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Through-thickness compression response of uncured prepreg during manufacture by automated layup

Paper laid foundations for detailed study of quality-critical material-consolidation step in automated fibre-placement process for advanced-composites manufacture. Previous models assumed complex visco-elastic material behaviour making modelling of material response at point of deposition computationally very costly. Through experiment and numerical analysis, work demonstrates that simpler formulation can be used that still captures material response with sufficient fidelity to provide predictive capacity but at significantly reduced computational cost. Paper won 2012 Joseph Whitworth Prize by IMechE's Manufacturing Industries Division. Paper led to significant further research activity within core research programme of National Composites Centre [contact: Technology Programme Manager].