Automated fiber placement: A review of history, current technologies, and future paths forward

Abstract

Automated fiber placement (AFP) is a composite manufacturing technique used to fabricate complex advanced air vehicle structures that are lightweight with superior qualities. The AFP process is intricate and complex with various phases of design, process planning, manufacturing, and inspection. An understanding of each of these phases is necessary to achieve the highest possible manufacturing quality. This literature review aims to summarize the entire AFP process from the design of the structure through inspection of the manufactured part to generate an overall understanding of the lifecycle of AFP manufacturing. The review culminates with highlighting the challenges and future directions for AFP with the goal of achieving a closed loop AFP process.

Keywords

• Automated fiber placement
• Composite manufacturing
• Literature review
• Lifecycle