An industry 4.0 approach to large scale production of satellite constellations. The case study of composite sandwich panel manufacturing

Eugeni, Marco; Quercia, T.; Bernabei, Margherita; Boschetto, Alberto; Costantino, Francesco; Lampani, Luca; Spaccamela, A. Marchetti; Lombardo, Antonietta; Mecella, Massimo; Querzoni, Leonardo; Usinger, R.; Aliprandi, M.; Stancu, Alina Mădălina; Ivagnes, M.M.; Morabito, G.; Simoni, Andrea; Brandão, Ana D.; Gaudenzi, Paolo

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.12.039

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…With the development of the global market, composite materials have significantly penetrated the manufacturing strategies of many industries, such as automotive, rail transport, the space industry, aircraft construction, etc., with one of the main goals being the reduction of the overall weight and improvement of various characteristics of the products, which directly affect the life cycle of the final product [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Case Study of Simulating Various Number of Gate Positions and Their Impact Through T-RTM Technology

Bankov

2024

ETR

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The study presented aims to investigate the influence from different gate positioning on the final product in T-RTM technology. The research is done using the specialized Moldex3D software. The studies conducted found that the symmetrical arrangement of injection ports and the approach to progressive injection with reduced pressure on the secondary gates result in significantly better deformation outcomes, with values close to 95% better compared to the deformation results in the approach with simultaneously open ports.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Case Study of Simulating Various Number of Gate Positions and Their Impact Through T-RTM Technology

Bankov

2024

ETR

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“…RUAG Space performed a study into how more modern Industry 4.0 methodologies could be applied to their sandwich panel manufacturing process and determined that the stages after panel bonding, panel machining and insert installation are critical in terms of using sensor data to monitor the production of the panel. 7 Work by Carlos Campos 8 investigated the automation of the insert potting process and the procedure proposed reduced the injection time by a factor of 3.5 compared to the current baseline. As a result, companies such as GEBE2 and Viscotec 9,10 are commercialising such automation techniques.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and structural testing of 3D printed honeycomb cores with optimised integrated blended inserts

Dumitrescu,

Walker,

Romei

et al. 2023

Jnl of Sandwich Structures & Materials

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The integration of inserts into sandwich panel constructions is a complex multi-step process with significant human intervention that also limits the geometrical freedom of the insert design. In a standard sandwich construction, the panel core is made up of multiple materials across its main components: insert, potting and core. This multi-material assembly is not only difficult to manufacture, but it also promotes stress jumps at the insert-core interface, leading to a sub-optimal load distribution from the bolt to the panel core. Additive manufacturing (AM) can lead to a single-part core and insert assembly with more optimised insert geometries that can better transmit the loads applied to the panel. Previous work by the authors has explored the manufacturing limits and the failure modes of AM inserts integrated in cores printed out of sintered AlSi10Mg. The conclusions were that the core walls and insert elements should have a minimum design thickness of 0.5 mm to survive the tapping process without facesheets attached and it was found that the main failure mode of the geometries tested in pull-out was buckling of the insert walls. Based on these results, the paper proposes a novel insert design philosophy that can delay the buckling of 3D printed inserts and move the failure point of the insert away from the bolt. A set of inserts that follow this design direction is manufactured and tested under normal pull-out loads and the optimised designs outperform standard printed insert geometries by a factor of three. The design philosophy can be further developed to offer a suitable alternative to the current insert standard.

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“…The application of sandwich-structured composites has significantly increased due to their suitability in developing lightweight structures with high mechanical performance and they have become the first choice in various applications, especially in the structural field [ 3 , 4 ]. Sandwich-structured composites have begun to be widely used in vast areas, ranging from satellites [ 5 ] and aircraft wings [ 6 ], as well as marine [ 7 ], transportation [ 8 ], sport [ 9 ], and drone or military applications [ 1 ]. Using sandwich-structured composites in transportation applications results in a lighter vehicle with better fuel efficiency and payload capacity [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Performance Cladophora-Algae-Based Paper for Honeycomb Core in Sandwich-Structured Composite: Preparation and Characterizations

et al. 2023

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Cellulose is classified as one of the most abundant biopolymers in nature. Its excellent properties have gained a lot of interest as an alternative material for synthetic polymers. Nowadays, cellulose can be processed into numerous derivative products, such as microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). MCC and NCC have demonstrated outstanding mechanical properties owing to their high degree of crystallinity. One of the promising applications of MCC and NCC is high-performance paper. It can be utilized as a substitute for the aramid paper that has been commercially used as a honeycomb core material for sandwich-structured composites. In this study, MCC and NCC were prepared by extracting cellulose from the Cladophora algae resource. MCC and NCC possessed different characteristics because of their distinct morphologies. Furthermore, MCC and NCC were formed into a paper at various grammages and then impregnated with epoxy resin. The effect of paper grammage and epoxy resin impregnation on the mechanical properties of both materials was studied. Then, MCC and NCC paper was prepared as a raw material for honeycomb core applications. The results showed that epoxy-impregnated MCC paper outperformed epoxy-impregnated NCC paper with a compression strength of 0.72 MPa. The interesting result from this study is that the compression strength of the MCC-based honeycomb core was comparable to the commercial ones despite being made of a natural resource, which is sustainable and renewable. Therefore, cellulose-based paper is promising to be used for honeycomb core applications in sandwich-structured composites.

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An industry 4.0 approach to large scale production of satellite constellations. The case study of composite sandwich panel manufacturing

Cited by 17 publications

References 33 publications

A Case Study of Simulating Various Number of Gate Positions and Their Impact Through T-RTM Technology

A Case Study of Simulating Various Number of Gate Positions and Their Impact Through T-RTM Technology

Design and structural testing of 3D printed honeycomb cores with optimised integrated blended inserts

High-Performance Cladophora-Algae-Based Paper for Honeycomb Core in Sandwich-Structured Composite: Preparation and Characterizations

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