AFAI
Advanced Fighter Aircraft Initiative
And Other
Advanced Composite Manufacturing Programs

AGFM/GFM’s Advanced Programs Group has sought out advanced technologies that, when employed in conjunction with, or integrated into, some of our world class advanced machine tool systems, will potentially enhance or improve the performance of our machine tool systems.
 
Introduction to AFAI (~13MB)

The focus of these efforts is to address the problems and requirements of advanced composites for the Advanced Fighter Aircraft manufacturing programs.
 
The resulting manufacturing systems and cells will enable manufacturers of components for Advanced Fighter Aircraft to manufacture superior quality components at substantially lower cost with less manpower and fewer man hours, than is otherwise possible.
 

OBJECTIVES OF THIS INITIATIVE
 Develop understanding of advanced composites machining and processing requirements for Advanced Fighter Aircraft.

   Develop optimum machine tool and systems configurations for above requirements utilizing mature, proven, high performance, advanced technologies already being utilized in Advance Composites Manufacturing, in addition to high performance concepts and technologies now in use in other types of manufacturing applications.

  GOALS OF THIS INITIATIVE
   Supply to manufacturers, and maintenance depots, of composites based advanced weapons systems, including Advanced Fighter Aircraft, machine tools and manufacturing systems that will produce superior, consistent advanced composite components and assemblies at substantially lower cost and with lower manpower and less man hours than is possible with other current approaches and equipment.

AREAS OF PRIMARY FOCUS

Prepreg Cutting:  With emphasis on next generation super high cutting speed and accuracy utilizing advanced cutting technology (ultrasonic)for multiple ply cutting and/or difficult to cut materials; plus emphasis on system configuration allowing optimal cutting time. (Increase Ultrasonic Knife cutting time relative to handling and loading of material, as well as removal of finished cut shapes).

  Also ply cutter configuration offering multiple cutting technologies/devices as options on the same machine, i.e. drag knife, reciprocating knife, or disk (pizza cutter), optimizing cost of cutting for different applications.

  Honeycomb: With emphasis on near dust free cutting process (ultrasonic); plus emphasis on finished part accuracy and surface quality (no fuzz) and increasing material utilization by using 3-D Nesting techniques.  Also first and second side machining in a single set-up (deep cell core).

  Cured Panel Trimming & Drilling:   With emphasis on eliminating requirements for trim tools and combining use of routing and ultrasonic cutting; plus emphasis on finished part accuracy.

  Also highlighting machine configuration utilizing new/unique methods of holding work pieces, moving/positioning large tools, 3-D non contact piece-part/tool digitizing and probing resulting in higher throughput and lower man hours.

Just-In-Time Processing: Utilizing proven, existing special data management and nesting software.

  Also utilizing advanced cell controllers, providing enhanced “manufacturing cell” process management and controls; plus, enhanced ability to insert into schedule replacement parts for damaged or unacceptable previously produced parts.

  Remnants: utilizing revolutionary method of dealing with and utilizing remnants, which eliminates the need for recording and storing pertinent shape data for future use.

American GFM Chesapeake, VA 23323 757-487-2442