Optimization of fiber orientation and layer thickness in thin carbon fiber-reinforced plastic curved structures

Abstract

In automated carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) lamination technologies, such as AFP, the design of the path for accurate tape application is challenging. Therefore, a molding technology that allows the use of variable tape widths and thicknesses, which are fixed in previous methods, is currently being developed. Fiber orientation and layer thickness should be optimized in a 2D plane. However, for structures with free-form surfaces, such as propellers, three-dimensional (3D) manufacturing design becomes necessary. A method is proposed here for optimizing the fiber orientation and layer thickness of a prepreg tape for a 3D propeller model with a curved surface structure. This method enables curve boundary-agnostic tape lines, by projecting curves created on a two-dimensional plane onto a curved surface. Multi-objective optimization with displacement and weight as objective functions reduced the displacement by 20.0% while maintaining strength. These results are likely to be informative for weight reduction and manufacturing design of CFRP structural components.

Keywords

• Automated fiber placement (AFP)
• 3-D Printing
• Curvilinear
• Optimization
• Design