LASER PROJECTOR-ASSISTED COMPOSITE MANUFACTURING

Composite materials have gained popularity and favor in the aviation and aerospace industries. Their distinctive blend of properties transformed the design and material selection of aircraft and spacecraft, providing significant advantages in terms of weight reduction, fuel efficiency, structural integrity, and environmental sustainability. While multiple automated technologies for composite manufacturing, such as the AFP/ATL machine's robotic arms, are currently being used in the industry, manual layup is still the primary choice for complicated geometry and small-scale manufacturing. For manual layup assistance, physical templates and a laser projector can assist the laminator for ply placement. However, physical templates can be costly, complicated to manufacture, and inefficient. On the other hand, the implementation of laser projection can assist the laminator with ply placement seed point identification and eliminate the need for a physical template, making it a more sustainable option. This study is designed to determine whether the laser projector can assist the laminator in ensuring a constant overlap length, which might improve material structural performance and reduce manufacturing time.