the arc training centre for automated manufacture of

The Sovereign ManufacturingAutomation for Composites

“Advanced composites technologies targeting Australia’sSovereign Manufacturing Priorities”

Cooperative Research Centre(The SoMAC CRC)

The ARC Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites

Pre-Existing AMAC Sectors

[email protected]

National Response

mailto:[email protected]

AMAC’s Industry relevant outcomes

3

1. Advanced Composite Processing

2. Process analysis and Modeling

3. Multifunctional Materials

1. Micro/Nano Characterisation2. Strength and

Failure Prediction3. Robotic

Infrastructure

1. Structural Health Monitoring

2.Sensing/Communication

3. Structural Optimisation

Materials Enhancement Process Property Optimisation

Simulations and Performance Prediction

Design, Integration and Optimisation

1. CNT/Graphene enhanced prepregs

2. Durable nano-scale surface treatments

AMAC’s Pre-existing Cross Disciplines

4

Tooling development

Automated Manufacturing of

Advanced Composites

Mechatronics

Mechanical Engineering

Material Science

Manufacturing

Advanced cutting/Drilling/Milling Advanced

Manufacturing

Robotic Manufacturing

Structural Health Monitoring

Life-cycle Engineering

Characterisation

Algorithms

Processing of materials Material modelling

Structural Analysis and predictions

Automated deposition

Simulated Techniques

Photonics

Infrastructure development (pick and drop)

Nano/Micro/Macro Mechanics

Fibre optics for in-situ measurement

Fluid Structure Interaction

Multiscale modelling

5

Building Block Approach

AMAC’s Pre-Existing Automated Fibre Placement (AFP)

6

•Automated Dynamics (ADC) – AFP•6 axis, Kawasaki robot•Payload: 130 kgs•Robot weight: 1397 kgs

Spindle (7th axis):•Capable of multiple geometries•Tool length: max 3.3 m and min 1m•Tool diameter: max 1.22m•Maximum tool weight: 909 kgs•Maximum velocity: 60 RPM

Software:•Solid Works as front-end design•ADC Fibre placement Manager•Ability to program rings/cylinders/flats/box beams/cones/domes•Additional software: VericutComposite programming (VCP), Composite simulation (VCS)

Thermoset Head:•4 x 0.25” tow slit UD tape•Capable of ATL grade thermoset prepregs•Capable of cut, clamp and compaction•Pre-nip area: hot air torch up to 90°C•Maximum cut length 80 mm

Thermoplastic Head:•Up to 0.5” single tow/tape•In-situ full consolidation of TP prepregs•ADC patented HGT (250 to 950°C)•Tape counter•Up to 75 kg compaction force

Automated Fibre Placement (AFP)The only AFP facility in the southern hemisphere.

AMAC has led the way in Automated Fibre Placement, providing a multi-disciplinary rapid prototyping and research capability.

Smart Monitoring Manufacturing quality and Structural health monitoring Industry 4.0 Competitive advantage

• The main advantage of using distributed sensing system compared to traditional strain gauges (which provide a point reading per strain gauge) is the possibility to capture strain and temperature profiles along the length of the FOS and provide a full-field representation.

• FOS are 125 micron in diameter and can be placed around hard to reach areas/curvatures and more importantly around welds/joints which are areas where failure is prone to initiate.

Impact• Manufacturing quality assessment tool to evaluate the processing condition,

cure quality (shrinkage, warpage and temperature profiles)• SHM tool for predictive maintenance enabling Industry 4.0 method can be

utilised in predictive maintenance, identifying future failure points.• Maintenance timing is better managed, allowing for component remedial

action, avoiding unplanned production outages.• Equipment downtime is minimized, and the component lifetime is maximized.

Successful applications • In situ Fibre Optic Sensors can be broadly applied in metals/composites and

the method scaled according to the need.

