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Abstract

The present application is concerned with methods of determining optimised fibre paths for complex composite components manufactured from multiple layers of composite material, particularly such components manufactured using an automated fibre placement (AFP) process. One aspect provides a method of determining an optimised fibre path for a geometrical feature of a composite component comprising a plurality of layers of composite material, each layer of composite material comprising a plurality of unidirectional fibres embedded in a matrix. The method includes manufacturing a test piece by: laying up a plurality of composite plies to form a planar charge, each composite ply comprising a plurality of unidirectional fibres embedded within a matrix; and shaping the planar charge by forming it over a mandrel using a hot drape forming process, the shaped charge having a shape corresponding to the geometrical feature of the composite component. Then, at each of one or more datum points, measuring a direction of the unidirectional fibres of one of the plurality of composite plies of the manufactured test piece with respect to a local coordinate system of said datum point. An optimised fibre path for the geometrical feature is determined based on the one or more measured fibre directions of said one of the plurality of composite plies.

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