Author(s)

G. Dionoro, M.T. Pilloni & D. Romano

Abstract

The paper presents a managerial assessment of Robotic Filament Winding (RFW), a promising manufacturing technology in the composite materials industry. Parts are fabricated in automated cells where fibre filaments coated with a polymeric matrix are wound by the robot on a rotating mandrel. While former FW uses rigid automation or Cartesian robots to produce medium-tolarge size parts with simple axis-symmetric shape, the recent introduction of anthropomorphic robots has enabled the manufacture of small-to-medium size parts with complex shape. Nearly freeform deposition paths are generated by a suitable software program and realised by the anthropomorphic robot thanks to its additional motion degrees of freedom. The potential of the emerging technology, as compared with the conventional one, is

Keywords