Method for manufacturing a composite body and a composite body manufacturing arrangement

A method of forming a composite body using a mould and an automated fiber placement machine comprising a single fiber placement head fed fiber tows from a plurality of different reels, the method comprising:

• moving the single fiber placement head past the mould;
• depositing on the mould with the single fiber placement head a first sub-set of fiber tows fed from different reels and consisting of at least one first fiber tow;
• depositing on the mould with the single fiber placement head a second sub-set of fiber tows fed from different reels and consisting of at least one second fiber tow;
• and
• combining the first sub-set of fiber tows and the second sub-set of fiber tows on the mould into a single ply in which first fiber tows and second fiber tows are deposited side by side in abutting relation in a direction perpendicular to the movement of the fiber placement head and perpendicular to the direction of a normal of a surface of the mould,
• wherein each first fiber tow includes different fiber materials than fiber materials in each second fiber tow,
• wherein the composite body is a shell, a half shell, a spar cap or a spar web of a wind turbine blade, and
• wherein the different fiber materials of the first fiber tows and the second fiber tows are not combined in abutting relation until the single fiber placement head deposits the second fiber tows on the mould.