The Next Decade of Carbon Fiber Composites: … Next Decade of Carbon Fiber Composites: Challenges...

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Engineering, Test & Technology

The Next Decade of Carbon Fiber Composites:Challenges and Opportunities

Sam Tucker

Next Gen Composites





100 Years of Innovation



Growing Market and Competition in Commercial Airplanes

Green Denotes Study Airplanes

Great market, but new and existing competitors taking a share



The Pace Of Progress – Composite Innovation

It took 40 years to get from the Wright Brothers to widespread air transport.

It took 50 years for implementation of the composite wing and fuselage.

Composites timeline:

▪ 1950s: Invention of fiber reinforced plastics

▪ 1960s to 1970s: Use in secondary structure

▪ 1980s to 2000: Use in empennages, subcomponents

▪ 2003 to present: Use in wing and fuselage



Growing Use of Composites in Aerospace

Boeing produces >1.4M LBS of composite structure per month



Challenges

Geo-political constraints / uncertainty

Changing market Value streams and business models

Customer needs

Designing for composite materials Structural efficiency, manufacturability

Speed of introducing new materials/processes Material development fitting into product design cycle

Qualification/certification of material and production system

Trading all the materials and processes available

Safety concerns addressed

Molecular – Continuum materials understanding Designing materials for processing and performance

Cost reduction

How do we address these challenges: Solve for creating value – deliver improved performance at lower costs

Innovation: New business models; new design, qualification and certification ideologies and

tools; new materials and processes

Complex Multidimensional Optimization

Cost break-down for composite parts



BR&T Composite Research & Development Initiatives

Improving Cost, Quality and Schedule for Production Systems

Design for Manufacturing and Structural Efficiency

Industrialization of Composites

Lead Implementation of 21st Century Technology



Improving Cost, Quality, Schedule for Production Systems

Continued innovation in our production systems leads to improved quality and reduced defects at a lower cost

Optimizing for automation and increased

Rate

Increased automation rates through:

− Understanding of material capabilities

− Reducing defects and inspection time

Advanced forming

− Innovative approaches to enable defect

free fabrication of stringers and spars

− Characterization of prepreg for forming

(tack, friction, drape)

Increased material and process robustness

Enhanced producibility assessments

Flexible processing windows

Design requirements aligned to the

manufacturing process

Acceptance criteria

(Composites Part A, 43,(2012), 423-434)



Design For Manufacturing

Capturing the advantages of new materials and processes is essential to deliver value

Increased material and process suite enabling the

Right Material, Right Process and Right Design Out-of-autoclave

Rapid cure

Manufacturing influenced designs

Reduced part complexity

Well-defined material limits and design guides

Part count reductions and reduced assembly

Integrated co-cures and resin infusion

Structural bonding

Integrated system architectures

EME direct and indirect effects

Disruptive EME materials (i.e. conductive composites)

16-ft Curved Qtr Panel (PRSEUS)

Automation

Thermoplastics




Industrialization of Composites

Leverage low-cost, high performance materials

Industrial fibers and chemistries – understand performance vs. price

Disruptive: prepreg successor(s)

Implement rapid and tailorable manufacturing processes for

production of affordable small composite parts:

High pressure resin-transfer molding

Continuous forming of thermosets and thermoplastics

Stamp forming of composites

Develop rate-independent manufacturing technologies

through reduction of non-recurring cost:

Adaptive manufacturing cells

Low-cost, innovative tooling

Increased automation of material handling and fabrication

Increased rate and decreased cost of composite parts



Thermoplastic Components Save Weight and Cost for

Industrialization of Composites: Thermoplastic Composites

Wide-scale thermoplastic implementation from focused materials and process innovation

Production cost savings through:

Flexible part fabrication enabling high-rate, continuous

manufacturing

Infinite material shelf life

Weight savings enabled by high performance

High interlaminar properties / damage tolerance

Flam, smoke & toxicity resistance



Implementation of 21st Century Technology

Forward innovation must focus on digital concepts for accelerated materials and

process decisions and insertion

Multi-scale modeling

Computational chemistry

Process modeling

Integration to macro-scale structural analysis

Processing/manufacturing science and prediction

Increased understanding of the production systems

Prediction of geometries and post process deformation

Digital inspection

In-process inspection instead of post process inspection

Additive manufacturing

Digital manufacturing for rapid prototypes (parts and tooling)

Flexible customization

Digitization

Real-time manufacturing data / capturing the digital thread

(Industry 4.0)

Increased use of the digital lab



Implementation of 21st Century TechnologyComputational Materials & Processes

Leveraging computational methods to inform materials and process decisions

Computational and Experimental Approach:

Accelerated insertion through informed decisions and reduced trial and error

M&P process variability understanding from chemistry to structure

Iterative approach to continue to refine/improve approach



Adapted and accepted methods for process prediction

Residual strain understanding and prediction

Part distortion

Cure cycle optimization for controlled dimensional stability

Thermal analysis and prediction

Cure cycle optimization for thermal loads

Decreased manufacturing uncertainty and reduced trial and error

Implementation of 21st Century TechnologyProcessing Science and Prediction

Leveraging computational methods to inform materials and process decisions



Implementation of 21st Century Technology

Polymer additive manufacturing as a compliment to composites

Prototypes

Low-Rate / complex shapes

Localized stiffening

Flexible customization

Disruptive additive manufacturing

Structural components?

What material performance is required?

Polymer Digital and Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is a valuable compliment to traditional

composites manufacturing



Implementation of 21st Century TechnologyContinued Digitization – Industry 4.0

How do we define the Future of composites?

Industry 4.0 and Composites

Enhanced Accuracy and Tracking Through Live Metrology

Real-Time Manufacturing Data For Resource and Inventory Tracking

Automated Digital Inspection

Improved Safety Through Intelligent Human-Machine Interactions

Realization of the Digital Thread

http://www.enterrasolutions.com/

2015/07/the-coming-industrial-

revolution-the-internet-of-things-

and-industry-4-0.html

By ChristophRoser. Please credit "Christoph Roser at AllAboutLean.com." - Own work,

CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47640595

The Four Industrial Revolutions

The Next Decade of Carbon Fiber Composites: … Next Decade of Carbon Fiber Composites: Challenges...

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