• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.212-218
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• 2015

A large composite spar was manufactured using an automatic fiber placement (AFP) machine. To verify its structural performance, the weakest part of the structure, which is called 'corner radius', was tested under bending and examined by finite element analysis. Since the application of AFP machine to composite structure fabrication is still in early stage in Korea, this paper presents the summary of whole process for manufacturing composite spar using AFP machine from mandrel design and analysis to verification test. The deflection and stress by mandrel weight and AFP machine force, thermal deformation and natural frequency were all examined for mandrel design. The target structure was composite C-spar and cured in an autoclave. Test results were compared with nonlinear finite element analysis results to show that the structure has the strength close to the theoretical value. It was confirmed that the corner radius of the spar manufactured by AFP process showed deviation less than 20% compared with first ply failure strength. The results indicate that the AFP technology could be used for large scale composite structure production in the near future.