Process Model Calibration for Laser-Assisted Thermoplastic Automated Fibre Placement by Process Data

In the thermoplastic laser-assisted automated fibre placement process in-situ consolidation is governed by the temperature in the heating zone. To predict the process temperature input parameters such as the heat capacity, the heat conductivity, and the absorption coefficient, are required, which are not available for an unknown tape material. Their characterization is cost and time intensive. This work presents an approach to calibrate a model for temperature prediction of the incoming tape by data acquired during layup trials. The calibration by regression results in a temperature prediction with deviations of less than 3 °C between measured data and the model.