REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

www.mod.gov.rs

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Material Resources Sector

Defensive Technologies Department

Military Technical Institute

www.vti.mod.gov.rs

VOLUMETRIC CALIBRATION FOR IMPROVING ACCURACY OF AFP/ATL MACHINES

SAMOIL SAMAK

Institute for Advanced Composites and Robotics, Prilep, ssamak@iacr.edu.mk

IGOR DIMOVSKI

Institute for Advanced Composites and Robotics, Prilep, igord@iacr.edu.mk

VLADIMIR DUKOVSKI

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, vladimir.dukovski@mf.edu.mk

MIRJANA TROMPESKA

Institute for Advanced Composites and Robotics, Prilep, mirjanat@iacr.edu.mk

Abstract: Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) and Automated Tape Laying (ATL) technologies are mostly used in aerospace industry. Deviations from predefined position and orientation of the AFP/ATL machine’s end-effector may cause defects of the final product like gaps and laps of the laminate ply, tow end placement errors, pressure and temperature variations, etc.  That makes clear the importance of accuracy of AFP/ATL machines. Calibration is needed to enhance accuracy.

Development and implementation of a comprehensive procedure for volumetric calibration of three linear axes is described in this paper. According to ISO 230-1:2012 and ISO 230-2:2014 standards, 18 position dependent and 3 position independent (in total 21) errors of the 3 linear axes are considered.  Measurements are performed using laser interferometer on ATL machine produced by company Mikrosam. Obtained data are used for calibration of that machine and validity of the results is verified by comparison with the calibration results obtained by TRAC-CAL software developed by ETALON AG.

Keywords: AFP/ATL, volumetric calibration, accuracy, geometric errors.