Robot-assisted conformal additive manufacturing for continuous fibre-reinforced grid-stiffened shell structures

The advents in continuous fibre-reinforced polymer additive manufacturing (CFRP-AM) present unprecedented opportunities for the rapid development of next-generation high-performance composites with selectively and spatially distributed reinforcement. However, widely adopted 3-degree-of-freedom motion configuration current CFRP-AM systems hinders exploration composite structures non-planar fibre layouts. This work presents a novel conformal system to fabricate grid-stiffened shell leveraging its multi-DoF pattern spatial features. integrates 6-axis robot an optimally designed co-extrusion module operates through design-to-manufacturing workflow. proposed workflow includes three steps: calibration, toolpath generation, process implementation. generation is surface-mapping-based method that allows simultaneous various geometric designs their toolpaths. Experimental comparisons were made between parts fabricated by different processes, i.e., planar based, toolpaths, shells filled zigzag arc-offset patterns, designs, stiffener ribs crossline angles. results manifest can significantly improve compression strength stiffness structures. Meanwhile, additional design freedom on structure opens up new possibility customise mechanical performance.