The Boeing Company
Apparatuses and methods for fabricating a composite structure and reacting to a placement force

Abstract:

A method for fabricating a composite structure includes steps of: (1) laying up, with a delivery head of a tape placement machine, a continuous segment of a composite tape on a composite panel to form a flange portion of an initial ply of a composite stiffener; (2) locating a backing plate, coupled to the delivery head, relative to the delivery head and the composite panel; and (3) further layup up, with the delivery head, the continuous segment of the composite tape on the backing plate to form a web portion of the initial ply of the composite stiffener.