Projects• Automated Manufacture of Adaptive Composite Propellers• Durability of composite marine propellers• Investigation on the response of FOS placed in composite samples during

accelerated ageing in artificial sea water.• Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges using Optical Fibre Sensing• Smart monitoring of SWAP tanks using DOFs

AMAC is spearheading the research and application of Fibre Optic Sensors (FOS) for smart monitoring of metal/composite parts.

AMAC’s Pre-Existing Industry Sector Partners:

AMAC’s Pre-Existing Smart Monitoring

Civil structuresAutomated Fibre PlacementStructural Health Monitoring

Competitive advantage• One of the main problems facing steel structures is corrosion which effectively

reduces total section area of steel members thus leading to elevated stresses in the corroded area. The need for economical and fast rehabilitation solutions reflects the importance of using carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) as a repair material.

• An effective SHM method can increase service life, reduce maintenance, and inspection costs over the lifetime. Due to their advantages such as small size and weight, resistance to electromagnetic interference, large data transmission bandwidth and resistance to corrosion, optical fibre sensors (OFS) are viewed as a technology with highest potential for continuous real-time monitoring of engineering infrastructures.

Impact• Automated Fibre Placement allows for tailored fibre placement to create bespoke

high volume CFRP patches, struts, wrap around for existing structures• Using the sensors, a suitable crack/damage localisation algorithm has been

developed where the source of the damage can be accurately determined. The data from the sensors can be integrated with a machine learning platform to provide a localised structural health score that will assist the SHB engineers to evaluate the structural health of the bridge. The structural health score will be shared with bridge engineers to compare with simulation predictions for any critical locations.

Projects• Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges using Optical Fibre Sensing• Western Sydney Uni Project

Steel column wrapped in carbon fibre

CFRP patches for bridge repair

AMAC’s Pre-existing Civil StructuresCivil StructuresSupport rehabilitation of ageing structures, smart sensors for early warning damage prediction.

AMAC is supporting the rehabilitation of ageing structures and implementation of sensors as a early warning system for damage prediction


Maritime - DefenceShape Adaptive Propeller Structural Health Monitoring Durability assessment Competitive advantage

• The overall benefit of such innovation is reduction of cost, increaseproductivity and flexibility, improve quality and increase confidence ofcomposite products among customers. The use of fibre reinforced plastic(FRP) composite prompted to a significantly lighter weight (75%) in thecomposite hydrofoil compared to the similar metallic structure. Thislightweight improvement, combined with the shape-adaptive design,increases efficiency and reduces fuel consumption significantly for maritimevessels. Moreover, composites also have high resistance to fatigue andcorrosion, leading to longer life cycles.

Impact• AFP produces more consistent and higher quality structures compared to

existing composite manufacturing technologies thereby improving safety. In-situ monitoring during manufacture and operation with the help of integrated sensors would help the manufacturers to detect faults or damages in early stage, prompting early repairs as well as production of consistent and reliable high-quality structures

• In-situ monitoring during manufacture and operation with the help of integrated sensors enable manufacturers to detect faults or damages in early stages, prompting early repairs as well as production of consistent and reliable high-quality structures.

• This type of automated manufacture with advanced optical sensors can beapplicable to not only such composite hydrofoils but also to other similartypes of composite structures that require a reliable and consistentmanufacture process with in-situ structural health monitoring.

Projects• Automated Manufacture of Adaptive Composite Propellers• Durability of Composite Marine Propellers

AMAC’s Pre-existing Maritime – Defence Research AMAC is leading the research in shape adaptive marine propeller manufactured using Automated Fibre Placement with embedded sensors


Green Hydrogen EconomyLightweight H2 tanksDry fibre AFP

AMAC is manufacturing light weight state of the art H2 tanks tofuel the Hydrogen economy

Competitive advantage• High-pressure gas storage vessels represent one of the biggest and fastest-growing

markets for advanced composites. Primary end-markets for composite-reinforcedpressure vessels are bulk transportation of compressed natural gas (CNG) products,and fuel storage in passenger cars, buses and trucks with powertrains dependent onCNG and hydrogen alternatives to gasoline and diesel.

