Miscellaneous general and special-purpose machinery

Tender description

The National Composites Centre (NCC) is developing an Automated Preforming Cell to improve production time and quality of composite forming. To achieve this a verification system will be integrated into the cell to detect and analyse the quality of composite plies and preforms. This will input into decisions made by the NCC and our customers (aerospace, automotive and within other industries) to improve composite manufacturing processes. The National Composites Centre (NCC) is developing an Automated Preforming Cell to improve production time and quality of composite forming. To achieve this a verification system will be integrated into the cell to detect and analyse the quality of composite plies and preforms. This will input into decisions made by the NCC and our customers (aerospace, automotive and within other industries) to improve composite manufacturing processes. During preforming there are many opportunities for defects to be introduced into the preform. These defects, such as fibre misalignment, wrinkles, and gaps, can cause a reduction in strength that may lead to failure later in assembly or in service. Such a failure could also potentially lead to a negative supplier reputation and in extreme cases could cause risk to the user. If these defects are not detected until the end of the manufacture process, the part may need to be scrapped costing additional time and money. Typically preforms have minimal or no inspection prior to cure. The aim of this integrated in-process automated verification system is to detect these defects as early on in the manufacture of components as possible to reduce rejected components further along the manufacturing process.