• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.241-245
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• 2004

Among the various manufacturing processes of composites, the tape lay-up process of thermoset prepreg has many advantages compared to autoclave or hot press forming. It has a high potential to process automation and continuous fabrication .. Fiber placement developed as a logical combination of filament winding and automated tape placement to overcome some of the limitations of each manufacturing method. Fiber placement uses a compaction device to apply direct contact between the incoming materials in the fiber placement head and Heat is added to the materials at the nip point of the compaction roller. This paper will discuss property of thermoset composite as compaction and heat effect in Automated fiber placement

• Composites Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2006

It is very difficult to make complex 3 dimensional curved-shape composite laminates using the advanced unidirectional composite prepregs. This study shows development process of subscale composite parabolic antenna reflector using unidirectional AS4/PEEK prepreg tapes. The AS4/PEEK thermoplastic composite materials are known to have good thermal and chemical stabilities in addition to their high specific strength and modulus. Various lamination methods were investigated through finite element analyses to make up the laminate design of the reflector. The automated fiber placement method was used to fabricate the reflector. The thermal expansion test using full-bridge strain gage circuits was done to verity the performance of the composite product.

• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.229-236
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• 2019

In this study, the effects of the additional processing parameters on the mechanical properties of thermoplastic composites fabricated with automated fiber placement (AFP) were evaluated. Annealing and vacuum bag only processes were then performed on the manufactured thermoplastic composites, respectively. For verification, the crystallinity was measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), confirming the variation of semi-crystalline thermoplastic composite according to the process conditions. The void content of thermoplastic composites was evaluated by matrix digestion method while microscopic examination confirmed the porosity distribution. The interlaminar shear strength test was conducted for three different process parameters (VBO, annealing, and no treatment). A comparison of the three tested strengths was made, revealing that the porosity value had larger effect on the mechanical properties of the thermoplastic composite compared to the degree of crystallinity. Additionally, when thermoplastic composite melted up, the pores were continuously removed under vacuum process; the removal of the pores resulted in an increase of the interlaminar shear strength.

• Composites Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.38-46
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• 2005

In order to characterize the outstanding performance of three-dimensional (3D) composites, the low velocity impact test has been carried out. 3D fiber structures have been achieved by using the automated tape placement (ATP) process and a stitching method. Materials for the ATP and the stitching process were carbon/epoxy prepreg tapes and Kevlar fibers, respectively. Two-dimensional composites with the same stacking sequence as 3D counterparts have also been fabricated for the comparison of damage tolerance. For the assessment of damage after the impact loading, specimens were subjected to C-Scan nondestructive inspection. Compression after impact (CAI) tests were conducted to evaluate residual compressive strength. The damage area of 3D composites was greatly reduced $(30-40\%)$ compared with that of 2D composites. Although the CAI strength did not show drastic improvement for 3D composites, the ratio of retained strength was $5-10\%$ higher than 2D samples. The effect of stitching on the impact performance was negligible above the energy level of 35 Joules.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2008

Ultrasonic C-scan technique is one of very popular techniques being used for detection of flaws in polymer matrix composite(PMC). However, the application of this technique is very limited for evaluation of defects in PMC fabricated by the automated fiber placement process. The purpose of this study is to develop a novel ultrasonic hybrid system based on nondestructive and non-contact ultrasonic techniques for evaluation of delamination in carbon/epoxy and carbon/PPS composite laminates. It was shown that the newly developed ultrasonic hybrid system based on dual air-coupled pitch-catch technique with ultrasonic scattering reflection concept could provide excellent image with higher resolution of delamination in PMC compared with the conventional pitch-catch method. It is expected that this ultrasonic hybrid technique can be applied for on-line inspection of flaws in PMC during the fabrication process.