for a dramatic wheels-up yby. The aircraft had completed its rst ight only seven days previously. The yover was witnessed by French president Franois Hollande, who arrived at the aireld aboard an Airbus Military (Barajas, Spain) A400M aircraft from Frances Vlizy - Villacoublay Air Base, southwest of Paris. The A400M also performed daily ight demonstrations during the show. According to Airbus, it booked $68.7 billion (USD) in orders for 466 aircraft at the show. That gure comprised memoranda of understanding for 225 aircraft and rm purchase orders for 241 more, worth $39.3 billion. The company received 69 orders or commitments for the A350 from four customers. An eyeopening order for 20 A380s came from Doric Lease Corp. (Offenbach am Main, Germany), worth $8 billion.
Electric-powered GA training aircraft

In the Airbus display, HPC found the E-Fan electric-powered general aviation trainer, codeveloped in cooperation with Aero Composites Saintonge (Charente-Maritime, France). The plane is the first fruit of one of several alternative propulsion development projects Airbus has entered into with other aeromanufacturers.
SHOW CoVERAGE
Source (in flight): Antonov Source (on tarmac): HPC/Photo: Sara Black
High-profile post-Soviet program

Aircraft manufacturer Antonov (Kiev, Ukraine) flew (above) and displayed (left) its An-70 cargo aircraft, one of its several high-profile aircraft programs embarked on since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The An-70 has a carbon fiber/epoxy empennage and characteristic Stupino counter-rotating propellers. It flew during the air show in military gray to reflect a recent contract for three aircraft from the Ukrainian Air Force and, according to Antonov, has a much greater cargo-carrying capacity than the Airbus A400.
ence to describe its 67-year history and its efforts to bring new models to market. Known for the largest airplane in the world, the An-225 heavy lifter, Antonov is continuing R&D, says company president Dmytro Kiva. Efforts include expanding the companys use of digital design tools in general and, more specically, promoting new designs. Among them
Source: HPC/Photo: Sara Black
are the An-148 and An-158 regional jets and their variants, all of which incorporate signicant percentages of composite materials and the An-70 cargo aircraft (see photo above). The latter has 10 metric tonnes (22,4046 lb) more payload capability than the Airbus A400M and can operate from short and unimproved airstrips in rough conditions, Kiva claims.
Tiltrotor trends international

At a Boeing briefing, Col. Greg Masiello, the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey Joint Program manager, revealed that the original tiltrotor program of record remains unchanged, but the aircrafts landing and take-off capabilities in shipboard operations at sea has increased its desirability in the view of key U.S. allies. Masiello, therefore, is overseeing the effort to build additional aircraft beyond the original program numbers for sale to international partners, including Canada, Japan, Israel, Italy and, potentially, others. Boeing also announced that it and Embraer (So Paolo, Brazil) will partner on the sales and marketing of Embraers KC-390 multimission medium airlifter. Embraer will produce the aircraft, and Boeing will take the lead in sales, sustainment and training.
New VTOL and STOL aircraft At its rst Paris Air Show, Aeros Corp. (Montebello, Calif.) was on hand with a scale model of its Aeroscraft cargo craft, with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability. A proprietary helium compression system makes the airship lighter than air during ight and heavier than air on the ground, eliminating the need for tethering and ballasting. A proof-of-design, half-scale prototype recently ew, says John Kiehle, public relations manager for the company, and Aeros is now offering the variable-buoyancy airship to commercial operators in two sizes: the rst is capable of carrying a payload of 66 metric tonnes/145,500 lb; and the second can handle up to 250 metric tonnes/551,150 lb. The goal, says Kiehle, is FAA certication by 2016, and Aeros plans to produce 24 airships by that date. The company intends to lease rather than sell the craft and would act as operator. Target markets include the oil and gas industry, wind energy (for transport of blades and towers) and humanitarian aid. Another unusual aircraft, the Project Zero technology demonstrator, attracted a lot of attention at the AgustaWestland (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) static display. The exotic unmanned tiltrotor two tilting fans within a 40-ft/12m wide blended wing fuselage is the result, says AgustaWestlands VP of R&D, James Wang, of a design brief that called for something radically different, even impossible! Designed in six months by a 20-person team, Project Zero has an electric propulsion system in which the motor shaft acts as the rotor shaft. The blades, support struts, spinner and circular shroud/nacelle
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were fabricated from carbon/epoxy composites by partner Uchida Carbon Composite Technology (Saitama, Japan). The aircrafts composite skins were molded by Lola Composites (Cambridgeshire, U.K.). Everything on it had never been done before, Wang claims, adding, There has never been an electrically powered VTOL aircraft. Project Zero has own in Italy, both tethered and untethered, but, according to Wang, it serves only as a test bed for technologies that might eventually earn their way onto other company projects. Notably, AgustaWestland is developing the AW609, the civilian version of Boeings V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. Flaris (Podgrzyn, Poland), an offshoot of a family-run company called Metal-Master, surprised everyone at the show with the introduction of a previously unannounced very light jet, dubbed the Flaris LAR-01. The carbon composite single-engine ve-seater, complete with detachable wings and short takeoff and landing (STOL) characteristics, has already entered testing, and the company is aiming for U.S. Federal Aviation Admin. (FAA) certication by 2015. According to the company Web site, composite components are produced by tier partners using prepreg. More unmanned aviation Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were present at many displays, but one of the most eye-catching was the AR.Drone 2.0 made by Parrot SA (Paris, France). Controlled by a smart-phone app, the tiny UAVs, about 20 inches/508 mm on a side with a total weight of no more than 420g/14.8 oz, have four rotors driven by battery-powered electric motors and are made with a combination of carbon ber tubing and ber-reinforced polyamide. Foam is used to protect the rotors for indoor applications. Target customers appear to be aerial photographers and anyone who wants a personal VTOL aircraft for play. Iomax (Mooresville, N.C.) demonstrated its ArchAngel border patrol plane based on a Thrush 710P crop-duster aircraft. Of interest to the composites industry are the pods that attach to the underside of the aircraft, outtted with mission-specific equipment, such as surveillance cameras. Although stock versions are made of metal, the exible pods are available in composite versions for weight savings. Iomax reports that the pods and
All-composite doors and fairings

On display at the Corse Composites Aronautiques (Ajaccio, Corsica) stand were several types of composite landing gear doors (pictured) and pylon fairings designed and built for major aircraft OEMs.
pylon structures that attach them to the airframe are fabricated by Cobham Composite Products (San Diego, Calif.). Openings and expansions Business announcements of interest to the composites community included one from Tier 1 supplier GKN Aerospace (Worcestershire, U.K.), which reported that it would open a new advanced engineering center in Bangalore, India, in August. The center will provide engineering resources to the companys international aerospace projects, across all areas of expertise, and will add skilled individuals to strengthen the companys workforce. In
addition, its newly integrated Engine Systems operation (the former Volvo Aero, acquired in 2012) has made GKN one of three leading engine component suppliers to international aerospace companies, which diversies the companys portfolio of projects and clients in the current era of defense spending cuts. It supplies fan/ compressor cases and structural parts to virtually every major jet engine program. Also on the companys advanced composites radar is widespread improvement of its composites manufacturing processes, including faster automation, alternative (out-of-autoclave) curing methods and rapid nondestructive testing (NDT)
Aero engine carbon fiber contract

Safran SA (Paris, France) announced a long-term contract for the supply of carbon composite materials with Hexcel (Stamford, Conn.) for the LEAP-1 jet engine, a development of CFM International (Evendale, Ohio).
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SHOW coveraGe
Unexpected debut: STOL VLJ

Small-aircraft OEM Flaris (Podgrzyn, Poland) had on hand its previously unannounced very light jet, dubbed the Flaris LAR-01. The carbon composite airframed, five-seat, single-engine jet has detachable wings and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability.
Source: Flaris
methods to improve productivity. GKN also announced that it plans two additional automated ber placement machines at its Bristol, U.K., facility to handle composite part ramp-up rates. ITT Exelis Aerostructures (Salt Lake City, Utah) VP and general manager, Mike Blair, spoke with HPC about his companys rst appearance at the show as a standalone business. With the rst phase of its expansion in Salt Lake City now fully operational, the company is prepared to leverage its heritage experience and expand into new programs and markets, with a strong focus on lean and cost-effective manufacturing, says Blair. The recently commissioned 250,000-ft2
(23,226m2) facility (with room for expansion) is near the airport. It is equipped with an automated tape laying (ATL) machine from MAG IAS (Hebron, Ky.), automated ber placement capability, a new 15-ft by 50-ft (4.6m by 15.4m) autoclave, seven large machining centers built by Breton SpA (Castello di Godego, Italy) and braiding and resin transfer molding (RTM) equipment. Unveiled at the show was an ITT Exelis exclusive joint venture with Bodair (Oupeye, Belgium) for highspeed lament winding of carbon/epoxy rods and struts for aircraft programs. The proprietary equipment, designed by Bodair, reportedly can produce 40,000 parts per year, added Blair.
Composites in jet engines Inside the six expansive exhibit halls, jet engines and their components attracted crowds. At the Safran SA (Paris, France) exhibit, the company announced a longterm contract with Hexcel for the supply of carbon composite materials for the LEAP-1 jet engine, a development of CFM International, a 50/50 joint venture between Safran (formerly Snecma) and GE Aviation (Evendale, Ohio). Under the contract, Hexcel will supply HexTow IM7 carbon ber to be used in the manufacture of all LEAP-1 fan blades and containment cases, including those for the Airbus A320neo, the Boeing 737MAX and the Beijing-based Commercial Aircraft
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GmbH (Lienz, Austria). Micado uses AcCorp. of Chinas Comac 919. Hexcel also Despite its comparatively small size, rosoma panels to create tool xtures for will supply carbon prepreg for the manuCorse Composites Aronautiques (CCA, composite part trimming and nishing. facture of A320neo nacelles. Ajaccio, Corsica) showcased 30 years of Not a composite itself but an aid in Safran reiterated its commitment to experience as a risk-sharing partner in composite fabrication, Skyex antichafe composites with a presentation titled the development of complex aerospace sealing material, produced by W.L. Gore How composite materials are revocomposites. Prominently on display at & Assoc. Ltd. (Dundee, U.K., and Newark, lutionizing aviation. The companys its stand were several types of composDel.) is made of expanded polytetrauoComposites Research Center, under con- ite landing gear doors and pylon fairings roethylene. The tapes high elongation struction at Safrans Villaroche, France, for the companys major OEM customand exibility enable it to conform to facility, will conduct R&D on new resins ers, including Airbus, Safran and Dasvariable gaps between mechanically fasand bers and optimized curing meth- sault Aviation (St. Cloud, France). tened composite parts. Chemically inert ods, and it will design new parts for enMTorres (Torres de Elorz, Navarra, and fuel-/chemical-resistant, it provides gines. One example was on display at Spain) announced that its recently acvibration damping and abrasion protecthe booth: a ceramic-matrix composite quired subsidiary, Pacica Engineering tion for laminates in service. (CMC) low-pressure turbine blade de- Inc. (Bothell, Wash.), now MTorres U.S. signed for the LEAP-1, which is undergoheadquarters, has expanded with a new ing tests on demonstrators. Safran has assembly and integration facility in Everpartnered with Albany Engineered Com- ett, Wash. It provides more capacity for LEARN MORE @ posites (Rochester, N.H.) to produce tooling design/build, machines for aerowww.compositesworld.com woven 3-D preforms for carbon ber fan manufacturing, and it will house assemblades made in an RTM process for the bly, test, inspection and delivery funcRead this article online at http://short. LEAP engine program. Demand for the tions for MTorres machines shipped from compositesworld.com/uqyObU17. blades is rising, and Albany is in the proSpain to North American customers. Elbit Systems Cyclone Ltd. used its cess of building a new manufacturing faAt the Belgian pavilion, Acrosoma RTM process to one shot the aircraft cility in New Hampshire to produce the (Lokeren, Belgium), a panel manufacturer passenger door described in Cutting the parts in greater numbers. whose products have been used in truck cost of integrated composite aerostructures Meanwhile, GE Aviation conrmed at trailers, housing and more, announced (HPC July 2013, p. 54) or visit http:// short.compositesworld.com/kMtZ7sBm. the show that its GE9X engine for the that it has teamed with tooling and xBoeing 777X will likely include CMC maturing specialist Micado CAD-Solutions terials as rotating components in the engines second stage, the hot segment where exotic metal alloys are typically employed. GE says the switch to CMCs could reduce fuel burn, thanks to lighter ICE SPOOLING SERVICES ICE SPO ICE SPOOLING SERVICES weight and improved thermal perforWho knows how to wind quality spool better than Who knows how to wind a quality spool better than a the Who knows how to win mance that is, air would not have to the innovator of computerized spooling machinery? Who knows how to wind a quality spool better than the Who innovator of computerized spooling machinery? innovator of comp be diverted for cooling CMC parts, as reof computerized spooling ICE, THE CONTRACT innovator CONVERTING DIVISION OF IMC, HAS A FULL RANGE machinery? ICE, THE CONTRACT in CO quired for metal components. ICE, the contract division of IMC, has a full range OF IMC SLITTING & COMPUTERIZED TRAVERSE converting WINDING EQUIPMENT OF IMC SLITTING & CO
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CFK-Valley Stade
2013 Review
Quality papers, candid speakers and compelling subject matter put the Carbon Composite Valley on the international map.
By BOB GRiffiTHS
Source: CFK-Valley Stade Convention GbR/Photo: Michael Hensel Fotodesign
he CFK-Valley in the town of Stade, northern Germany, hosts an annual conference where participants present the latest developments in carbon-ber reinforced plastic (CFRP). In all, 360 composites professionals attended and 34 companies exhibited this year during the 7th annual event, held June 11-12. Although most participants came from northern Germany, others hailed from as far away as the United Arab Emirates. The area, considered the Carbon Composite Valley of Germany, a name that calls to mind Americas Silicon Valley, is curiously set in one of the attest ood plains in Germany.
The event was supported by local industry, including the Composites Technology Centre (CTC GmbH), which is an Airbus (Toulouse, France) composites research organization located in the outskirts of Stade. The conference took place over one-and-a-half days, at the new CFK NORD facility, and included an awards dinner. The conference was well balanced, covering a number of industries, and featured a wide range of academic and industrial papers. The quality of the papers was high, and many of the speakers were, refreshingly, very candid as they answered postpresentation questions.
Technical presenters and inventors

