A Placement Path Planning Algorithm Based on Meshed Triangles for Carbon Fiber Reinforce Composite Component with Revolved Shape

Automated fiber placement (AFP) is a modern method of constructing composite structures with complex curved surfaces. In this paper, a placement path planning algorithm of AFP based on meshed triangles is proposed for carbon fiber reinforce composite component with general revolved shape. During the path planning process, the mould surface is firstly meshed by triangles which constitute the STL file. Then the topology of STL file is reconstructed. Finally the paths with fixed angle are obtained by the described algorithm. This approach is applied to several examples using c++ programs, and their results verify the validity of this approach. It has great potential to be adopted in industry.