Automation of composite repairs

The present study aims at understanding and addressing certain challenges of automation of composite repairs. <br/>This research is part of a larger, SIA-RAAK funded project FIXAR, running in three Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and a cluster of knowledge institutions and industry partners.<br/>The approach followed in the current study, consists of three steps. First, the identification of the feasibility and most promising procedures for automated composite repair by analysis of current state-of-the-art methods as prescribed by OEMs and standards. Processes which are tedious or even contain health risks may qualify for automation. Second, a comparison of curing alternatives for composite repairs is made, by means of the creation and testing of specimen using different curing strategies. Lastly, a benchmark test of human made composite repairs is used in order to set a reference baseline for automation quality. This benchmark can be then applied to define a lower limit and prevent over-optimization. The employed methodology includes data collection, analysis, modelling and experiments.<br/>