The keynote address was given by Dr. Amer Affan, whose company, Affan Innovative Structures (Dubai, U.A.E.), has designed and installed CFRP panels and beams for use in futuristic-looking buildings around the Middle East. Using
Source CFK-Valley Stade
carbon ber, Affan was able to design very slim structures that were simply not possible with steel. He explained that doing so with composites brought benets that included a large reduction in building weight. As a result, the cost of building foundations could be reduced and, thus, help offset the extra cost of the carbon ber materials. About half the papers were focused on aerospace, with the remainder split between those aimed at the automotive industry and others on a variety of topics for general application. The conference offered a wide range of new innovations in areas that ranged from robot end-effectors for picking and forming fabrics to assemble resin transfer molding preforms, to nondestructive testing (NDT), using eddy current techniques on dry textiles, and ways and means of using composite structures to protect electric car batteries during a crash. Speakers also covered sustainability issues, such as recycling, and prevention of health risks when machining cured CFRP, including newer alternatives to current practices. The conference highlights included papers presented by the following standout speakers.
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SHOW CoVERAGE
Source: HPC/Photo: Bob Griffiths Source: HPC/Photo: Bob Griffiths
Sensing laminate
Com&Sens bvba (Zwijnaarde, Belgium) demonstrated a composite plate with multiple embedded fiber Bragg gratings. Algorithms have been developed not only to measure the total load on the plate, but also to calculate the location where the load was applied.
A350 window frame

Advanced Composite Engineering GmbH (Immenstaad, Germany) displayed an A350 XWB window frame. The frame is reinforced by a complex 3-D preform created via Tailored Fiber Placement, a unique stitching process profiled in this issue on p. 54.
Dr.-Ing. Christian Hhne, from the German Aerospace Center (DLR, Braunschweig, Germany), explained the requirements that must be met to achieve laminar ow over the upper surface of an aircraft wing. They include not only obvious measures, such as reducing or eliminating gaps and steps after assembly, but also the need to avoid waviness that develops in the region of stiffeners during panel manufacturing. Reportedly, the use of cocured U-shaped stiffeners can eliminate rivets so the skin itself incorporates rib caps in the socalled shoe box design. A demonstration structure was shown at the exhibition.
Alexander Kerner from Eurocopter (Donauworth, Germany) gave a refreshingly candid account of the problems that can be encountered when an automated ber placement (AFP) machine is used to lay up complex sandwich structures like those typically found on helicopters. These problems include tack issues with adhesives, gaps due to tolerances in machine movement or tape width, wrinkles due to tape steerage, and bridging on honeycomb ramps.
Dr. Holger Purol, head of production at Xperion Aerospace (Immenstaad, Germany), described the work done thus far by that company on solar panels for the BepiColombo mission, which is slated to put a satellite in orbit around Mercury. The craft will be launched in 2015, perform y-by maneuvers near Venus, Earth and Mercury, then achieve orbit around Mercury in 2022. One of the design drivers for the composite structures is the temperature extremes that will be encountered (150C/302F on the sunny side of Mercury and -250C/ -418F in its shadow). To meet these requirements, the sandwich panels will be made from ultrahigh-modulus carbon bers surrounding either aluminum or CFRP cores. Each skin will be made from a single layer of thin fabric impregnated with cyanate ester resin and then cured in an autoclave. Xperion will provide 13 panels for the three arrays that will make the ight, but it will have to provide a total of 30 panels, including those used in the test program a massive number for any space project.
Alexander Gillessen, from the CTC at Stade, presented a paper on the underoor structure for an electric car; 20,000 units will be produced per year. The challenges include protecting passengers in a crash and housing the cars heavy batteries in a crashworthy but weight-efcient way. The demonstrated solution is an integrated structural lower oor pan that incorporates sandwich and cross-beam components, made using resin transfer molding. The upper cover is made from sheet molding compound (SMC). Gillessen said models showed that the nal structures will protect the integrity of the passenger compartment and the underoor battery cell during severe side-impact collisions.
Source: CTC GmbH
SEPTEMBER 2013
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SHOW CoVERAGE
Source: Christian Lchte, TU Braunshweig
Continued on p. 46
Source: HPC/Photo: Bob Griffiths
Automanufactured sandwich panels

Acrosoma (Lokeren, Belgium) displayed sandwich panels that were manufactured using a highly automated textile process. As shown, two products are made. The first has reinforcing fibers in the core at 90 to the faceplates; the second uses a very complex stitching machine to create rod-like reinforcements in the core at 45 to the skins.
SEPTEMBER 2013
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Dr.-Ing Annika Raatz of Technische Universitt (Braunschweig, Germany) described an innovative method of picking up precut plies and assembling them to make complex RTM preforms. The process describes a robot endeffector that can pick up a 2-D ply, lay it into a complex mold, form it into a shape and then apply heat to activate the binder. The device is called FormHand (see two images, below). It can best be described as a cushion, lled with granules, whose formability can be altered by adjusting the vacuum in the cushion. Heat can be applied to set the shape of the ply either by resistance heaters in the cushion surface or by induction heating.
Dr. Henning Heuer from Fraunhofer (Dresden, Germany) said he has determined, through testing, that none of the current NDT techniques used for cured composites can be used to inspect CFRP preforms before they are infused or injected with resin. He has, therefore, developed a technique using highfrequency eddy currents (see photo, below). The method reportedly can detect inconsistencies in the way a preform is assembled so it can be corrected or scrapped before infusion. He revealed, however, that there are some limitations to the depth at which this process is effective.
Conference & Exhibition

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Four panel discussions on emerging and timely M&P hot topics, including Women in SAMPE, Qualification and Certification, Composite Testing, and General Aviation Co-location and joint panel with ASTM D-30 Choose from among seven tutorial options or a full day hands-on Composites Repair Workshop A full array of M&P sessions including encompassing advanced materials, manufacturing developments, and research Keynote presentations relating to manufacturing, the aviation industry, and the Lear Jet 85 Program Featured lectures on Automated Fiber Placement, Out-of-Autoclave, Design & Analysis, and NASA Smart Skin Tour the Kansas Cosmosphere Back by Popular Demand: Material and Process Technology Roundtable
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SHOW CoVERAGE
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Spar demonstrator
Coriolis Composites (Quven, France) showed off this complex demonstrator part that represents a wing spar manufactured by its AFP machine. It featured all the lumps and bumps where reinforcements had been added at load introduction points to accommodate pylons, flaps and other components.
Dr. Heike Illing-Gnther, from Schsisches Textilforschungsinstitut (Chemnitz, Germany), reported on efforts to make nonwoven carbon fiber material from scrap carbon fibers or scrapped CFRP parts. The process uses dry fibers obtained either directly or after pyrolysis of CFRP structures. The process uses a guillotine to cut the fibers, a tearing machine, then a carding machine plus a cross lapper. (It was curious to see carding machines, invented in the 18th Century for processing wool, used to process modern materials.) The material is then fed through a stitch-bonding process to make a material that is 1m/3.28-ft wide and weighs between 140 and 1,400 g/m2.
Simon-Markus Kothe, from the Fraunhofer Institute facility in Stade, said he has developed a flexible tooling system for assembly of large composite structures. It reportedly avoids the need for traditional tooling systems used to hold both metal and composite panels so they can be first machined and then assembled with other panels and their stiffeners and fittings. Traditional tooling is part-specific and consists of heavy, expensive steel structures that require expert design and manufacture, plus regular calibration. Fraunhofer has developed a flexible system for fuselage shells, which holds the skin in its correct shape and in a known position prior to machining. This is achieved by six robotic actuators, each fitted with vacuum suction cups that align with the panels contours. The shape of the panel is measured with a Laser Radar, and any deviations from the defined dimensions are corrected by the robotic actuators prior to machining.
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Automated drilling
Airbus in Stade, Germany, had on hand its Automated Drilling Crawler, a robotic device that crawls over a structure and drills holes. It currently works only on metal structures, but it will be employed for composites after the next phase of work.
The most topical paper, by Jan Christoph Kako, a manufacturing engineer at Airbus Stade, was a detailed account of the manufacturing methods used to make the wing stringers for the A350 XWB and how they were cobonded to the wingskin. One skin requires 18 stringers, with a total length of more than 300m/1,000 ft. Each stringer differs both in shape and ply layup. Initially an automated tape layer (ATL) was used to lay carpets of materials for one particular stringer. These carpets were slit and laminates were stored for future use. However, Airbus then realized that if an AFP machine were used, it would be possible to tailor carpets to make blanks for one set of individual stringers, which would result in less storage space and simplified logistics. Kako also correctly predicted the day the A350 XWB would make its first flight just two days after his presentation.
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Exhibits that excelled

