JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #97 - Special JEC Americas - May/June 2015 - 68

AFP

when using the standard method
where a ply is modelled as one
continuous mesh. Therefore, a
more discrete approach was used to
simulate this behaviour. Every tow
was meshed separately allowing for
interaction between tows, see Fig.
4. The simulation model is more
complex and detailed than forming simulations of continuous plies.
It approaches meso-level forming
simulations where individual fibres
are modelled.

Fig. 4: PAM-FORM forming simulation results for a laminate with separate tows formed on the corner
tooling, at the start (0%), 50%, 75% and final stage (100%) of the forming process

In the future, a suitable definition of
lateral contact between the adjacent
fibres in the same ply should be
formulated.

Next step

Fig. 5: Complex forming cases: forming shape (left) and lower part of a B-pillar (right)

time-consuming tasks.
The data required for a forming simulation can generally be reduced to four
categories: geometrical data, laminate
properties, process parameters, and
solver-specific data.
Of these, only the geometrical data and
the material properties are relevant for
the interface; these are meshes of the
slit tapes as well as their fibre orientation and the laminate lay-up.

Numerical and experimental
study of UD slit tape material
forming
A corner tooling was used to test the
formability of AFP laminates and to
determine what AFP process parameters might have an effect on the
forming process.
Preliminary tests performed by

Coriolis Composites GmbH in
Germany showed a forming behaviour that is specific to AFP laminates.
The tows of fibres tend to remain
bundled during forming, with tows
that overlap and gaps that appear
between tows.
Such behaviour cannot be expressed

Practical knowledge about the forming of AFP laminates has now been
acquired, both for the process and
process simulations. In the next step,
these findings will be applied and
the interface will be put to the test
in more complex cases, such as the
forming shape and the B-pillar part
shown in Fig. 5. To be able to form
these parts without defects, AFP capabilities need to be fully exploited,
approaching the limits of what is
technologically possible for continuous fibre reinforced composites. n
Acknowledgements:
Coriolis Software would like to thank ESI
Group for their support.
More information:
www.coriolis-software.com

About Coriolis Composites
A specialist in processing composite materials,
Coriolis Composites develops, manufactures and
markets robotic fibre placement cells using a
standard 6-axis robot that can lay continuous or
discontinuous fibres in all directions and on complex
geometrical surfaces.
Based on this expertise, the company has aggregated its robotic skills to offer
exclusive equipment designed and developed for the composites industry.
With a unique research capacity in its sector, Coriolis Composites is a strong
added-value partner who offers cost-effective industrial solutions.

68 jec composites magazine / No97 May - June 2015

http://www.coriolis-software.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #97 - Special JEC Americas - May/June 2015

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