Development of Manufacturing Process and Testing for Thick Curved Thermoplastic Composite Tubes Made by Automated Fiber Placement

Composite materials have numerous commercial and industrial applications, especially in aircraft and space where the weight-saving could be of significance. One of the important considerations is to make tubular skid landing gears for helicopter by using thermoplastic composite materials. Numerous works have been done to research the possibility of using thermoplastic composites to replace the aluminum, the principal material of landing gears for helicopter. Previous works have shown that straight aluminum tubes could be replaced by straight tubes of thermoplastic composite material. The tubes have shown same strength and stiffness, and the composite tubes have less weight. This research aims to develop an effective and practical way in using Concordia lab facilities to manufacture thick curved thermoplastic tubes that can be used as cross tubes on helicopters. The curved tubes were tested under three point loading. Strains and displacements were measured at different loads. Finite element analysis was carried out, and the calculated strains and displacements are compared with experimental values