In a Q&A session, Composites in Manufacturing hears the views of automated tape layup/automated fibre placement (ATL/AFP) machine tool specialist, Electroimpact’s composites lead engineer, Alastair Gray.
Very large, high quality, high performance composite parts require automation. Electroimpact is a highly-experienced provider of factory automation and aerospace tooling solutions. The company designs and manufactures automation solutions, including automated fibre placement technology, drilling machines, automated fastening systems, robotic systems, among others.
Q) Firstly, what’s the latest news on Electroimpact’s installation in the National Composites Centre (NCC)?
Electroimpact’s Robotic ATL/AFP hybrid cell was delivered to the NCC last year. The cell offers a combination of ATL, AFP and Ultrasonic Cutting modular process heads accompanied with a 15m X-axis, horizontal and vertical rotary positioners as well as a flat fixed 2D layup area. The NCC are very happy with the equipment and it gives the centre, alongside its stakeholders and customers, the opportunity to layup a wide range of shapes and geometries using the same Electroimpact composite deposition technology and motion platforms used in manufacturing facilities across the globe. The installation and commissioning of the equipment in Bristol coincided with the onset of Covid-19 and as such was our first equipment delivered under new social and working distancing rules.
Q) How do your ATL/AFP machines help improve your customers’ productivity and reduce material waste?
Electroimpact AFP process has been found to be the most reliable process on the market. Reduced tow errors during layup leads to less rework and scrapping of parts, yield a more cost effective manufacture of the product. This coupled with our industry leading in-process inspection capabilities drives an unrivalled production efficiency for our customer, both in terms of production time and material scrappage costs.
Q) What does a ‘hybrid’ solution offer the customer above and beyond traditional a specific ATL or AFP setup?
Combination AFP/ATL parts are possible to increase general efficiency. Large sections in ATL and more detail sections in AFP. Gap/Lap conditions on ATL are easier for inspection due to reduced number of instances. It allows one process to be performed while another is inspected or a head is replenished. The interchangeable modular heads mean other processes such as ultrasonic cutting, 3D printing of tools or different material width AFP can be added.
Q) And will hybrid machines be the way forward for companies looking to do more than one basic function?
For sure, our customers take advantage of this interchangeability for a number of different processes within the same cell. Modularity is not a new concept, it is in fact something Electroimpact pioneered over a decade ago, so in a sense, our customers have been using hybrid solutions for many years.
Q) Typically, how long does it take to install, commission, debug and test your machine in the customer’s facility and is lead-time an issue?
This is greatly dependent on the solution required and the complexity of the safety systems. Integration of new technology can add additional time requirements. At the NCC, three months onsite time was scheduled prior to Covid-19 issues beginning. Typically, for a robotic AFP cell we would have a 14-month lead-time from purchase order to producing parts. This would move to around 20 months for a gantry machine AFP cell.
Q) What kind of relationship do you have with the material suppliers when looking to provide proven structural solutions after curing?
We have a strong relationship with material suppliers. Over the last few years we have seen more and more engagement with the material suppliers in the form of requests for material lay down development work using our equipment. Electroimpact has developed a range of design and process features to ensure that our heads can layup a range of materials with differing resin viscosities and this is reflected in our ever-increasing material database. We are seeing significant steps towards the use of thermoplastic AFP in the industry and are delighted with the results of our thermoplastic development in recent years.
Q) What are your thoughts on Industry 4.0 and the factory of the future concept?
We are delivering Factory of the Future concepts at the moment and see that Industry 4.0 has a significant role to play in this. The big challenge is to harness the full potential of these methods above and beyond the use of the phrase in advertising and paying lip service in specifications.
Q) Please provide the latest company equipment news?
Aside from our continual AFP evolution, we have seen lots of traction for our Scalable Composite Robotic Additive Manufacturing (SCRAM). Electroimpact has integrated an in-situ, out-of-autoclave thermoplastic AFP process and an advanced FFF 3D printing process into a unified SCRAM system. SCRAM is an industrial true 6-axis continuous fibre-reinforced 3D printer, which enables the tool-less rapid fabrication of aerospace-grade integrated composite structures. High-performance thermoplastics combined with a high percentage of continuous fibre reinforcement are used to produce parts with exceptional material properties previously unheard of in the world of additive manufacturing. This technology has no equal in the industry and is a unique offering available only from Electroimpact.
Q) What have you been doing to get through the pandemic crisis, i.e. getting advice on furloughing employees, grants, funding, etc.?
During the pandemic, Electroimpact was able to furlough a number of staff working on projects delayed by the pandemic, however the bulk of our operation and projects continued to operate. Owning our own buildings and equipment has given the opportunity to reconfigure areas and changes were made to the building layouts to support social distancing. Risk assessment and method statements were generated to cover the additional risks from Covid-19 in our own buildings and working onsite at our customer facilities.
Q) What particular aspect has helped your company get through the pandemic?
Historically, Electroimpact has been known as the company that gets the job done on time and within the customer’s original price. This core principle means that our staff are naturally agile and have a tendency to tackle whatever the challenge to deliver the project meeting the customers deadline - no matter what the challenge may be. The pandemic has been a hurdle to jump, but the ability to understand each hurdle - whether it be technical, operational, or a global pandemic - allows Electroimpact to forge forward in each instance.
Q) What are your thoughts about the fact that there won’t be any tradeshows for the foreseeable future?
In light of JEC World being cancelled, we had to find a way to reach our customers and this came in the form of livestream AFP demos: https://afpmastered.com/. The idea was to produce a livestream event that reflected real-life demonstrations of equipment rather than a highly-polished promotional video. Each livestream featured a live demonstration and detailed explanation of our latest technologies including Variable Spot Size Laser (VSSL) and Real Time In Process Inspection (RipitX).
Q) What kind of industry landscape will we faced with when everything gets back to normal?
‘Returning to normal’ is a popular term at the moment. Rather than returning to where we were as an industry and society pre-Covid, there is a responsibility on all of us to take the growth and lessons learned through this period into a hopefully more steady and stable future in the shorter term, and taking solace in the fact that normality is always fleeting.
