By Sara Black, CompositesWorld Magazine
It’s no secret to anyone involved in aerospace composites that production rates in commercial aircraft assembly lines anchored by advanced layup processes — automated fiber placement (AFP) and automated tape laying (ATL) — have been constrained by the necessity of careful visual inspection and verification after each ply placement. Often, rework also must be done, by trained specialists, to meet quality assurance requirements. For a fuselage barrel or other large composite part that requires hundreds of plies, the impact of inspection and rework is significant.