Additively manufactured cure tools for composites manufacture

Abstract

This research presents a novel framework for the design of additively manufactured (AM) composite tooling for the manufacture of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic composites. Through the rigorous design and manufacture of 30 unique AM tools, the viability of a design for AM framework was evaluated through measuring the performance with respect to geometrical accuracy and thermal responsiveness, and simulating the tool specific stiffness. The AM components consisted of a thin layup facesheet, stiffened by a low density lattice geometry. These tools were successfully used to layup and cure small composite components. The tooling was highly thermally responsive, reaching above 93% of the applied oven heating rate and up to 17% faster heating rates compared to similar mass monolithic tools. The results indicate that thermal overshoot has a greater dependence on the lattice density while the heating rate was more sensitive to the facesheet thickness. Lattice densities of as little as 5% were manufactured and the best overall geometry was a graded gyroid lattice with thicker walls near the surface and thinner walls at the base, attached to a 0.7 mm thick facesheet. The outputs from this research can provide a new route to the design and manufacture of mould tools, which could have significant impacts in the composites sector with new, lighter, more energy efficient tooling.