There were many interesting processes and parts on display at the CFK-Valley Stade 2013 exhibition. Most, but not all, were there to support topics discussed in during the conference. A sampling can be viewed in the boxed and captioned images that accompany this article. The 8th annual CFK-Valley Stade Convention will be held June 24-25, 2014.
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SEPTEMBER 2013
47
FEATURE feature / 20TH 20tH ANNIVERSARY Anniversary
HPC turns 20 . . .
A N NIVE
RS
By Jeff Sloan
HPC
Celebrating two-decades of composites advocacy.
2 0
1993-2013
AR
Y
igh-Performance Composites magazine was born this month 20 years ago. This is a remarkable milestone for any business, but it is particularly so in HPCs case for two reasons. First, the publishing business is as famous for the quantity of its failures as it is for the quality of its successes, particularly in the trade publishing sector. The fact is, magazine titles come and go with astonishing rapidity. To push one past two decades is a feat in and of itself. Second, despite the fact that composites have been manufactured and in use for more than 100 years, this remains a relatively small albeit growing market. A magazine like HPC survives exclusively on advertiser support, thus the larger the pool of potential advertisers, the greater the odds it has a long publishing life. HPCs pool of advertisers, at its inception and for many of its formative years, remained relatively small, which leaves little room for error in the form of bad business decisions, economic downturns or both. What muscles a trade publication through the lean and challenging times is usually strong leadership and a consistent commitment to editorial quality. This means that job number one is to serve the reader. If that is done well, all else will follow. In that regard, HPC began well. And what followed were 112 issues of HPC. In the beginning Its natural, on this birthday, to look back at issue one of HPC for some perspective on how the composites manufacturing industry has evolved or not, as the case may be.
High-Performance Composites: First cover

HPC was launched by Ray Publishing Inc., against the odds, in September 1993 as the U.S. emerged from recession and as the American defense industry faced significant budget cuts.
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Composites in computer data storage

The Inside Manufacturing article in HPCs premiere issue focused on the filament winding of carbon fiber composite box beams for Louisville, Colo.-based data management specialist Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek), which was looking for a lightweight and strong material for use in its Automated Cartridge System, designed to manage, move and manipulate as many as 6,000 magnetic-tape data cartridges inside a data silo. StorageTek hoped to bring boxbeam fabrication in-house as it ramped up manufacture of its computer systems. The carbon fiber box beams did their job but, eventually, tape cartridges and silos were retired when they were replaced by then new and much more compact disc drives.
HPC was launched by Ray Publishing Inc., owned by Judy Ray Hazen, in Denver, Colo. She had worked at one of the composites industrys rst magazines, Advanced Composites. That title was sold in 1992 to another publisher who, it was soon apparent, did not have the passion or commitment to the industry to keep it going. When it nally folded, Hazen saw the obvious publishing hole in the market and moved quickly to ll it with HPC. The American economy of 1993 was not very robust certainly not a suitable maternity ward in which to bring a new magazine to life. Bill Clinton had assumed the presidency in January of that year, and the economic improvement on which hed campaigned to defeat George H.W. Bush (Its the economy, stupid) had not yet been implemented. Further, the rst Gulf War was winding down and defense spending was waning a fact referenced several times in that inaugural issue of HPC. Hazen, in her rst editorial, titled, We thought it over and decided to stay, recounts phone calls from concerned friends in the composites industry: Youre starting a new magazine . . . in this industry? At this time? Are you sure youve thought this through? Well, it turns out she had: In short, we are enthusiastic about composites, we have thought
Illustrating important insights
The iconic drawings that accompany Focus on Design each month have been artfully rendered from the start by Karl Reque. This one highlights the application of a Hexcel/Fyfe composite wrap to a concrete column in earthquake-prone areas.
SEPTEMBER 2013
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FEATURE / 20TH ANNIVERSARY
Enduring impact on infrastructure

In that first Focus on Design feature, some of the columns rehabilitated with composite wraps were at The Nugget casino in Sparks, Nev. They supported Interstate-80 over a parking lot and part of the casino itself inside. A more recent photo shows that the columns, the Interstate and the casino still stand today.
SI D E STOR Y
Thanks to HPCs charter advertisers

Every trade publication lives and dies by its advertisers, and those who had the gumption to ante up for HPCs premier issue are listed here and those Ashby-Cross Co. Inc...........................................3 Atkins & Pearce (now A&P Technology)..............6 Atlantic Research Corp. Bondline Products. Bryte Technologies Inc. (now TenCate).............11 Burnham Products Inc. (now Burnham Composite Structures)......................................................3 Ciba-Geigy (now part of Huntsman Advanced Materials) Coast Composites Inc. Coast-Line International Distributors Inc.....74, 76 Composite Machines Co. (now Entec Composite Machines, part of Zoltek Inc.) Composite Market Reports Inc. Composite Tooling Corp./ Performance Enterprises Composites Horizons Inc. Cutting Edge Inc. (now part of Gerber Technology Inc.)............................................60 Dangar Engineering & Mfg. Inc. Delsen Testing Labs.........................................76 who are still with us (see page numbers below) are gratefully recognized with the HPC 20th Anniversary Medallion. PTM&W Industries Inc. Pyrometic Service Co. Quadrax Corp. Radius Engineering Inc. Revolution Enterprises Inc. SACMA Semanco Inc. SGL Carbon Sigri Great Lakes Carbon Corp. (Now part of SGL Group) Spray Sok Inc. Sutherland & Assoc. Technical Fibre Products Ltd............................53 Texas Composite Inc. (now part of Albany Engineered Composites) Textile Technologies Industries Inc. Thermal Equipment Corp. Torr Technologies.............................................25 Witten Co. Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc................................52 Zyvax Inc. (now part of Chem-Trend) Dexter Aerospace Materials Div. (now part of Henkel Aerospace) Dexter Corp., Frekote (now part of Henkel Corporation) Dow Plastics DuPont Co. (no Dupont Protection Technologies Electrostatic Technology Inc. Fiber Innovations Film Technology Inc. French Oil Mill Machinery Co............................30 Hexcel Corp. ICI Fiberite (now part of Cyctec Industries) Icon Industries Inc. Kemstar Corp. Lynco Grinding Magnolia Plastics........................................... IBC McClean-Anderson Inc.....................................27 Newport Adhesives & Composites Inc. (now Mitsubishi Rayon Carbon Fibers) Pacic Press & Shear Inc. (now Pacic Press Technologies)
50
it through, and we believe we can make a signicant contribution to the industry. The more things change . . . Reading through the premier issue with the benet of 20 years of hindsight is a lesson in the timelessness of some challenges that face the composites industry. The late, venerable Bill Benjamin, the helmsman at Composite Market Reports and a guest columnist in that rst issue, noted that the aerospace industry is in a tailspin .... He hoped that idled aerospace and composites facilities could nd new work to replace that which had been lost. In a now familiar refrain, he counseled diversication and suggested that they turn their eyes to American infrastructure, which is in dire need of repair, refurbishment and outright replacements. In the News section, theres a short re port about how American Cyanamid had recently spun off a majority stake in its Piedmont, N.C.-based Cytec Industries chemical business, following Cytecs acquisition of the Narmco business unit of BASF. The article concludes that Cytec has been trying to become less dependent on aerospace markets in the U.S. Interestingly, diversication was cited as one reason why Cytec acquired U.K.based carbon ber specialist Umeco in 2012. Still diversifying. Still growing. One of the rst issues feature articles, written by Debbie Stover, is a primer on designing composite structures that will be made via resin transfer molding (RTM). It notes that RTM parts have so far been designed almost exclusively through the empirical approach otherwise known as trial and error. The treatise that follows covers ber orientation, ply sequencing, compaction, cure kinetics, heat transfer, resin models, ber models, viscosity and ber volume fraction and much more. Its observations are as timely today as they were in 1993. Also in that issue was HPCs rst Focus on Design article. Written by Vicki McConnell, it featured a composite wrap applied to several concrete bridge and highway support columns in earthquake-prone regions. The wrap technology, developed by Hexcel (Stamford, Conn.) and San Diego, Calf.-based Fyfe Assoc., consisted of a glass and aramid ber/epoxy jacket wrapped around the columns and cured at ambient temperature. Ironically, this unlikely, nonaerospace application not the type that might appear in HPC to-
First foundation
HPCs staff at its founding included owner/ publisher/editor Judy Ray Hazen, managing editor Nancy Allbee, senior editor Vicki McConnell and contributing writer Debbie Stover.
SI D E STOR Y
HPCs senior technical editor looks back

I answered the want ad with some trepidation because I knew nothing about HPC or the publishing company. I had just been laid off at my position writing technical guidance for professionals in the eld of environmental geology and hazardous waste remediation, and I really wanted another position as a writer. At the initial interview, in July 1999, with writing examples in hand, I admitted zero knowledge of composite materials. Dont worry, Ill teach you, said Judy Hazen, Ray Publishings founder, who had worked at Advanced Composites magazine. Its just a matter of glue and string, she announced, very condently. That was my initiation to the arcane world of composites and the innovative, entrepreneurial people who helped it grow. Back in those days, working on an early Apple Macintosh and saving les on oppy discs, big applications were always looming mirage-like on the horizon, just out of reach, or in someones dusty garage lled with resin formulations. Development projects would be funded, then end abruptly, and all the potential benets that we touted in our pages would inevitably be ignored due to material costs or fear of risk. Our rst wind blade story in 2000 and our analysis of the rst downhole composite riser pipe were exciting stuff, but we mourned the demise of the X-33 prototypes composite hydrogen fuel tank and Adam Aircraft. But very slowly, the mirages started to materialize, even when economic conditions were dire; when Boeing announced the very composites-intensive 7E7 in 2004, following Airbus rollout of the A380 design, it seemed that composites might nally come into their own. And they have. With Detroit and the European carmakers nally at the table, seemingly ready to incorporate composites into production automobiles, and with the robust growth of aerospace, commercial aircraft, rotorcraft, industrial parts, piping and so much more, I think there are no more mirages; were almost across the desert. At the recent Paris Air Show, I found myself walking with a journalist from a well-known defense publication. When I told him about my magazine and why I was there, he cried, with some derision, Niche, niche niche! Im not sure I agree niche is starting to become necessary. Sara Black, Senior Technical Editor
SEPTEMBER 2013
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FEATURE / 20TH ANNIVERSARY
SI D E STOR Y
HPC: Not just a magazine, but a mission

