SAMPE Technical Sessions : Advanced Manufacturing

• 13.30-13.50: Towards AFP+ | Enabling Intelligent Automation in Automated Fiber Placement by Dr. Ramy Harik, Professor, Clemson University, SAMPE North America

The future of composite manufacturing, particularly Automated Fiber Placement (AFP), is driven by the need for radical transformations through smart manufacturing philosophies. Traditional AFP processes are often siloed, resulting in complex, difficult-to-optimize open-loop systems. This complexity and cost burden creates a significant bottleneck, stalling current optimization efforts and hindering broader adoption beyond aerospace towards emerging markets. This talk outlines a vision moving towards a closed-loop AFP system, termed AFP+ , that seamlessly integrates design, process planning, manufacturing, and inspection via a robust digital thread. This advanced paradigm relies on a digital workflow and cyber-infrastructure to transform data into knowledge, enabling a two-way exchange between the physical machine and its digital twin to actively inform future manufacturing runs. Key functionalities of AFP+ include: Material Independent Automated Process Characterization to streamline setup and optimize parameters for diverse materials; Automated Process Placement for adaptable path trajectory planning and course-based optimization to manage defects and enhance performance ; Manual Inspection Annulment via in-situ machine learning and sensor integration to eliminate a major production bottleneck and provide real-time repair directives ; and Out of Autoclave AFP Composites Manufacturing to expand the process chain beyond conventional curing, reducing costs and limitations. By adopting a hybrid model that combines physical laws with data-driven AI, AFP+ will enable self-organizing production, overcoming complexity and unlocking new advancements across various domains.

• 13.50-14.10: A Novel Robotic Dieless Forming Process for Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics by Jan-Erik Rath, Team Lead Advanced & Composites Manufacturing, Institute of Aircraft Production Technology, Hamburg University of Technology, SAMPE Europe

Conventional thermoforming of continuous fiber‑reinforced thermoplastic (FRTP) organosheets requires part‑specific molds, making prototype and small‑series production costly and time‑consuming. To overcome this limitation, a novel robotic hot double‑sided incremental forming (DSIF) process was developed, inspired by existing incremental metal sheet forming. In this dieless approach, two cooperating robots locally shape the heated organosheet from both sides using simple forming tools, eliminating the need for dedicated molds. Wrinkling of the woven FRTP is avoided by a dedicated path planning strategy that considers the draping behavior of the fabric. The method achieves satisfactory geometric accuracies and minimal defects, while significantly reducing lead time and cost for prototypes, small series, and customized parts.

• 14.10-14.30: Process Innovation in Hydrogen Tank Manufacturing via UV/REDOX-Polymerized Thermoplastic Towpregs and RTM Consolidation of Non-Filament-Wound Preforms by Prof. Hirofumi Nishida, Innovative Composite Center (ICC), Kanazawa Institute of Technology, SAMPE Japan

This presentation introduces a novel hydrogen tank manufacturing method using UV/REDOX-polymerized thermoplastic towpregs. CF towpreg is fabricated at over 100 m/min via rapid impregnation with low-viscosity acrylic monomers, then molded into dome and cylinder sections without filament winding. These non-FW preforms exhibit excellent shape retention and are joined using low-pressure RTM with REDOX resin. The integrated process enables direct molding of tank geometries, simplifies consolidation, and achieves a 5-minute production cycle with ~20% carbon fiber savings. This integrated process led to a significant reduction in manufacturing time (achieving a production rate of 5 minutes per tank) and yielded approximately 20% savings in carbon fiber consumption compared to conventional methods.

• 14.30-14.50: Research on the Integrated Thermoforming-Injection Molding Process for Aerospace High-Performance Thermoplastic Composite Structures by Liang Gao, R&D Engineer, AVIC Manufacturing Technology Institute, SAMPE China

With the increasing complexity of aerospace lightweight components, the existing thermoforming process for thermoplastic composite structures is confronted with significant challenges: 1) Incapability of forming complex structures, leading to increased part count, component weight, and manufacturing costs; 2) Lack of capacity to form complex assembly features, requiring subsequent processes such as drilling and welding to meet assembly requirements, which causes fiber damage and reduces part performance and reliability; 3) Difficulty in forming complex stiffeners and large-curvature corners, greatly restricting product design freedom. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address the bottleneck in manufacturing complex thermoplastic composite components with characteristic structures. To this end, this study proposes an integrated thermoforming-injection molding process. Taking high-performance polyetheretherketone (PEEK)-based composites as the research object, it focuses on key technologies including the preparation process and mechanism of CF/PEEK composite sheets, as well as the interfacial bonding performance of CF/PEEK composite parts. Typical parts are designed for application verification. This research provides a feasible approach for the integrated molding of complex aerospace structures, and is of great significance for expanding the engineering application of CF/PEEK materials and developing high-performance, lightweight manufacturing technologies.