Full-Scale Application of in-situ Automated Fiber Placement for the Production of a Fuselage Skin Segment

The CleanSky II multi-functional fuselage demonstrator is the world’s largest known aviation structure made of thermoplastic composites. The Center for Lightweight Production Technology (ZLP) in Augsburg together with Premium Aerotec, supported by Aernnova and Airbus was responsible for the delivery of the 8 m long upper half shell. The first step in the upper shell production is the skin placement which is done by means of in-situ automated fiber placement (in-situ T-AFP). The process is a lean, single-stage additive manufacturing process for thermoplastic CFRPs. In order to ensure a sufficient quality in the laminate the ZLP has worked intensively on dedicated design principles for the process, material quality requirements and an optimization of process parameters. Major advancements on the way towards a full-scale fuselage have been displayed in the past by the manufacturing of a scaled demonstrator. This paper presents the evolution to the recently manufactured full-scale component with a total length of 8 m, a diameter of 4 m and a composite part design that includes reinforcements for the door cut-outs and two different welding interfaces. The latter will be leveraged for the joining of two half-shells by means of thermoplastic welding. In this work the methodology for a scale up to an actual airplane geometry and the associated challenges are emphasized. Critical aspects of the scale up and potential mitigation of future issues for in-situ process are discussed with regards to design, process and manufacturing. Finally, a way towards industrial, full-scale productions by means of in-situ AFP is proposed