Cevotec Examines AFP, FPP Fit for Complex Aerostructure Geometries

Material placement alternative for full coverage by FPP (right) in relation to a “close to geodesic” AFP placement (left). Source | Cevotec

For decades, automated fiber placement (AFP) has been the benchmark for automated composite layup in aerospace manufacturing, reports Cevotec (Unterhaching, Germany), the developer of fiber patch placement (FPP) technology. But, says the company, not every composite part is well suited to AFP.

“As geometries become more three-dimensional, radii tighten or multiple materials must be combined within a single layup, the strengths of AFP can become its limitations,” explains Thorsten Groene, CEO and co-founder of Cevotec in a LinkedIn post. He points to a familiar industry pattern as a result: automation projects stall, manual layup persists and production scalability remains a workforce bottleneck.

In a recent article, Cevotec raises the question of whether AFP is being asked to solve problems outside its original design intent. The company proposes an alternative it calls robotic lamination, enabled by FPP, in which robots place, drape and conform composite plies — maintaining required fiber orientation across complex 3D geometries — rather than requiring the part to adapt to the process.

The article lays out where AFP remains the more suitable automation method and where robotic lamination may open up automation opportunities previously considered impractical. Topics covered include:

Why tight radii, double-curved surfaces and multi-material sandwich layups — combining prepreg skins, core materials such as Nomex honeycomb or PMI foam, and adhesive film interlayers — push AFP toward its operating limits.
How FPP’s patch-based placement approach is designed to produce more uniform laminate thickness and localized fiber-orientation control on complex geometries compared with continuous tape placement.
Results from a horizontal tail plane (HTP) fairing demonstrator built under the ACoSaLUS project, which Cevotec reports showed a 25% reduction in deflection under line load compared with a serial reference part, alongside roughly a 5% increase in composite skin mass
Cevotec’s continued development of robotic lamination, including placement trials on steep-edge, sandwich-core taper geometries with taper angles of 30° and 45°

For the full technical breakdown, including figures illustrating AFP gap-coverage strategies versus FPP patch placement, read Cevotec’s original article.

Read more Cevotec coverage on CompositesWorld.