When I walked into the Ray Publishing ofces on Ward Rd. in Wheat Ridge, Colo., I had no idea that my world, and ours, was about to be rocked. It was August 2001. While I waited for my job interview, I was given copies of HPC and sister magazine Composites Technology. Composites? I asked myself, mentally. Ok-a-a-y . But as I turned the pages, I saw a key word: Fiberglass. Years before, I had molded glass/ polyester loudspeaker horns for a sound equipment company, on molds I had made myself, starting with a hand sculpted wooden tool, and then pulling two additional berglass tools from the rst molded part. Suddenly, I was on familiar, if almost forgotten, ground. I spent the next half hour marveling at how far ber-reinforced plastic had come since my early 1970s experience. More importantly, I marveled at how the two magazines put out by that little eight-person operation captured the challenge, mystery and complexity of my experience. It was good stuff. By the time I sat down with Judy Ray Hazen to talk about becoming her managing editor, I was in. I wanted the job. More importantly, Judy was in. All the way. Automakers were still married to steel but were wondering if aluminum might be an economical answer to government fuel economy standards. Aircraft manufacturers, of course, had discovered aluminum 60 years earlier, and were married to it. At best, they were testing the composites waters on ailerons and hatch covers. But Judy saw the signs of the times. It was coming. Judy had a Big Picture mind and a tenacious eye for minute detail a rare combination. That made her a visionary publisher and a formidable editor. I was a pretty good managing editor when I walked in the door. She challenged me to do better. She wanted everything about her business to be the best it could possibly be. They say the great salespeople are the ones that believe in the product. Judy, then, was a true believer. How do I know? Two weeks after I came to work, the World Trade Center was reduced to ash and molten steel. The economic chaos and widespread fear that followed on the heels of 9/11 soon had its inevitable impact on advertising income. While others avoided ying, for fear of terrorists, Judy deantly packed her bags, got on a plane, and got face to face with folks. An unstoppable force in a risk-averse business universe that had hardened to all but the most glacial change, Judy was passionate. She didnt just believe, she knew that no matter what happened, the string and glue would prevail. Shes been proven right, again and again. The day I watched the Boeing 787 Dreamliner take off for its rst ight, I surprised myself. I actually wept. Some of that passion must have rubbed off. Mike Musselman, Managing Editor
52
day was one reason why Hazen started sister publication Composites Technology two years later. But if the test of time elevates a projects importance, then its worth noting that those repaired columns still stand today (see photos, p. 50). Some things do change The other feature article focused on composite pressure vessels for compressed natural gas (CNG) storage in cars and trucks. It surveyed work then in progress, done by Alcoa Composites, NGV Systems (both now defunct), Structural Composites Industries (now Worthington Cylinders), Brunswick Composites (which became Lincoln Composites, then Hexagon Lincoln), Compositek Corp. (which became Kaiser Compositek, then was bought by United Defense Industries and, later, BAE Systems), Spyro-Tech (founded by Brian Spencer of Spencer Composites), Amalga Composites (still around, specializing in tubing and rollers), Arde Inc. (still around) and Aerojet (now Aerojet Rocketdyne). Notably, that article, also by McConnell, cited industry data that boldly estimated the global eet of CNG-powered vehicles would, by 2010, number 4.7 million. This turned out to be a vast underestimate. The U.S. Department of Energys Alternative Fuels Data Center says it was actually closer to 14 million. Another news article cited a Freedonia Group (Cleveland, Ohio) report that said U.S. demand for carbon ber would grow at 8.3 percent per year to an annual total of 5,500 metric tonnes (more than 12,125 million lb) through 1997. Despite solid growth in product sales, it said, carbon ber producers are losing money because prices are being cut to remain competitive or to attract new market applications. By 2003, 10 years later, global carbon ber capacity had reached 30,000 metric tonnes (almost 66.14 million lb). Today, global capacity has reached more than 120,000 metric tonnes (264.55 million lb). By 2020? Its expected to top 160,000 metric tonnes (352.74 million lb) and might, if some predictions hold, exceed demand. That means carbon ber producers might, once again, be casting about for new applications. The next 20 years Where will HPC be in 2033? If the trajectory of the past 20 years holds, the future looks bright. But HPC cant rest on its
laurels. Success relies on HPCs continued ability to meet your information needs and do so by means of an everbroader range of media. In 1993, HPC was strictly a publishing enterprise a printed magazine mailed bi-monthly to 20,000 composites professionals. Today, its part of a larger group of CompositesWorld media: HPC and sister CT print and digital versions a Web site, a weekly e-newsletter, conferences, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. And itll go wherever else the
Information Age takes it. As it goes, the mission statement that guided Hazen as she wrote her rst editorial will be as pertinent as ever: Our rst job is to monitor advanced composites usage as the markets evolve, and pinpoint key individuals like you who need technical information. Second, we must make your job easier by delivering the right information in the clearest possible manner. To that end, we welcome your suggestions and comments.
HPC
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A N NIVE
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n the quest for more automated, less costly advanced composite manufacturing, liquid molding processes are nding favor. Among automotive composites researchers, for example, at least one group claims to have developed a resin transfer molding (RTM) process that has a 60-second molding cycle. No less important, however, is the need for an equally fast process for fabricating the dry preform. Complicating the quest is the fact that those who make preforms can no longer rely on quasi-isotropic laminates with local reinforcements if they are to compete with the latest in metals technology. In fact, advancements in computer-aided design (CAD) have enabled composite structural designs that offer more than 50 percent weight savings vs. lightweight metals, as well as a threefold increase in specic
Fast production of optimized preforms

Tailored Fiber Placement TFP canquickly construct complex, optimized fiber preforms that maximize perfromance-to-weight. Here, a TFP system lays 50K tow at the same speed it can lay 3K tow, without the processing difficulties that heavy tow often causes in knitting or traditional weaving processes.
strength and stiffness. The question is how to affordably, reliably and quickly fabricate the resulting complex shapes that depend for their performance in the nished part on minimal quantities of precisely oriented bers. Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP) is a unique stitched preforming process that could offer the answer. Affordable optimized structures Many have pursued TFP development (see Table 1) but it was invented at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research
(IPF, Dresden, Germany) in 1992. TFP begins with a substrate, typically a veil or woven fabric, or, for a thermoplastic composite, a matrix-compatible foil material. Continuous tows or rovings are placed precisely and stitched to the substrate. The process is automated, enabling high productivity and repeatability. At rst, the stitching was done with industrial embroidery machines, but TFP now uses purpose-built stitching machines to place continuous tows or rovings in any direction by rotating a stationary stitching unit and using com-
TFP variables
TFP fiber deposition speed is a product of many factors, including machine speed, number of stitches required, stitch length and tow size.
Source: Laystitch
TFP stool
Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research (IPF, Dresden, Germany), the inventors of TFP, produced the preform for this stool using the process. The stool weighs about 650g (roughly 300g of carbon fibers). Weightbearing capability has been tested to 150 kg.
puter numerical control (CNC) to move the substrate (see Fig. 1). Although a variety of contoured and 3-D weaving techniques were developed in the same time period and, like TFP, use through-thickness reinforcement and stitching to overcome interply delamination and permit the preform thickness, shape and ber orientation to be customized, TFP sprang from a different motivation: Its inventors wanted to mimic lightweight structures in nature (e.g., trees, grasses and bones) whose geometries are optimally adapted to specic loads. Called biomimetics, it is a growing trend in aircraft structural design. Its goal is to achieve the best possible mass-specic stiffness and strength by orienting bers in the principal stress directions. In computerized structural design, topology optimization was developed to achieve this outcome. When an initial part design and its load cases are input, topology optimization software will output a shape and optimize material placement to produce a homogeneous stress distribution (that is, a structure in which there are no stress concentrations) with the least amount of material. For composites, it has been difcult to manufacture cost-effective topologyoptimized structures because they are typically 3-D geometries with unconventional ber orientations. TFP machines, however, can manufacture multiaxial reinforcements of many plies, to many
thicknesses, with precise and complex ber architectures. They do so because they can place dry ber in almost any orientation and can build up a wide range of composite constructions that are not feasible with standard unidirectional and mutiaxial laminates. To distinguish this more complex capability, TFPs advocates like to call it ber printing. The resulting dry ber preforms can be processed using either RTM or vacuum-bag resin infusion. Molders also may use exible thermoplastic towpreg or commingled tow and thermoplastic laments (the latter melt and become the matrix). These thermoplastic preforms can be processed into nished parts via compression molding, or they may be used as inserts in injection molding. 2-D to 3-D, wrinkle-free TFP patterns are printed at but are designed to be easily fashioned into 3-D net-shape preforms. One way to achieve this is to use selective stitching, that is, to lay ber out over a specic length without stitching. This results in areas of the preform where the ber is not restricted by stitching and, thus, is free to move in any direction to facilitate shaping the nal 3-D preform without wrinkles or distortions in ber alignment. A notable example of the effectiveness of this technique is the Omega Frame, a curved fuselage-type frame with a crosssection shaped like the Greek letter ,
Source: IPF
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FEATURE / PREFORMING TECHNOLOGY
developed by Hightex Verstrkungsstrukturen (Klipphausen, Germany) with the Airbus (Toulouse, France) operation in Hamburg, Germany. Dr. Dick Feltin, managing director at Hightex, says, Selective stitching combined with an unusual TFP ber pattern made each 2-D preform Table 1
stretchable and easily formable into its nal 3-D-shaped U-structure. Currently in production are Airbus Hamburgs A350 XWB carbon composite window frames, also developed with Hightex. They feature both selective stitching and structural stitching (straight
The principal actors in the development of Tailored Fiber Placement. Table 1

