Automated fiber placement (AFP), also known as advanced fiber placement, is an advanced method of manufacturing composite materials.
Description
Automated fiber placement (AFP) machines are a recent development of composite manufacturing technologies meant to increase rate and precision in the production of advanced composite parts. AFP machines place fiber reinforcements on moulds or mandrels in an automatic fashion and use a number of separate small width tows (typically 8mm or less) of thermoset or thermoplastic pre-impregnated materials to form composite layups. This technology allows better precision and increased deposition rates when compared with experienced laminators but, while allowing for more complex layup geometries than Automated Tape Laying (ATL) it does not reach the same deposition rates. Automated fiber placement can be used to manufacture complex structures that are not possible to manufacture with any other methods. Providers of AFP machines: