Disclosed herein is a system that comprises a deposition head configured to deposit multiple tows in a stacked configuration one layer at a time. Each tow of the multiple tows is a currently-applied tow when the tow is a most-recently deposited tow of the multiple tows and a tow of the multiple tows is a covered tow when the tow is directly covered by the currently-applied tow. The system also comprises a probe head, configured to move along and be spatially offset from the currently-applied tow after deposition of the currently-applied tow. The probe head is further configured to transmit an incident microwave beam into the currently-applied tow as the probe head moves along the currently-applied tow. The incident microwave beam has a frequency low enough to pass entirely through the currently-applied tow and high enough to pass entirely through no more than the currently-applied tow and the covered tow.

A composite filament for use in additive manufacturing such as fused filament fabrication is described along with methods of its construction and use. The composite filament includes a single continuous filament (e.g., a continuous carbon roving) and a polymer (e.g., a high glass transition polymer) in intimate contact. The composite filament is formed through immersion of the continuous filament in a solution of the polymer. The composite filament can be combined with an additional formation material in an additive manufacturing process.

A system is disclosed for use in additively manufacturing a composite structure. The system may include a head configured to discharge a continuous reinforcement at least partially coated with a matrix. The head may have a matrix reservoir, and a nozzle connected to an end of the matrix reservoir. The system may further include a support configured to move the head during discharging, and a supply of matrix. The system may also include at least one sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of a matrix characteristic inside of the head, and a controller configured to selectively affect the supply of matrix based on the signal.

A sheet metal member forming method comprises placing a fiber bundle of a predetermined length, via a thermosetting resin, in a predetermined position on a surface of a sheet metal member, forming a coating film on at least a part of the sheet metal member after the placing of the fiber bundle, and while heating and drying the coating film, heat-curing the thermosetting resin to bond the fiber bundle to the sheet metal member.

A method of detecting defects in a composite structure includes applying heat to a surface of a composite structure. Thermographic images or frames captured by a moving camera may be utilized to corm temporally aligned images that include temperature data (pixels) from a plurality of frames, wherein the pixels comprise data captured at a simple (uniform) time delay from the time at which heat was applied. The temporally aligned thermographic data for the surface region may include variations due to differences in thermal transients caused by defects in the composite structure. The variations in the thermographic data may be utilized to detect one or more defects in the composite structure.

A composite fusion filament is disclosed that includes a polymer encasement and one or more mesogenic reinforcement bodies contained within the polymer encasement. The polymer encasement is comprised of a thermoplastic polymer, which has a melting temperature, and each of the one or more mesogenic reinforcement bodies is comprised of a thermotropic liquid crystal polymer, which has a clearing temperature. The melting temperature of the thermoplastic polymer included in the polymer encasement is less than the clearing temperature of the thermotropic liquid crystal polymer included in the one or more mesogenic reinforcement bodies. Additionally, the thermotropic liquid crystal polymer of each mesogenic reinforcement body has a plurality of organized crystalline fibrils that are aligned lengthwise along a longitudinal axis of the polymer encasement. A method of using the composite fusion filament to form a bond with a substrate that includes a thermoplastic polymer is also disclosed.

A fiber placement device includes an accumulation portion that stores and discharges a reinforcing fiber bundle including: a movable roller guided by a guide mechanism able to be moved in a constant movable range; a cylinder; a piston arranged within the cylinder; a coupling member coupling the movable roller and the piston; and an adjustment portion adjusting a force applied to the piston within the cylinder by discharging fluid from a space with the cylinder sealed on a side opposite the coupling member with respect to the piston within the cylinder or supplying the fluid into the space, the fluid is discharged from the space within the cylinder to apply a force to the piston to move the piston, a force is also applied to the movable roller through the coupling member to move the movable roller and thus a tension is applied to the reinforcing fiber bundle.

Systems, methods, and devices are provided for the creation of predictable and accurate defects in a fiber tow of an Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) process, with such artificial defects being useful to support calibration of an in situ inspection system used in the AFP process. Various embodiments include methods for creating such artificial defects that support calibration of an in situ inspection system of an AFP system or process. Various embodiments may also include a defect stencils for an AFP system or process.

Systems and methods are provided for fabricating composite parts. The method includes subdividing a laminate into zones, laying up tows of fiber reinforced material for the laminate over a layup mandrel via multiple laminations such that each lamination head applies tows in a different zone, and splicing the zones together to form the laminate during the laying up of the tows while moving the layup mandrel in a process direction during fabrication of the composite parts.

Systems and methods are provided for indexing a layup mandrel. One embodiment is a method for indexing a layup mandrel for a composite part. The method includes identifying a surface of a layup mandrel that travels in a process direction during fabrication of a composite part, placing a lamination head in contact with the surface, traversing the surface of the layup mandrel with the lamination head, acquiring a stream of 3D coordinates of the lamination head as the lamination head traverses the surface, characterizing the layup mandrel based on the stream of 3D coordinates, altering a Numerical Control (NC) program that directs layup of fiber reinforced material at the layup mandrel, based on a difference between the alignment of the layup mandrel and a nominal alignment of the layup mandrel.