1992 19941998 1998 1998 2001 20032007
TFP Development History
Dr. Hosrst Rothe, engineer at the Liebniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (IPF) patents the TFP technique Development of the TFP technique at IPF IPF spin-off Hightex Verstaerkungsstrukturen (Klipphausen, Germany) makes TFP preforms FilaCon (Winterlingen, Germany) begins marketing TFP machines Hightex supplies TFP longeron preforms to Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH EMIR project: Use TFP for low-cost production of CFRP omega frames and Z-frames for double-shell aircraft fuselage BIOTEX project: Bionic optimization of textilestrengthened fiber-reinforced composite materials. Partners: IPF Airbus Hightex Partners: IPF Cetex Inst. DaimlerChrysler EADS Herzog Jlich KIT KSL Saertex Sintec Keramik TU Stuttgart Volkswagen Wacker Funding: BMBF
20052008
Funding: BMBF
2009 20092010
IPF spin-off Qpoint Composite (Dresden, Germany) makes heatable tools for aviation and automotive uses Centrifugal Force Loaded Rotor project: Develop highly centrifugal force-loaded CFRP rotor demonstrator using TFP preform Partners: IPF Hightex Funding: ZIM (Central Innovation Programme)
2010 20112012
LayStitch Technologies (FilaCon affiliate) begins marketing TFP technology in the U.S. EMBROIDERY project: Develop TFP for (1) reusable selfheating membrane for infusion; and (2) integrated heating layer in RTM tooling for faster heating/cooling ramps and reduced energy demand highSTICK project: Project1 = Embroidered strain sensors for fiber-reinforced structures Project2 = Embroidered Light Systems Project4 = Functionalized Prepreg Project5 = Wire Embroidery Project6 = 3-D hybrid structures for thermoplastic composite parts Project7 = Modular Embroidery Machines 10K-tool project: Use TFP for a new kind of CFRP tooling with long service life. Partners: IPF Avana Industries GMI Aero IDEC IFB Mandiola Qpoint REA Tecnalia Tajima Funding: E.U. 7th Framework
up and down stitches) and a glass ber lining on the inside to prevent galvanic corrosion with aluminum interfaces (see Fig. 2, p. 57). The at TFP preforms are then shaped into a wrinkle-free oval with an L-shaped cross-section. Selective stitching allows bers to reshape easily yet maintain straight alignment. Structural stitching assists in handling loads around the circumference of the window frame. Feltin adds that with TFP, drapeability can be augmented by designing stitch lines wisely and, he notes, You can avoid openings in the ber intersections, which are common in traditional woven and knit reinforcements. The TFP preforms net shape also eliminates the material waste common to other preforming processes, but Tommy Fristedt, president of LayStitch Technologies (Highland, Mich.), the U.S. afliate of long-time TFP development and marketing company FilaCon (Winterlingen, Germany), notes that theres more: With knitting and weaving, a lot of material is wasted in the nal structure due to the textile machinerys limitations as to what direction you can orient the bers, he explains. TFP does not have these limitations and, thus, can place ber only where it needs to be. He adds that carbon ber purchased as woven material for other preforming processes can cost three to ve times more per pound than the unconverted tow used in TFP. Combine this with the 30 to 50 percent waste common to most textile-based composite processes and there is a lot of money to be saved in producing CFRP structures. Automating the design process TFPs ability to provide a solution was recognized immediately, but the design process was sophisticated and complex, so applications were limited. In the past, says Fristedt, TFP machines were quite slow and design was very manual and time-consuming, but now software has been developed that allows the user to convert a CAD le into a stitch pattern optimized for manufacturability. Fristedt credits IPF with strategies for optimizing ber orientation and for developing better design tools, including Advanced Optimisation for Principal Stress (AOPS). Originally based on the ANSYS nite element (FE) software (supplied by ANSYS Inc., Canonsburg, Pa.), AOPS now features other FE solvers and internal material optimization capa-
20122015
Partners: IPF + 26 partners in textile and composites industries
Funding: BMBF
20132015
Partners: IPF Hightex Qpoint East4
Funding: ZIM (Central Innovation Programme)
July 16, 2012 JEC Webinar, Tailored ber placement Merging stitching and ber placement technologies by Stefan Carosella, R&D Engineer, Universitt Stuttgart. May 24, 2012 Tailored Fibre Placement an option for automated high volume Preform Production by Stefan Carosella, Universitt Stuttgart, Institut fr Flugzeugbau at SAMPE Europe Symposium SEMAT 2012. Tailored Fibre Placement Optimization Tool by Hubert Temmen, Richard Degenhardt, Tilmann Raible DLR, Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems (Braunschweig, Germany) and ABB Turbo Systems Ltd. (Baden, Switzerland) presented at ICAS 2006 26th Intl. Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences.
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bilities, as well as the ability to extrude traditionally 2-D nite elements in the computer model to local thickness and maintain ber orientation. We needed a method to generate computer models where we could adapt thickness and ber orientation per element, explains IPF researcher and AOPS codeveloper Axel Spickenheuer. AOPS now makes it possible, he says, to calculate these extremely complex ber orientations. Fig. 3 (p. 58) shows the dramatic weight reduction and specic stiffness increase possible for a mountain bike brake booster component when an AOPS TFPoptimized preform design is used instead of one that features aluminum or quasiisotropic composites. The multiple layers and easily achieved stitch patterns used can be seen in Fig. 4 (p. 58). TFP-optimized designs also show in creased failure loads in open-hole tensile tests. Spickenheuer notes, In testing, the TFP part does not fail at the hole as would be expected, but instead fails like a part that has no hole. In other words, the TFP orientation actually increases open hole failure loads up to 50 percent. Consistency, repeatability, adaptability TFPs advanced design software and automated functions ensure high accuracy and repeatability in the quantity and orientation of ber deposition. The benet of this is illustrated in longerons developed by Hightex and Eurocopter (Donauwrth, Germany) for NHIndustries (Aixen-Provence, France) NH-90 helicopter. These I-beam shaped structures were built up by combining multiple TFP preforms to form the central load-carrying longitudinal in the vehicle, distributing lift from the rotor to the rest of the structure, and also supporting the engine mounted on top. Made with aerospacegrade carbon ber, the TFP preforms exhibit very low mass variation. As a result, the breaking load values remain within a 1 percent spread. Feltin points out, The only way to do this is if you have very consistent ber orientation within the part. TFP also enables engineers to incorpo rate a resistive self-heated layer, which is an obvious aid to cure in composite tooling, and it can ensure through-cure in the part. For example, a robotic arm was developed by Hightex using a very lightweight biomimetic design that emulated an insect-like exoskeleton. The multiple
MAchInE HEAd
Fiber Tow/ Rowing Needle Thread Lay Nozzle
Fig. 1
Continuous tows or rovings can be placed in any direction by rotating the roving pipe and moving the base on which the veil or foil is placed. The roving is then stitched onto the base material to create the preform.
at TFP preforms that were assembled into the 3-D preform for an arm linkage included a built-in carbon ber heating element (Fig. 5, p. 59). During the RTM process, electrical current was passed through the element to speed and improve the cure of the epoxy matrix. IPF recently completed a project with Airbus on composite structures with integrated heating capability for de-icing and anti-icing applications. This work has moved on to IPF spinoff Qpoint Composite (Dresden, Germany), whose other customers include FACC (Ried im Innkreis, Austria), Audi (Ingolstadt, Germany), Daimler (Stuttgart, Germany), Lamborghini (SantAgata Bolognese, Italy) and Premium AEROTEC (Augsburg, Germany).
Limitations and applications Fristedt explains that TFP performs best at a smaller scale the frame size or lay area for each sewing head can be up to 2m by 1.75m (6.56 ft by 5.74 ft). Although machines are routinely made with multiple lay heads, preforming an entire wind turbine blade or aircraft fuselage panel with a single machine would be impractical. And to take full advantage of TFP, Spickenheuer advises that parts should not have too many load cases: For example, large fuselage sections have a large array of loads and loading conditions. TFP performs well in parts that have a more narrow set of specic loads. TFPs biggest problem is the stitching thread, Spickenheuer adds. We use
Fig. 2
Glass fiber lining
The A350 window frame preforms use vertical structural stitching and selective stitching to achieve an L-crosssectioned oval without any wrinkles and a glass fiber lining to prevent galvanic corrosion in contact with metal.
Interior edge buildup Selective stitching Vertical structural stitching
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Source (all photos); Hightex
Source: Hightex
Carrier Material
Aluminum Reference
Woven Prepreg
NCF Quasi-isotropic
TFP Simple
TFP Optimized
Fig. 3
Weight: 71g Stiffness absolute: 235 N/mm Stiffness specic: 3.3 N/m/g
Weight: 36.3g Stiffness absolute: 187.2 N/mm Stiffness specic: 5.1 N/m/g
Weight: 20.7g Stiffness absolute: 236.5 N/mm Stiffness specic: 11.5 N/m/g
Recently developed CAD tools enable optimized designs, like this for a bicycle brake booster part, that offer dramatic weight reduction and increases in specific strength and stiffness compared to other composites and light metals. Source: IFB Institute of Aircraft Design (Stuttgart, Germany)
really thin thread only 2 to 3 percent by weight of the whole preform but still, it creates micro-holes, which create resin concentrations when the preform is impregnated. This can be an issue, especially in structures that undergo cyclic loading, because it can introduce microcracking. But Spickenheuer points out, This is also an issue for noncrimp
and woven fabrics. Nevertheless, TFP has proven to be the best technology for structures like the A350 window frames, he says. These do undergo cyclic loading, but with careful design, the resin concentrations have been minimized, and the technology has performed well. If the ideal TFP application isnt a large fuselage section, then what is? In aero-
space, targets include levers for aircraft vertical stabilizers and aircraft landing gear devices. Spickenheuer points also to fastmoving machinery, such as robotic arms and levers that are moved quickly and often. The less ber-intensive preform reduces mass and improves arm speed, and less weight permits the use of smaller gears and motors. It also increases the arm failure load, Spickenheuer notes. The latest project for Spickenheuers team illustrates another application: a one-piece, carbon ber composite vacuum pump rotor with 17 blades integrated
TFP preform layer
Actual preform
Source: IPF
3D-FE model
Fig. 4
The multiple layers in the brake booster preform optimized for fiber stress orientation are easily constructed and assembled with the TFP process.
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Fig. 5
Multiple TFP preforms were assembled into a 3-D preform and then molded into this robotic arm linkage using RTM, facilitated by a built-in heating element (brownish area on flat preform, second from left) which accelerated curing of the epoxy matrix.
into the disk. The use of a TFP preform with an optimized combination of radial and tangential ber orientations (Fig. 6, p. 60) achieved a 35 percent higher burst speed than can be obtained with common high-strength aluminum designs. The vacuum-assisted, resin-infused part achieves a signicantly higher operating speed due to reduced mass. Composites offer one of the few avenues to obtain such improvements, due to the limited mass-based tensile strength of lightweight metallic alloys. Spickenheuer believes even greater improvement is possible by employing further TFP optimization and sees widespread applications in high-speed impeller rotors, aircraft engines and other compressor fans. Automotive speeds? Fristedt points beyond aerospace to potential automotive applications suspension parts, brackets, crash cones, chassis parts, pillars, door lock hinges, seat frames, instrument panel parts, bumper frames and the like but admits that the TFP designs and production approaches now used in aerospace would be inappropriate for automotive. To be sure, TFP is already quite sophis ticated. According to Stefan Carosella, head of the Composites Group for the Institute of Aircraft Design (IFB) at the University of Stuttgart, machine manufacturers have improved TFP automation and productivity by developing automated base material transport, automated frame change out that allows continuous production and an endless feeding device that enables the use of standard roving spools (about 8 kg of roving vs. small spools at only 90g each). LayStitch claims TFP preform design and adjustment is easier and faster with its new Automated Design Software. After the design is made it can be in-
707 Fulton Ave. Rockford, IL 61103 USA afpm@ingersoll.com 815-987-6000
Source: Hightex
SEPTEMBER 2013
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Fig. 6
Source: IPF
Preforms
An optimized radial and tangential fiber placement pattern achieved in this TFP preform resulted in a onepiece CFRP vacuum rotor with 35 percent higher burst strength than common high-strength aluminum designs.
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stantly printed in the laying machine. Spickenheuer says IPF has improved TFP via its AOPS software for preform design and EDOpath machine control software, but he admits, There is still much work to do to make TFP more competitive with the production rates of knitting and weaving machines. In short, machine speed is still limited. FilaCon quotes a maximum single-head TFP machine speed as 10m/min (30 ft/ min). Carosella asserts that a mass of up to 1 kg/hr (2.2 lb/hr) is possible with a single-head machine. But he points out that the actual ber deposition rate is a product of machine speed, stitch length and tow size. He says a typical deposition speed is between 2m/min and 5m/ min (6.6 ft/min and 16.4 ft/min) and that stitch length averages between 3 mm and 5 mm (0.12 inch and 0.2 inch), increasing with UD and straight ber deposition and decreasing with complex geometry. Fristedt notes that Preforms designed to take advantage of heavier tows and stitch patterns optimized for speed will produce the fastest cycle times. Carosella points out that a TFP head can reach the 1 kg/hr rate only by using 50K tow. If you use 12K tow, the output rate is only 0.3 kg/hr. Fristedt adds that TFP can accommodate heavy tow a likely ber size in auto applications without the processing difculties the heavier bers often cause in knitting or traditional weaving. A 50K tow is laid at the same speed as a 3K tow, even in fairly intricate patterns, he explains, so using heavier tows achieves an overall weight and volume of ber much more quickly. And we are continuing to develop new lay nozzles for heavy tows to improve the complexity and speeds possible. TFP, however, is easily adaptable to automotive, Fristedt says, noting that high annual production volumes of preforms
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are possible using multiple heads. A TFP machine can have from 1 to 30 printer heads, he claims. In the time it takes to make one preform, a 30-head machine can make 30 preforms. Thus, production is quite scaleable. Fristedt adds that a large, multiple-head TFP machine could be installed for under $300,000 less than a typical automotive sheet metal forming tool depending on preform size and complexity, 50,000 to 2 million parts per machine per year is possible.
project, with 26 other companies, aimed at gaining technical leadership in integrated high-performance materials based on advanced textile manufacturing, especially for small batches and custom parts. It is now in a follow-on phase. Development areas include embroidered strain sensors and lighting systems, functionalized prepreg, wire embroidery, 3-D hybrid structures for thermoplastic composites and more exible, modular embroidery machines.
TFP, Fristedt sums up, is enabling customers to imagine an innovative solution, design it and then economically produce it.
LEARN MORE
Read this article online at http://short. compositesworld.com/7QEhsvZ0.

