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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Falcon (Fully automated, controlled and versatile system for low cost, high rate and energy efficient production of highly loaded aeronautical structural parts)

Teaser

Summary

The FALCON system includes two interrelated components (press-forming tooling and curing tooling) which were conceived to be supported through laser tracker technologies and robotic positioning/placement equipment.

FALCON\'s relevance for society is based on:
â€¢ Using this product will facilitate to assemble the different parts of the product in position and deliver a 100% assembled product to the client. The quality of the obtained product will satisfy the client. Set up process is more flexible, adaptable.
â€¢ The satisfaction of the final client is expected to help increase the number of projects. A reduction of the production time during the press forming process is expected.
â€¢ The assembly process will be faster, so less process time will be required, permitting the user to increase the benefit. Tools will be less costly, less investment in toolings are requiered
â€¢ High skill jobs will be created to use the system, as the same time old operatorâ€™s know-how will be valorized to use the novel flexible adaptable tools. New projects and more jobs will be created increasing the market size.
â€¢ The continuous use of the metrology systems will improve quality.
â€¢ Quality, traceability, safety and working conditions improvement will permit to gain position in the market, and the time reduction will permit to decrease cost, to be more competitive for potential new projects.

Work performed

The press-forming tooling was conceived as a two-piece main structure where, in its lower area, a fixed-plate system is mounted. Said plate is placed in a fixed and static position, while a moving plate followed the vertical direction to perform the pressing task. The RTM was also conceived as a two-piece structure, with a removable upper part plus a fixed second part equipped with several inserts to allocate the longitudinal ribs that reinforce the frame structure. They were designed to have the minimum thermal inertia possible to accelerate the moulding cycles, reducing the heating and cooling times. The press was manufactured by September 2019, and it was composed by (1) a press able to reach press forces of 150 Tons and (2) a tooling with 6 mobile mandrels which are able to bend and iron the fabric during the conforming process. In addition to this, (3) all the electric and electronic controllers were built.The curing tooling was manufactured by September 2019, and it can now be used for curing the preformed part resulted from the (previous) press forming process. It is essentially composed by two moulds (upper and lower) plus a number of mandrels. The heat is conducted by the materials, but generated from the press.

Four key exploitable results have been identified:
One-shot curing concept for a CFRP machine for automotive products
Personalized light-weight low-cost press hot forming tools equipped with thermal control for CFRP products
Servo-forming concept for a flexible press-forming machine able to fold large format U-T- and Z-shaped hi-tape sheets
Consultancy services (design, manufacture and assembly guidelines)

Final results

The potential impact of FALCON is linked with its key technological results and the way they combine a number of different innovations with press-forming and curing.

RTM makes possible to meet the large dimensional tolerances required by the piece at stake in FALCON, especially in thickness, as it involves a complicated adjustment and clamping between aluminium cores and steel lid and base. In our case, HiTape will be used. This combination being relatively new. The piece has a frame thickness of 7mm and a rib thickness of 3.5mm, which means that the accumulation of all thicknesses when making the RTM can involve thicknesses of up to 30mm. This is of importance since it opens new possibilities to various industries and part sizes, not exclusively aeronautics or the parts derived from the FALCON curing tooling.
For dimensioning the support structure and the mould, so they withstand without deforming the maximum 8bar pressure, it is necessary to add the 180 ÂºC curing of the HiTape and the possible exothermic peak. FALCONâ€™s added innovations regarding temperature control are of vital importance in ensuring faster manufacturing speeds while high quality is maintained.
As indicated, one main advantage associated to the FALCON tooling system is related to the time cycle required for the complete production of a final part. In FALCON, the production processes are monitored and controlled in real time as part of a closed-loop, avoiding errors in the dimensional and thermal aspects of the production. Together with the one-shot approach everything adds to the energy savings.

As suggested earlier, FALCON focus is not exclusively centered in press-forming and curing techniques, but in the way other innovations â€“ software, control, monitoring, modularity, ALM technologies â€“ can be added to the former and take classic manufacturing to the next level. In this regard, the servo-forming concept that the FALCON press-forming machine uses is relevant since it makes use of control data to actually correct the actuation of the press. In terms of robustness and repeatability FALCON shows clear advantages to other non-automated systems.
FALCON modularity and versatility permits an easy and cost effective adaptation to materials with new functionalities. FALCON will still be a reliable solution in the future.
The innovations provided by the FALCON tooling system allow for accurate and semi-automated manufacturing of medium sized parts of various thicknesses. As simple as it seems, this alone opens a fundamental path for exploitation in different industries.