Finite Element Simulation of In-situ Consolidation of Fibre Placed Thermoplastic Laminate for Prediction of Residual Stresses and Laminate Quality

Abstract

In-situ consolidation of thermoplastics using automated fiber placement leads to non-uniform material quality throughout the laminate thickness due to cyclic heating and uncontrolled cooling of the layers placed progressively. A coupled thermal-mechanical 3D finite element dynamic simulation of the process used to characterize the response of the material with varying laminate stacking sequence under varied process parameters is described in the current work. A coupon is modeled with varied process velocities to extract realistic results for thermal distribution and residual stresses. A clear interaction between cooling rate of material between successive layer placement and residual stress development is observed.