Fiber placement future All who work with it agree that there is an increasing awareness of TFP in the composites industry. Especially in the U.S., companies recognize the advantages it offers, says Fristedt, particularly with thermoplastics. In fact, the latest U.S. machine went to the new Atlanta, Texas, headquarters of prepreg supplier Fibrtec. TFP offers benets with thermoplastics above and beyond what it achieves with thermosets, says Fibrtec CEO Bob Davies. Our patented FIBRFLEX is unique in that it is exible, and thus very amenable to the TFP process. The resin is already there, surrounding the bers, so once we reach the melt point, we can push the preform into the mold extremities and achieve a very complex shaped part quickly with excellent resin-to-ber distribution. Davies notes that a thermoplastic TFP preform can be used as an insert in an injection mold: The parts manufacturer can use a FIBRFLEX tow coated with Nylon 6,6 a common matrix used in automotive and then inject Nylon 6,6 overtop of that preform. This enables production of ber-reinforced structural parts with intricately shaped ribs, bosses or connectors on multiple surfaces something too difcult to achieve costeffectively with other composites. The result is a homogeneous matrix throughout, without bondlines. Fibrtec is pursuing large- and small volume structural automotive and aerospace applications and sees commercialization possible in as little as six months. LayStitch Technologies is working with Fibrtec on a study that will compare the cost, weight and property improvements possible in structures using a thermoplastic TFP preform vs. metal and thermoset composite alternatives, similar to the IPF/ Hightex bicycle brake booster. IPF has completed work on the German government-funded highSTICK
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iNSIDE MANUFACTURING
Tooling up for
LARGER LAunch vEhIcLES

NASA and Janicki Industries demonstrate composites cost advantage in tooling for fabrication of 10m/33-ft diameter payload fairing for next-generation launch vehicle.
BY GIngER GaRdInER
T
62
he Space Launch System (SLS) will be the next heavy-lift launch vehicle for the National Aeronautics and Space Admin. (NASA, Washington D.C.). Composites have been chosen for both the launch vehicle structures and tooling because they offer performance and cost advantages over metals. As part of a three-year program to de velop and demonstrate composite tooling and fabrication technology, Janicki Industries (Sedro-Woolley, Wash.) began working with NASA in 2010 to design
Concept: Space Launch System
Source: NASA/MSFC
This artists conception shows NASAs future Space Launch System rising from a launch pad.
tooling for a 1/6th-arc SLS fairing segment. Each segment measures 8.5m by 5.5m (28 ft by 18 ft), and six of them will be assembled to form the barrel section of the payload fairing for the SLS launch vehicle. NASAs objective was to demonstrate that cost-effective production of a lightweight composite structure is possible. Our capabilities lined up well with NASAs goals in this program, explains
Matt Robson, project manager at Janicki, including out-of-autoclave processing, fabrication of large-scale tooling and pioneering of new processes to meet unique project demands. SLS payload fairing A launch vehicles payload fairing protects the satellites, instruments and other cargo during ascent and gives the
payload section its aerodynamic shape. Typically, payload fairings have a cylinder-cone conguration. Some fairings feature a clamshell assembly, so the fairing halves can be jettisoned after the rocket exits the earths atmosphere. Boeing has made 4m and 5m (13.1-ft and 16.4-ft) diameter composite payload fairings for the Delta IV, and ATK (Cleareld, Utah) has made a 5m diameter Delta IV payload fairing using composites. RUAG Space (Zurich, Switzerland) produces composite payload fairings for the European Ariane 5 and Vega and the American Atlas-V-500 launch vehicles. But unlike these previous vehicles, the SLS is designed to evolve. Its size and shape will change to meet a range of crew and cargo mission needs. In its initial Block 1 conguration, a 70 metric tonne (more than 154,000 lb) SLS will launch the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), as well as equipment, cargo and science experiments, for the uncrewed Mission 1 in 2017 and for Mission 2 with as many as four astronauts planned for 2021. The Block 2 conguration is designed to deliver almost twice the payload, at 130 metric tonnes (more than 286,000 lb), replacing the Orion MPCV with a 27.6-ft/8.4m diameter upper stage comprising a Payload Adapter and Payload Fairing. A 10m fairing The Apollo program used capsules, not payloads with fairings or shrouds, notes Dr. Jim Sutter, the materials lead for large-scale composite structures, who is evaluating OOA resins at the NASA Glenn Research Center (Cleveland, Ohio). NASA Glenn participates in agency-wide SLS composite development projects and manages payload fairing development, but six other NASA centers have made contributions. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, Ala.) has taken the lead in composite manufacturing activities for most of these projects during the past ve years. Sutter says the launch vehicle development history helps explain the many variations in SLS payload diameter. The SLS began life during NASAs Advanced Composite Technology (ACT) Project for Space Structures, headed by project manager Dr. Mark Shuart. Ares V was the heavy-lift launch vehicle at that time, with a payload capability of 117,000 lb (53 metric tonnes) to lunar
Proposed SLS architecture
Source (both images): NASA
An artists rendering of potential Space Launch System configurations. The flexible designs share a basic core-stage and allow for different crew and cargo flights as needed, promoting efficiency, time and cost savings. The SLS payload fairing can be seen in the top image, at the top of the launch vehicle on the right the SLS at left shows the Orion crew module, which requires no fairing. The exploded view (lower image) shows the payload fairing at far right.
orbit, or 270,000 lb (122.5 metric tonnes) to low-Earth orbit (LEO). When the Constellation project was developed, all of the rocket components were 10m/32.8 ft in diameter, including the core stage and upper stage, so the payload fairing, which had to mate
with these structures, was developed as a 10m diameter composite structure. Then NASA shut down the Constellation program. As NASA developed the Heavy Launch Vehicle (HLV), now called the Space Launch System (SLS), the diameter of the payload fairing was re-
SEPTEMBER 2013
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1-3 OCTOBER 2013
Tomorrows aircraft interiors industry in the making

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Register your interest to attend at www.aircraftinteriorsexpo-us.com/hpc13
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INSIDE MANUFACTURING
Step 1
The finished, high-temperature pattern, in the mill bay after CNC machining.
Step 2
VARTM infusion of the carbon fiber/epoxy subsurface facesheet.
Step 3
Assembly of the VARTM carbon fiber/epoxy substructure components.
Step 4
Assembly of substructure to subsurface facesheet.
Step 5
Cure of tool substructure/subsurface assembly, in modular oven.
Step 6
Lay up of BMI topcoat and vacuum bag preparation for OOA cure.
Step 7
Final configured tool, with edge bars.
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Source (all step photos): Janicki Industries
iNSIDE MANUFACTURING
Ready to mold a part

