Why you can't just look at carbon
Most AFP parts are still inspected by eye: an operator walks into the cell after every ply. It works, but it's slow, depends on the expert, and fights physics: carbon on carbon is dark on dark. A gap that shouts on a light tool disappears once there's carbon underneath.
Predict · at 1:14 in the video
Now make the panel twice as long, and twice as wide. How much longer does it take to inspect each ply?
Four times. Inspection covers area, and area goes up with the square of the size. Bigger parts usually have more plies too.
Automated Fiber Placement: Status, Challenges, and Evolution, Ramy Harik & Alex Brasington.
- Chapter 6, section 1
- Chapter 6, section 1.1
Simulations in this lesson are our own. Where the numbers are invented to show a mechanism, the video says so on screen.