Manufacturing of Composite Helicopter Tailboom Using Automated Fiber Placement

This paper briefly summarizes the manufacturing process of a composites helicopter tailboom prototype, with the focus on improving quality and productivity as well as reducing manufacturing cost. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a stable and reliable automated fiber placement process for mass production of the composite tailboom. For this purpose, different fiber path generation scenarios were first explored in the early stage of the project. Information such as fiber angle deviations, gaps and overlaps were collected. Feedback was provided to the designers to further improve the tailboom design. Second, since fiber placement process is influenced by different variables, including layup speed, compaction force, heater temperature, humidity level, etc., the interactions of different process parameters were investigated. The optimum layup speed was identified under different conditions. Third, to achieve the quality requirements, methodologies were developed to reduce machine downtime and to track and repair manufacturing defects. As a result of the project, a one-piece, fiber placed composites tailboom was successfully manufactured.