The effects of fabrication factors on the maximum buckling strength of composite lattice cylinders using experimental–statistical method are investigated. Composite lattice cylinders are fabricated using a silicone rubber mandrel, an automatic filament winding machine and autoclave. Design of experiments has been done using the Taguchi method and the orthogonal array L9 is used. The effects of four fabrication factors including “fiber tension”, “winding speed”, “cure cycle”, and “type of fiber” (Aramid, Glass, Carbon) are considered, separately, on the two response variables including the “specific maximum carried load” (SMCL) and the “compressive efficiency” (CE) of the structure. The analysis of the test results is done by analysis of variance. The results indicate that the factors “type of fiber” and “fiber tension” have predominant effects on the SMCL response variable, respectively, and the effects of the two factors “winding speed” and “cure cycle” are not significant. Also, the factors “type of fiber”, “fiber tension”, and “winding speed” are more effective factors on the CE response variable, respectively, and the effect of the factor “cure cycle” is insignificant. In this research, the optimization of the fabrication factors is carried out for the response variable CE. For validation purpose, the result from the buckling test of the optimum fabricated sample is checked to be fallen within the estimated range predicted using the Taguchi method. After optimization of the fabrication factors, it is observed that the buckling strength of the composite lattice cylinder made of Glass/Epoxy is possible to be increased up to 144%. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:1850–1861, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers

Filament winding and fiber placement are low-cost, fast, and suitable processes for manufacturing composite grid structures. Resulted structures are high quality products. They have the advantage of carrying heavy structural loads as well as light structural weight. Composite Grid Structures (CGS) are manufactured with varying geometries such as circular (cylindrical and conic) and flat. They are applied in hightech industries including aerospace industry. In this paper, the manufacturing processes of these structures and their various aspects (including winding method, mandrel material and curing method) are reviewed and compared in detail.

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