Innovative forming of composite laminates

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There is currently a large increase in the use of fibre reinforced polymer composite materials in the aerospace industry because of the promise of lighter, more fuel-efficient and more cost effective airplanes, e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350 XWB, Bombardier C-series and Learjet 85. One of the major thrusts in industry today is to increase the speed of manufacture through automation. Of great interest is the ability to rapidly lay up flat composite laminates, made of thin layers of carbon fibre reinforced polymers, with an automated tape lay-up machine and form the whole laminate into the desired shape, similar to sheet metal forming. However, there is currently limited ability and understanding of how to form high performance multi-axial composite laminates with unidirectional reinforcement into complex shapes.