Cobotic manufacture of hierarchically architectured composite materials
Topic(s) : Special Sessions
Co-authors :
Ian LEE (UNITED KINGDOM), Laura Rhian PICKARD (UNITED KINGDOM), Ian HAMERTON (UNITED KINGDOM), Giuliano ALLEGRIAbstract :
Cobotics is a novel area of research within automated manufacture of advanced composites. Historically the processing of materials such as fibre reinforced polymers has relied heavily on the knowledge, experience, and creativity of skilled technicians to hand lay-up laminates of the required geometries and material properties. The highly accurate and repeatable dynamic control offered by industrial robotics, which has allowed increased efficiency and production rates in a diverse variety of manufacturing settings, can often struggle with the fine dexterous motor skills and functional adaptability required in composite material manufacture [1], [2]. It is hypothesised that given the increased adoption of composite materials within high-volume consumer products, processing methodologies which allow safe and effective, direct human & robot collaboration offer the potential to increase production efficiency whilst simultaneously reducing the negative effects of repetitive motion and suboptimal manual handling often experienced by technicians [3].
The context for this research is the design, manufacture, and testing of novel composite materials under development within the NextCOMP research grant programme. This EPSRC supported collaboration between Imperial College London and the University of Bristol is focused on the production of materials inspired by natural composites such as bone, wood, and shell, with the aim of mimicking their levels of compressive performance. A principal design methodology identified is the hierarchical nature of their material architectures. The complementary interaction of dissimilar reinforcement systems across length scales, results in aggregate mechanical properties significantly above the often intrinsically weak constituent materials [4]. It is hypothesised that incorporating such multiscale reinforcement systems within manufactured composites can mitigate issues such as fibre microbuckling and fibre-epoxy interfacial shear, which contribute to their relative weakness under compression [5].
This paper reports on the progress being made in using cobotic technology to assist with the manufacture of materials featuring such hierarchical systems of reinforcement. It describes the novel laminate architectures developed which integrate standard composite materials, such as continuous & discontinuous carbon-fibre reinforced epoxy prepregs, pultruded carbon-fibre epoxy rods and epoxy films. The methods of manufacture are outlined, and data reported from the mechanical testing undertaken to characterise the materials generated.
The context for this research is the design, manufacture, and testing of novel composite materials under development within the NextCOMP research grant programme. This EPSRC supported collaboration between Imperial College London and the University of Bristol is focused on the production of materials inspired by natural composites such as bone, wood, and shell, with the aim of mimicking their levels of compressive performance. A principal design methodology identified is the hierarchical nature of their material architectures. The complementary interaction of dissimilar reinforcement systems across length scales, results in aggregate mechanical properties significantly above the often intrinsically weak constituent materials [4]. It is hypothesised that incorporating such multiscale reinforcement systems within manufactured composites can mitigate issues such as fibre microbuckling and fibre-epoxy interfacial shear, which contribute to their relative weakness under compression [5].
This paper reports on the progress being made in using cobotic technology to assist with the manufacture of materials featuring such hierarchical systems of reinforcement. It describes the novel laminate architectures developed which integrate standard composite materials, such as continuous & discontinuous carbon-fibre reinforced epoxy prepregs, pultruded carbon-fibre epoxy rods and epoxy films. The methods of manufacture are outlined, and data reported from the mechanical testing undertaken to characterise the materials generated.