Machinery

Manufacturing a Composite Rocket Fuel Tank

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This is an interesting video from NASA showing the manufacture of what appear to be different composite spacecraft parts including a fuel tank. The center piece here is an articulated robot mounted on a “seventh” linear axis with a automated fiber placement end effector.  The end effector heats the area and applies strips of resin impregnated composite “tape.”  The whole process requires a high level of motion control especially with a rotating work piece. I’m not an expert […]