Methods for developing path plans for rollout compaction of composite plies during composite manufacturing

A method for developing a path plan for rollout compaction of a composite ply during composite manufacturing, comprising:

• selecting a working path plan data file from a working path plan repository;
• running a compaction application program using the working path plan data file for automated manipulation of a compaction roller to compact a ceramic matrix composite ply on a layup tool or on a prior placed ply on the layup tool;
• capturing image data of the ceramic matrix composite ply after compaction on the layup tool or on the prior placed ply using a surface imaging device;
• at least temporarily storing the image data for the ceramic matrix composite ply after the compaction in a ply image data file;
• and
• processing the ply image data file to determine if one or more irregularity is present in the ceramic matrix composite ply on the layup tool or on the prior placed ply after the compaction, wherein where at least one irregularity is present, the processing of the ply image data file comprising:
• selecting a portion of the image data in the ply image data file to inspect compaction of the ceramic matrix composite ply in the selected portion;
• comparing the selected portion of the image data in the ply image data file to adjacent image data for adjacent portions of the image data;
• and
• determining if the at least one irregularity is present in the selected portion of the image data based at least in part on the comparing;
• the method further comprising running a path adaptation application program to access a compaction history data file in a compaction history repository relating to the working path plan data file and to identify at least one inconsistency in the compaction history data file that is not resolved in the working path plan data file;
• and
• generating at least one path adaptation for the working path plan data file based on the at least one inconsistency that is not resolved to form an adapted path plan data file defining an adapted path plan that includes the at least one path adaptation.

A method for developing a path plan for rollout compaction of a composite ply during composite manufacturing, comprising:

• selecting a nominal path plan data file from a nominal path plan repository;
• running a compaction application program using the nominal path plan data file for automated manipulation of a compaction roller to compact a ceramic matrix composite ply on a layup tool or on a prior placed ply on the layup tool;
• capturing image data of the ceramic matrix composite ply after compaction on the layup tool or on the prior placed ply using a surface imaging device;
• at least temporarily storing the image data for the ceramic matrix composite ply after the compaction in a ply image data file;
• and
• processing the ply image data file to identify one or more inconsistency in the ceramic matrix composite ply on the layup tool or on the prior placed ply after the compaction and to form a compaction history data file with the image data of the ply image data file and additional data regarding the one or more inconsistency, the processing of the ply image data file comprising:
• selecting a portion of the image data in the ply image data file to inspect compaction of the ceramic matrix composite ply in the selected portion;
• comparing the selected portion of the image data in the ply image data file to adjacent image data for adjacent portions of the image data;
• and
• determining if one or more irregularity is present in the selected portion of the image data based at least in part on the comparing,
• wherein the selecting of the nominal path plan data file is based at least in part on identification of the ceramic matrix composite ply based at least in part on selection of a desired composition of the ceramic matrix composite ply from a plurality of ceramic matrix composite plies having a corresponding plurality of available compositions.