The final 1/6th-arc payload fairing segment tool alone and (in inset) complete with caul tooling and support fixtures.
Source: (both photos): Janicki Industries
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duced, dictated by the payload requirements for planned missions. We dont have an ofcial launch on the books that uses a payload fairing until 2025, says Sutter, but that one will be an 8.4m [27.6-ft] diameter fairing because the vehicle conguration for that launch is for a 70-metric-tonne [154,324lb] payload, not the 130-metric-tonne [286,601-lb] Block 2, which requires the 10m diameter fairing. This larger payload will only be used if missions are developed which require that volume and load capacity. However, the lessons learned and technology developed on this 10m fairing the most difcult to design and manufacture will serve as a guideline for all future development efforts. Selecting materials and processes NASAs specications for the tooling said it would be used by Spirit AeroSystems (Wichita, Kan.) to build a honeycomb sandwich structure, using its gantry automated ber placement (AFP) machine (supplied by Electroimpact, (Mukilteo, Wash.) and autoclave cure. The tool, then, had to t within the machining envelope and Spirits autoclave. It also had to be capable of integration with the machining process. Specically, the ber placement head should be able to travel up the curved surface without encountering any interference or obstruction from the tool. The tooling also would require sup port structures and xtures to protect honeycomb-cored edges. Further, operators would need access to the interior of the part for core placement and vacuum bag preparation, and would reqire an inner mold line (IML) surface caul with a vacuum handling system (overhead equipment with suction cups to facilitate moving and positioning). The part and, therefore, the tool also would require a surface prole tolerance of 0.508 mm (0,020 mm). The structural design and analysis of the tooling was critical because of the myriad requirements combined with its scale: The tools overall dimensions would be 2.1m by 5.7m by 8.6m (6.8 ft by 18.8 ft by
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28.3 ft) with a facesheet surface area of 52.1m2 (561 ft2). We did a full engineering analysis to make sure the tool met the deection requirements and head load from the ber placement machine, Robson relates. This analysis was used to determine the minimum facesheet thickness and substructure requirements. An analysis also was required to design the complex tool surface layup. To accommodate the size of the full 1/6th segment of the SLS payload shroud, multiple tool segments would be connected to make one large, monolithic skin segment. Robson describes, Forward and aft anges of the tool required roughly a 2-inch [50.8 mm] thickness to accommodate machine stock for a vacuum mating grid and index hardware features.In addition, the ange build up had to transition to facesheet hardware padups.Building a 2-inch padup into a 90 ange with integrated eld padups presents ow and resin gel challenges using vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding [VARTM] because improper control of the resin can lead to porosity and/or vacuum integrity issues in the laminate. Thus, scaled tests were conducted to prove the layup and infusion process prior to execution at full scale. Because the nal part will be made using aluminum honeycomb core, edge bars (or edge rails) were needed to prevent the high pressures exerted during autoclave cure from crushing the core along the nal parts edges. Typically, these are machined from metal, but Janicki decided not to use any metal due to the toolings large size and potential heat-mass issues during autoclave cure of the nal part. Thus, the edge bars, and for the same reason, an IML caul plate, also were made from VARTMd carbon ber/epoxy. The caul plate forms the IML on the bag side of the part to control the nal parts inner surface dimensions, which must be exact to enable accurate mating and assembly with the other payload fairing arc segments. Inexact tolerances at the IML also would make attaching details to the inside of the part difcult. The IML caul and edge bars were VARTMd and cured on the nal bismaleimide (BMI) topcoat surface of the tool. A lot of indexing was required for those edge bars, Robson recalls, because they were fabricated in multiple
sections for pattern and producibility considerations, and each edge bar required a locating index set as well as deection constraint index hardware. There also was a scaffolding rail system that enabled workers to safely access the part from overhead, inner tool coordination holes and additional bars and structure needed to accommodate the AFP machine, all of which were designed and optimized for the coefcient of thermal expansion (CTE).
Janicki trialed different compatibility concepts, including variations in geometry, mechanical capacity and tool-mating options, eventually dening a mating concept that met with NASA approval. It was determined that the substruc ture would be made using a high-temperature carbon ber/epoxy laminate (materials proprietary to Janicki) because it met the strength and CTE requirements at a lower cost than using an autoclave carbon ber/BMI system.
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INSIDE MANUFACTURING
BMI would be used in the tool because it matches the CTE of the part material and provides a more durable tool surface, but it would be used in the tools surface laminate only to minimize cost. It was also decided to cure both the tools substructure and surface OOA (at the time, Janicki did not have an autoclave that could accommodate the tool) using VARTM, because VARTM would easily meet the components requirements and achieve further cost savings.
Super-sized tooling substrate We started with what we call a hightemperature pattern, Robson recounts, with reinforcement at strategic locations to stiffen the structure and resist movement at an initial cure temperature of 200F [93C]. He adds, This pattern was very large, roughly 20 ft wide by 30 ft long [6m by 9m] almost too large to t through our doors. The pattern was then CNC-machined to an accuracy of 10 mil (0.254 mm) and was used to lay
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up and infuse the tooling facesheet. The 600-ft2 (56m2) facesheet layup required 8,000 lb/3,629 kg of carbon ber and 4,600 lb/2,087 kg of epoxy resin, but its nal weight was much reduced after cure and machining. At this point, the carbon ber/epoxy substructure components, previously infused and assembled, were attached to the facesheet upside down. The whole assembly was transported into Janickis 100-ft by 24-ft by 14-ft (30m by 7m by 4m) modular oven and cured according to a proprietary schedule. After cure, the tooling assembly was demolded and rolled over, with the facesheet up, so it could be machined using Janickis 100-ft by 20-ft by 8-ft (30.5m by 6.1m by 2.4m) CNC mill to correct for creep, expansion and contraction during cure. This ensured an accurate, constant-thickness surface on which Janicki could then lay up the nal BMI topcoat.
The BMI prepreg layup required two to three weeks, partly due to the fact that the project was the rst large-scale demonstration of the technology.
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BMI topcoat and OOA cure Although Janicki had been developing OOA prepreg tooling for more than two years, the BMI prepreg layup required two to three weeks, partly due to the fact that this project was the rst large-scale demonstration of the technology. Everything works great at a lab scale, quips Robson. So many more things can go wrong when youre vacuum bagging the area of a small apartment. Robson continues, We did a 13-ft by 5-ft development test panel to establish the edge breathing requirements and that also helped us develop the debulking and cure cycles needed. We were also very careful to control the temperature and humidity of the environment during layup in order to control moisture. Whats more, Robson recalls that the system for this project was originally intended for a 350F [177C] autoclave cure. So, one of our challenges was how to consolidate the BMI and get the properties
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required using only atmospheric pressure. Beyond that primary focus, we also rened our processing to reduce cost. The renements included very tight control of the curing process. We used thermocouple drawings, oven-map drawings and then ducting was very critical, all to manage temperature precisely. In other words, Robson quips, we had to manually manage the computer control of the cure because of the specications of what the tool had to do in its nal performance.
requirements. Laser metrology conrmed it was within +0.3022/-0.1118 mm (+0.0119/-0.0044 inch). A nal challenge was shipping the tool to Spirit AeroSystems for automated tape layup of cored payload fairing structures. The tool qualied as a super load, he says, so just moving it down the road to our Hamilton facility was time-consuming. The ultimate program goal is to build the full-scale cylinder and test it at
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, says Robson. We would love to make all of the production tooling for this program. In the interim, Janicki has pursued a wide range of uniquely challenging composites projects and, in 2012 at its Hamilton, Wash., facility, also installed a 12-ft/3.6m diameter, 50-ft/15.2m deep autoclave capable of a maximum temperature of 550F/288C and pressures up to 150 psi or 10.5 kg/cm (see Learn More).
37794 MSO Lady_Glasses 4.375x6.875_Res Infusn Gnrl half Final 3/5/13 1:34 PM Page 1
A standard timeline for a complex composite tool of this scale at Janicki is two to three months. BMI added a few more weeks.
EXCELLENCE IN CORE SOLUTIONS
The cure took 48 hours in a well-insu lated oven. Robson adds, The mass of this tool and the volume of space you have to heat takes a long time, so the ramps are slow. After curing, the tool went through nal machining to scribe support tool index features and hardware, which would allow technicians to attach a variety of auxiliary tooling. A standard timeline for a complex composite tool of this scale at Janicki is two to three months. Robson noted that using BMI added a few more weeks. Not finished yet Janickis contract included running a part on the tool to demonstrate tool performance. We had already measured the tools temperature performance by installing thermocouples, and observed a 5F tolerance across the entire surface, Robson recounts. The team was condent the tool would perform well. It did. The team met, and actually ex ceeded, the tooling surface tolerance
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LEARN MORE
Read this article online at http://short. compositesworld.com/10bQqxBd. HPC took its readers along on a plant tour in Janicki Industries: Breaking the mold (HPC July 2013, p. 38), http://short. compositesworld.com/zke0pgcU.
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APPLICATIONS
APPLICATIONS
Optimization software improves small, low-cost satellite design
Several years ago, Ames Research Centers (Moffett Field, Calif.) director Pete Worden had an idea: design and build low-cost, small spacecraft on a quick turnaround, using a modular strategy based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts. He envisioned nimble space missions, with design-to-launch in less than two years for as little as $50 million (USD) one-tenth the cost of a conventional unmanned mission. Ian Fernandez was on the concept team that was asked to turn Wordens visionsetting program into reality. When we started, the vehicle was going to be a lightweight lander, he recalls. After many conceptual models, eventually we arrived at the current, fully engineered modular design, or Common Bus. Its modular design made it possible to rapidly assemble a variety of vehicles from off-the-shelf parts. We chose composites, says Fernandez, because of their high specic stiffness, high strength, low weight and low thermal distortion. The Ames Common Bus took its rst ight-program shape in 2008 as the Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE. This small spacecraft scheduled for launch this year into a low orbit around the moon will analyze lunar atmospheric dust. To design LADEE using the Common Bus approach, engineers employed several design software packages and nite element solvers, including ProEngineer CAD with Windchill, MINX and ProMechanica, supplied by PTC (Needham, Mass.); and MSC Patran for the master nite element model (FEM) and NASTRAN as the workhorse nite element analysis (FEA) solver, both from MSC.Software (Santa Ana, Calif.). Fernandez added HyperSizer, a structural sizing and optimization package for composites and metals, from Collier Research Corp. (Newport News, Va.). HyperSizer is a robust analysis tool that interfaces and iterates seamlessly with NASTRAN, he says. Each Common Bus module is octago nal in shape, approximately 14 inches tall by 46 inches across (356 mm by 1,168
Adaptable small spacecraft design

Ames Research Centers fully engineered, modular Common Bus design makes it possible to rapidly assemble from off-the-shelf parts a variety of small spacecraft, such as this Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE.
mm) and comprises two facesheets and a honeycomb core. Common bolt patterns on the top and bottom of the structures permit stacking and interchanging them, like LEGOs. For the LADEE project vehicle, four modules would be stacked. The two bottom modules would support the propulsion system, and the two top modules would house instruments. Solar panels would be mounted around the module sides. But design modications were necessary to customize the vehicle, including trimming away decks and walls to make room for internal equipment and adding inserts to provide equipment attachment points. Early in the design process, engineers employed HyperSizer to rapidly perform numerous trade studies, using the softwares extensive material property data-
base to optimize the materials and the module modications. When the team arrived at a working design, the delity of the FEM was sharpened by using HyperSizer to calculate detailed elementby-element margins of safety for each of the many applicable failure modes for LADEE, approximately 500,000 shell elements were subjected to nearly 100 global load cases. On average, 20 failure modes, including core shear, atwise tension, face dimpling, local buckling and interactions, were checked for each element, depending on type. Then HyperSizer veried the performance of the composite structures and the metal interfaces and brackets. In a full run, the software calculated and sifted through about 1 billion margins for the model, says Fernandez. HyperSizer was critically important
SEPTEMBER 2013
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Source (both photos): Ames Research Center
APPLICATIONS
5-Axis Machining Centers For Composites

Phone: 330.920.9200, ext 137 Fax: 330.920.4200 Website: www.quintax.com E-Mail: sales@quintax.com
74
APPLICATIONS
1519 Eastgate Dr. Cleveland, OK 74020

Source: Collier Research
918-358-5881 Fax: 918-358-3750 E-mail: email@decomp.com
Fast processing, with high element fidelity

A LADEE screen shot from the Collier Research (Newport News, Va.) Hypersizer software program.
Web Site: www.decomp.com
ISO 9001:2008
to organize and present this staggering amount of data. A simplied manual analysis, he adds, would have resulted in an overweight design, counter to strength and weight goals. During Critical Design Review, for instance, Hypersizer enabled graphical outputs that illustrated structural margins, critical load cases and critical failure modes. From these, Fernandez could verify and record several element properties, ranging from input loads to material and construction types. The software generated a stress report that became part of the nal Primary Structure Stress Substantiation Report. And during fabrication, HyperSizer helped the team resolve nonconformance issues by allowing engineers to quickly assess the impacts of fabrication imperfections, based on margins in those areas. The spacecrafts prepreg is T300 and M55J carbon bers in a TenCate Advanced Composites USA Inc. (Morgan Hill, Calif.) RS-3C resin. M55J is used only where stiffness is needed to maintain rst-mode frequency requirements. All panels incorporate an aluminum honeycomb core, with an aluminum-faced panel for the heat-rejecting radiator, plus hard points for interfaces, brackets for mounting components, and connection ttings for panel-to-panel joinery. When it is assembled, LADEEs empty four-module skeleton weighs only 102 lb/46.3 kg. Of that, 70 percent is composite-faced panels, 5 percent is aluminum-faced panels and 25 percent is a combination of metal inserts, ttings and brackets. After the scientic payload is integrated, the craft still weighs only 286 lb/129.7 kg light for a satellite. At launch, fully equipped, with fuel on board, it will be about 800 lb/362.8 kg, wet mass.
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SEPTEMBER 2013
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FOCUS ON DESIGN
Formula 1 team optimiZes car

