Fabric steering technology for variable stiffness panels: Manufacture and mechanical testing

A novel low-cost manufacturing process is introduced, referred to as ‘Fabric Steering’. By manipulating biaxial fabrics, curvilinear fibre paths can be created manufacture variable stiffness panels, similar those produced using Automated Fibre Placement [1]. With low equipment costs and the capability steer multiple-layers of fabrics simultaneously, this technique potentially offers faster production rates lower compared Placement. computer aided engineering tool, SteerFab [2,3], used guide design by predicting: (a) optimum 2D paths, (b) subsequent mechanical behaviour resulting panel (including improvements in buckling resistance strength) (c) step-by-step instructions. Compared conventional quasi-isotropic straight-fibre laminates, experimental tests show slightly heavier (by 4.6%) steered-fibre laminates achieve ~9% ~17% load failure load, findings that fit well with numerical predictions.