Impact• AFP has been evaluated and adopted by many large aerospace OEMs in order to

meet their production demands, improve quality and repeatability, whilesignificantly reducing overall costs and material scrap rates. Dry Fibre AutomatedFibre Placement (DAFP) combines the advantages from manufacturing preformsusing dry fibre with the benefits of using AFP. Compared to the traditional windingtechnique DAFP offers, maximum weight efficiency that is achievable by placingmaterial only where necessary (start-stop process unlike winding technique).

• Fibre steering allows greater design flexibility as fibres can be steered alongdifferent paths and angles on the surface since they are not tensioned like thoseused in filament winding. This leads to optimized plies on dome sections withminimal limitation on fibre angle and reinforcement of dome section withoutadditional weight. .

• Sammy particles?

Projects• Manufacture of a Type IV H2 tank using Dry Fibre Automated Fibre Placement

(DAFP) technology and smart sensing capability.• A Game Changing Hydrogen Production and Storage Technology for On-board

SystemsH2 Fuel Cell Bus

AMAC’s Pre-Existing H2 tanks

HealthPolymer-Based Dental CompositesNovel residuum-socket interface sensor

AMAC is transferring a new material platform, together withtools for its manufacture and testing to the Global industry

Competitive advantage• Novel combinations of mechanical and biological properties are required when developing new

polymer-based restorative dental composites.• Cutting edge technology for investigating mechanical, physical, and biological behaviours of the

dental composites from nano- to macro-scale would allow us to place the lab-scale studies intothe realistic dental industry.

• Sensor-embedded spinal implants provide critical information on implant strength andprogressive changes in bone graft stiffness in vivo. Measurement of mechanical signals from theimplant will inform the choice of material used for different purposes in spinal reconstruction

Impact• Strategy to develop preventive and restorative dental materials by synthesizing multifunctional

dental composites reinforced with short S-glass fibres and chitosan integrated halloysitenanotubes (HNTs). An enhanced interfacial bonding strength and a dispersion capability of themicro-/nano-fillers in the dental resin matrix are obtained by the newly developed surfacemodification process, resulting in increased mechanical and antibacterial properties

• Mechanical, physical, and biological characterisation of the dental materials (ceramics,composites, and human tooth) using various experimental and computational methods. Scientificfindings and technologies would support dental industry ultimately dedicating to improvingclinical practices of dentistry.

• The development of load-sensing spinal implants will lead to real-time post-operative monitoringof the joint, removing the need for periodic radiographic assessment. Real-time sensor recordingswill indicate the progression of bone graft stiffness, indicate mispositioning and instability,promote personalised rehabilitation programs, and prevent the onset of complications such asimplant migration.

• Load-sensing implants will provide data on the suitability of various materials and biomaterialsused for spinal implants and grafts from a mechanical standpoint.

Projects• Dentistry without Mercury, CRC-P Round 7• Clinical utility of a novel residuum-socket interface sensor for normal and shear stress

measurement

AMAC’s Pre-existing Health Programs


SpaceGrid stiffened structuresRocket nozzle – Ablative insulation

AMAC is well positioned to propel Australia’s space industry andcreate sovereign capability in manufacturing

Competitive advantage• Grid-stiffened structures produced from continuous fibre tows exhibit lower mass

and manufacturing costs compared to conventional composite and metallicstructural architectures for a wide variety of applications.

• Currently identified applications where grid structures are guaranteed to delivercost savings and performance improvements in Space and launcher structures suchas satellite central tubes, booms and shear webs, stiff instrument benches, payloadadapters and dispensers, launcher inter-stages and skirts, payload fairings

• Ablative insulation is used in areas of high temperature and high heat flux such asthe combustion chamber and exit nozzle lining. It is an attractive method of coolingdue to the low complexity compared to other methods of cooling such asregenerative of film and transpiration cooling.

