Quality assured stiffened skin production relying on fully-automated patch-preforming and oven vacuum consolidation

Carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTPs) are a promising candidate for future single-aisle aircrafts components. In order to compete with low-cost metal based solutions highly effective and flexible production technologies are required. Production systems for organic sheets and thermoforming, as well as automated fiber placement machines combined with autoclave consolidation are frequently used and readily available. However, there is a lack of systems capable of efficiently and flexibly producing 3D-curved, near net shaped preforms which undergo less reshaping during consolidation thus giving a better control over fiber angles. At the Center for Lightweight Production Technology (ZLP) an automated process chain for advanced thermoplastic composites from as-delivered material to part assembly has been set up within an integrated work cell. In this work, we describe a smart manufacturing system that is capable of handling tailor-made individual cutpieces that are stacked on top of one another already within the curved mold (see Figure 1). An entire digital workflow from part design over automated cut-piece fabrication, generation of system related meta-information, virtual planning of the pick and place process to the final layup has been set up