| 摘要 |
A compaction device 20 for use with an automated fiber placement (AFP) machine includes multiple compaction rollers 40 mounted for independent displacement on a supporting frame 36. The attitude of the compaction rollers change relative to each other when fiber tows 34 are laid up at an angle over an edge 32 of a tool 28 in order to maintain compaction pressure on the tows and thereby reduce non-compacted areas of the tows. Preferably, the compaction rollers extend substantially parallel to each other and each may be spring biased toward the tool surfaces. The number of compaction rollers may be equal to the number of fiber tows in each bandwidth and the distance between centres of adjacent rollers may be substantially equal to a width of each of the tows. A method of compacting fiber tows comprises moving an AFP head over the tool surface, compacting the fiber tows against the tool surfaces with a plurality of compaction rollers, concluding independently adjusting a spatial orientation of the compaction rollers as the head traverses the edge. |