Impact• An empirical relation had been proposed to predict the degree of fibre waviness for

an arbitrary grid thickness. A FE modelling methodology had been developed andvalidated to analyse the deformation and damage progression in grids with varyingdegree of fibre waviness. The model was able to predict the initiation, growth and,finally, failure of the grid coupon. The predicted and experimental failure loadswere within close agreements of 10%.

• Using the “Clamp-Cut-Restart” operation of automated fibre placement,discontinuous plies was successfully introduced into the grid structure. The fibreplacement of the tow can be achieved accurately, and no manufacturing defectswere introduced in the process. Preliminary studies showed that appropriate ratioof discontinuous plies reduces the degree of fibre waviness while retaining similarcompression and bending strength as a continuous layup.

Projects• Influences of ply waviness and discontinuity on automated fibre placement

manufactured grid stiffeners

Carbon anisogrid payload adaptor

AMAC’s Pre-Existing Space Program


AutomotiveAFP manufactured metal-composite hybridsPost-forming of thermoplastic tubes

AMAC is pushing the boundaries of advanced compositestechnology to compliment the drive in the Automotive sector tocreate “Green cars”Competitive advantage• One of the most promising lightweight approaches is using partial load path

adjusted carbon fibre reinforcements on metallic components, also known as metal-composite hybrids. The benefit of these hybrid structures is the opportunity ofusing the best material properties, such as fatigue, impact and overall strength,especially in fibre direction, of each material involved.

• The challenge is to automate several processes of the manufacturing in one, as itshould include several technological operations, such as heating the thermoplasticjust before the bonding and processing the steel surface for improving the strengthof the thermoplastic-metal hybrid

Impact• A proven methodology to perform direct placement of composites onto

femtosecond-laser-textured metal surfaces without a polymer interlayer has beendeveloped.

• Post formed composite tubes are evaluated to obtain their mechanical behavioursand forming limits of the thermoplastic tubes of selected configurations. These willbe utilised into a forming limit diagram along with the rapid post-forming processto enable the mass production of complex automotive components such as thebody pillars and suspension springs.

Projects• Optimisation of laser-assisted automated fibre placement (AFP) for manufacture of

metal-composite hybrids• Optimisation of automated winding and forming of carbon composite tubular

structuresThermal FEA simulation of pre-heated thermoplastic tube in contact with tooling

AMAC’s Pre-existing Automotive Program


AerospaceBonded Patch Repair Applications for Primary Aircraft Structures

AMAC is completing research on aerospace production methodsand life-cycle maintenance of advanced composites technology

Competitive advantage• Certification of bonded joints or patch repairs of primary aircraft structures requires

demonstration of damage tolerance. Traditionally, a demonstration of damage no-growth under structural fatigue loading is required. If disbond growth is detected inthe critical region of a joint, even if it is in a small, localised region, an aircraft wouldbe grounded for repair or component replacement.

• In recent years, in order to reduce maintenance cost, a damage slow growthmanagement strategy has been considered acceptable, provided the slow growth ispredictable and without reducing the strength of the bonded structures below arequired safety margin prior to scheduled inspection

Impact• To help satisfy the certification requirement and implement the damaged slow

growth management strategy, a simulation model for understanding andcomputing the disbond growth behaviour of bonded structures has been developed.

• In order to implement the damage slow growth management strategy, disbondcrack stable growth range and allowable fatigue life of a joint needs to bedetermined. To achieve these, the entire process of disbond growth from disbondinitiation up to the ultimate failure of the joint needs be assessed.

• A Double Overlap Tapered End Specimen (DOTES) is proposed which contains both“disbond tolerant zone” and “safe-life zone” in the bonded patch repair

• This model is being used to assess the suitability along with support to damagegrowth management approach for standard taper geometries.

Projects• Damage tolerance and slow growth assessment of bonded joints and patch repairs

for aircraft primary structures

Double Overlap Tapered End Specimen

AMAC’s Pre-existing Aerospace Program


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