FEA-to-CAD translation tool opens doors to cross-department communication
cross between driving and ying, Formula 1 (F1) racing pushes the limits of mechanical and human possibilities. Car and driver reach speeds of up to 220 mph/354 kmh on the straightaway and experience G-forces that can top ve in extreme corners. Manufactured primarily of carbon composites, the car, at 642 kg/1,415 lb,
is less than one-third the weight of an average U.S. passenger car. Maximizing down force while minimizing drag is an elusive design goal. Each year F1 teams must perform this balancing act with increasing efciency in a condensed, pressure-lled design cycle. Moving from an aerodynamic concept to a carbon composite t for the racetrack requires a large set of engineering tools and processes. It demands fast, accurate cross1,800 mm/5.9 ft 1,450 mm/4.76 ft 1,400 mm/4.6 ft
department communication of data. For the Lotus F1 Team (Enstone, U.K.), the communication key is Fibersim, a composites software solution from Siemens PLM Software (Plano, Texas). The team has used Fibersim for more than 10 years, but design/build has accelerated signicantly since Fibersim CAE Exchange was added in 2008 (see Learn More, p. 80).
LOTUS FORMULA 1 RACE CAR DESIGN
Chassis features 1,000 plies of carbon ber/epoxy prepreg in an aluminum honeycombcored sandwich construction
Substructure of complex forward wing (see images, p. 80)
Extensive side-impact testing is performed on isolated test pieces and partial chassis assemblies
950 mm/3.12 ft
5,008 mm/16.7 ft
DESIgn RESultS
Fast and accurate information exchange between FEA and CAD provides time for additional design and testing phases and production chassis test articles. Cross-departmental communication between design, analysis and manufacture enables part and process optimization. Enhanced drape simulations and other methodologies mirror real-world lamination techniques to CAE analysts, who, in turn, can prescribe better layup practices.
78
es car desiGn-to-build process

and frees time for R&D and test-piece manufacture.
BY KAREN WOOD ILLUSTRATION
KARL REQUE
FEA-to-CAD translation
Fibersim is embedded in the Teams CATIA V5 CAD environment (Dassault Systmes, Paris, France) and supports its full CAE, design and manufacturing cycle for composite components. Fibersim CAE Exchange enables a two-way exchange between composite FEA models, used to verify stresses and loads, and the CAD master model, which captures car and component geometry and a plethora of other data, including aerodynamic analysis and wind tunnel algorithms. The exchange between CAE applica tions and Fibersim/CAD is accomplished directly, allowing Fibersim to use the composite denition and boundaries from CAE to create a composite CAD master model that is usable for design, explains Leigh Hudson, Siemens PLM Softwares director of product and market strategy for Fibersim. Fibersim CAE Exchange was a major breakthough for us, adds Ian Goddard, the teams senior engineer and graduate program manager. For the rst time ever, we went from a tedious manual process to a true native conversion. Initially the software integration created a signicant learning curve for the teams design group. Nonetheless, in that rst year the group achieved a 20 to 30 percent time savings in composite part design. Five years down the line, were all very adept at understanding how the stress engineers work and knowing what the designers want to receive, says Goddard.
Design-to-build result
The 2013 Lotus Formula One E21 racer, designed using Siemens PLM Softwares (Plano, Texas) Fibersim suite, with Fibersim CAE Exchange, embedded in CATIA V5 (Dassault Systmes, Paris, France).
Perfection isnt good enough

At Enstone, 60 to 70 designers work year round on the racecars approximately 20,000 individual parts. Each year, the design work is split between tweaking the current years model, during a 19-race season that begins in mid-March, and major design revisions for next seasons car, condensed into a ve-month period that begins in September. Its a daunting task. In all, 250,000 la bor hours and 11,000 technical drawings (28 percent more than any previous car)
went into the design of this years car. The team uses 30 types of carbon ber materials and six different resins. Changes to the Fdration Internationale de lAutomobiles (FIA) F1 safety standards add to the challenge. There are renements to the rules, year on year, particularly in side-impact penetration panels and general increased driver protection, says Goddard. So, we need to optimize the weight of the rest of the structure to minimize the impact of these statutory impact panels. Fibersim CAE Exchange buys the team time to meet these challenges by adding design phases and producing isolated test pieces and partial chassis assemblies. These are used to test novel solutions and do extensive side-impact testing research to determine how loads will be dissipated through the chassis. Prior to 2008, our only goal was to make the single racecar chassis as fast as possible, Goddard admits. Now, were looking at construction using different structures, materials and other design approaches that we could never commit to when making a whole racecar. The initial design is based on the pre vious years chassis. Comprising 1,000 plies of molded carbon ber and aluminum honeycomb, it is the cars most complex laminate. Even if we made the
perfect car last year, this year we still have to ask ourselves, How do we make it stiffer, lighter and faster? quips Goddard. The goal is always to take out as much weight as possible while maintaining the safety factors for the driver. A principal chassis part is the monocoque drivers cockpit/survival cell, which is primarily a sandwich of aluminum honeycomb between high-density woven laminate panels. To protect the cell, tubular carbon side-impact structures are mounted perpendicular to the chassis side to absorb side-impact loads. Around these and covering the chassis side are anti-intrusion panels made of two plies of carbon ber and 16 plies of Zylon PBO poly(p-phenylene-2,6benzobisoxazole) supplied by Toyobo (Osaka, Japan). PBO reportedly has twice the strength and modulus of aramid ber, resulting in a laminate thickness of only 6.2 mm/0.24 inch. The survival cell is subjected to six different static load tests and absorbing structures endure three static side-load tests, with constant transverse horizontal loads up to 30.0 kN. Under the load, there must be no structural failure of the inner or outer cell surfaces, and total deection must not exceed 15 mm/0.59 inch. How the loads are transmitted through the side-impact tubes and
SEPTEMBER 2013
79
Source: Lotus
FOCUS ON DESIGN
dissipated into the side of the chassis are key to designing the optimum strong, lightweight composite chassis structure, Goddard points out. Hence, the benet from having test programs to explore different ... laminate denitions.
A common language
Fibersim CAE Exchange not only connects design, analysis and manufacturing data but also connects the people who use it. It creates a common language in the master model a geometric and nongeometric denition of everything associated at the feature level, says Ed Bernardon, Siemens VP of strategic automotive initiatives. For a simple part, 2,000 to 4,000 pieces of information ber orientation and type, the layup start point, and much, much more is included in the model. Yet, there is only one denition, he explains. Each department can look at it and lter and format the data to t its needs. As soon as we started to share ber orientation, drape simu lation and other details, we suddenly began having very open discussions, Goddard recalls. One of the things we discovered was that the laminators were sometimes doing things a little too differently compared to what was assumed in both the design and stress worlds. Now we see the stress analysts in the cleanroom talking about layup, he adds, noting that for areas of the laminate that worry them, the analysts can, for example, specify restrictions on the use of splicing. Conversely, they can identify less load-intensive regions where fewer rules and restrictions need apply. All of this information can be captured within the Fibersim design. Drape simulations in Fibersim have been greatly enhanced, Goddard adds. Methodologies let us simulate how a laminator is going to rub down the material with his hands, pushing it this way and then pulling it that way. That can then get round-tripped through the CAE department, giving them a realistic view of what the bers, orientations, load paths, etc., are truly doing. Perhaps the biggest benet falls to the shop oor lamina tors. Traditionally, theyre at the end of the process and dont have direct input into the composite design, says Goddard. Now the laminator can open the 3-D model and feed their input back up the chain.
Source: Siemens PLM Software
Laminate definition
Fibersim has created a composite laminate definition within the forward wing CAD master model. Magenta and cyan curves represent the ply boundaries, while the double-headed arrows signify the warp fiber direction and method of layup.
Definition exchange
A composite definition has been re-imported from the FEA model into the forward wing CAD master model using Fibersim CAE Exchange. The cyan curves, originally jagged element mesh boundaries from CAE, have been refined using Exchange.
Looking ahead
F1 design teams are bracing for big changes. We havent explored many of the emerging technologies that aerospace and automotive are branching into, such as woven ber, knitted fabrics, and braiding, Goddard says. Lotus F1 Team CEO Patrick Louis adds: The 2014 season will see a raft of rule changes and a revolution in the way Formula 1 cars are designed and built. Fibersim CAE Exchange is expected to enable the team to adopt new materials and adapt to FIA requirements that will include a switch from the aspirated V-8 engine to a hybrid, turbocharged V-6. Further, Fibersims utility is extending beyond F1: Were making a much closer link between F1 and the work were doing in high-volume automotive and aerospace, because there are so many commonalities, explains Bernardon. While Ian wants to explore new materials and manufacturing technologies like those used in automotive and aerospace, the OEMs want to go as fast as F1 in terms of development.
Ply layup simulation

A ply within the CAD model has been simulated for manufacturing based on the part shape, material and lay-up method defined in Fibersim. Areas of blue indicate no layup issue, areas of yellow indicate a minor challenge with layup and areas of red indicate a manufacturing issue such as wrinkling.
LEARN MORE @
Read this article online at http://short.compositesworld.com/BAgRFokz. Read more in Formula 1 team accelerates design-to-track speed, (HPC May 2008, p. 94) or visit http://short.compositesworld.com/LjKZpE4y.
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SEPTEMBER 2013 / Vol. 21 / No.

40 CFK-Valley Stade 2013 Review

9 Composites: Perspectives & Provocations

Celebrating two decades of composites advocacy.

54 Tailored Fiber Placement: Besting Metal in Volume Production

Affordable automated production of highly optimized preforms and parts.

62 Inside Manufacturing: Tooling Up for larger Launch Vehicles

19 News 71 Calendar 73 Applications 76 Marketplace 77 Showcase 77 Ad Index

78  Formula 1 Team Optimizes Car Designto-Build Process

ADVANCED MATERIAL SOLUTIONS

Carbon, aramid and other high performance fiber reinforcements

Aircraft Interiors Structural Aerospace Energy Transportation Carbon/Carbon Ablatives Military/Defense

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Solution, powder-coated and film laminated fabrics/adhesives

Films and Laminates

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Mike Musselman / Managing Editor mike@compositesworld.com

Sara Black / Technical Editor sara@compositesworld.com

Lilli Sherman / Senior Editor lsherman@compositesworld.com

Ginger Gardiner ginger@compositesworld.com

High Temperature Bond Tools

Michael R. LeGault mlegault@compositesworld.com

Mill Fixtures Pressure Intensifiers / Cauls Backup Structure Materials

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FROM THE EDITOR

COMPOSITES: PERSPEcTIVES & PROVOcATIONS

COMPOSITES: PERSPEcTIVES & PROVOcATIONS

COMPOSITES: PERSPEcTIVES & PROVOcATIONS

FORMATTING COMPOSITES FOR FABRICATION

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Designing today the plants of the future

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New joint SAMPE/ACMA show formally named

40 CFK-Valley Stade 2013 Review

9 Composites: Perspectives & Provocations

54 Tailored Fiber Placement: Besting Metal in Volume Production

62 Inside Manufacturing: Tooling Up for larger Launch Vehicles

19 News 71 Calendar 73 Applications 76 Marketplace 77 Showcase 77 Ad Index

78 Formula 1 Team Optimizes Car Designto-Build Process