Characterization of melted veil strand ratios in plies of fiber material
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorMartin Alexander Szarski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for characterizing a ply of fiber having a thermoplastic veil. One method includes acquiring an image of a fiber material comprising strands of fiber and further comprising a veil of filaments of thermoplastic, subdividing the image into slices, determining an amount of melted filaments depicted within each of the slices, and determining an amount of unmelted filaments depicted within each of the slices.
Claims20
A method for characterizing a ply of fiber having a thermoplastic veil, the method comprising:
- acquiring an image of a surface of the ply, the ply comprising unidirectional strands of fiber and further comprising a veil disposed atop the unidirectional strands of fiber, the veil comprising melted filaments of thermoplastic and unmelted filaments of thermoplastic that are depicted in the image;
- subdividing the image into slices that depict the melted filaments and the unmelted filaments;
- classifying regions that are linear within each of the slices into classifications selected from the group consisting of:
- melted filament, unmelted filament, and empty of filament;
- determining an amount of the melted filaments depicted within each of the slices based on the classifications;
- and
- determining an amount of the unmelted filaments depicted within each of the slices based on the classifications.
A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying programmed instructions which, when executed by a processor, are operable for performing a method for characterizing a ply of fiber having a thermoplastic veil, the method comprising:
- acquiring an image of a surface of a ply, the ply comprising unidirectional strands of fiber and further comprising a veil disposed atop the unidirectional strands of fiber, the veil comprising melted filaments of thermoplastic and unmelted filaments of thermoplastic that are depicted in the image;
- subdividing the image into slices that depict the melted filaments and the unmelted filaments;
- classifying regions within each of the slices into classifications selected from the group consisting of:
- melted filament, unmelted filament, and empty of filament;
- determining an amount of the melted filaments depicted within each of the slices based on the classifications;
- and
- determining an amount of the unmelted filaments depicted within each of the slices based on the classifications.
An apparatus for characterizing a ply of fiber having a thermoplastic veil, the apparatus comprising:
- an interface that receives an image of a surface of a ply, the ply comprising unidirectional strands of fiber and further comprising a veil disposed atop the unidirectional strands of fiber, the veil comprising melted filaments of thermoplastic and unmelted filaments of thermoplastic that are depicted in the image;
- and
- a controller that subdivides the image into slices, classifies regions that are linear within each of the slices into classifications selected from the group consisting of:
- melted filament, unmelted filament, and empty of filament, determines an amount of the melted filaments depicted within each of the slices based on the classifications, and determines an amount of the unmelted filaments depicted within each of the slices based on the classifications.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.