Advancements in Technology for Controlling Fiber Orientation in Composite Parts

The performance of a composite part is primarily determined by the orientation of fibers in the plies. Designers wishing to exploit the full potential of composite materials, while avoiding manufacturing problems and part failures, must define and control fiber orientation. Anticipating true fiber orientation for a single ply is seldom intuitive, and predicting the behavior of an entire laminate made of tens or hundreds of plies is nearly impossible.