Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646

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Composites Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

Manufacture of long spars: Laminate design, experimental trials and

non-destructive evaluation
C. Scarth *, Y. Chen, C. Aza, A.T. Rhead, R. Butler
Materials and Structures Centre, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Prof. Ole Thomsen Although an enabler of high-rate manufacture, automated forming of components from flat laminates can result
in fibre wrinkling. For the first time, fibre length is demonstrated to be a key driver of wrinkling defects when
Keywords: forming a C-spar with a central recess, at industrial length scales. Three such spars, of equal in-plane stiffness,
Diaphragm forming were manufactured using Single Diaphragm Forming. Two contained standard ply angles (0◦ , 90◦ or ±45◦ )
Length-effect
including 6 m long 0◦ fibres but had different stacking sequences, one shown to be formable in short spar trials,
Wrinkling
the other un-formable. A third spar also had a formable sequence but contained non-standard ply angles (angles
Design for manufacture
Non-standard ply angles other than 0◦ , 90◦ or ±45◦ ) so that maximum fibre length was less than 0.6 m. Wrinkles occurred in both
standard angle spars but did not occur in the non-standard angle case, demonstrating that use of formable, non-
standard angle laminates can reduce scrappage of automatically formed aerospace parts, leading to significant
time and cost savings in production.

1. Introduction govern the compaction of laminates during forming, such as tempera­

Future aerospace parts made from composite material will need to be
resilient, lightweight and manufactured at high rates to meet the de­
mands of new markets. Recent large aircraft, such as the Airbus A350-
XWB and the Boeing 787, are manufactured using Automated Fibre
Placement (AFP) to control quality in regions of complex curvature such
as wing spars but the cost and rate of AFP production will not be suitable
for complex new platforms such as Urban Air Mobility aircraft. How­
ever, productivity can be increased by automating the forming of parts
from flat laminates if performance-reducing defects, such as fibre
wrinkling, fibre waviness and porosity, can be avoided.
Manufacturers have established laminate design rules based on
Standard Angles (SA) orientations, namely 0◦ , ±45◦ and 90◦ plies. The
use of Non-Standard Angle (NSA) laminates has been advocated for
reasons of structural efficiency [1] and formability [2], but there is a
general reluctance in industry to replace conventional designs owing to
a large repository of experience and test data.
Formability of multi-layer laminates over complex geometries is
highly dependent on intra-ply deformation, inter-ply slip and ply
bending [3–5]. If both intra-ply shear and inter-ply slip are constrained
during forming, compressive forces can arise in fibres leading to unde­
sirable wrinkling [3,6–8]. Besides the process control variables which
ture and vacuum pressure [9,10], numerous studies [2,11–14] have
shown that the laminate stacking sequence has significant influence on
formability, as the interaction between adjacent plies can restrict shear
and trigger the formation of wrinkles, if relative slip between contacting
plies is constrained. Inter-ply slip is often determined by friction at ply
interfaces, with researchers introducing ways of manipulating ply in­
terfaces locally to selectively promote or inhibit inter-ply slip to prevent
wrinkling [14,15]. Friction is proportional to the normal load meaning
frictional forces are linked to the length of the lamina along the direction
of motion under applied pressure load circumstances [16,17]. The effect
of length on the occurrence and severity of defects has been investigated
in both numerical [18,19] and analytical [20] models, with Dodwell
et al. [17,20] suggesting that there is a critical length to produce a
wrinkle-free laminate during consolidation over a curved geometry. The
use of finite element formulations combined with constitutive material
models can enable accurate prediction of the forming behaviour of
multi-layer laminates [3,6,18,21–25]. Such simulations are usually
computationally expensive due to the number of elements required. To
overcome this problem, a Compatibility Index (Cmax), an analytical
metric for formability at laminate level, was derived by Johnson et al.
[2], providing a rapid means of assessing the formability of different
stacking sequences. This Compatibility Index was validated through

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: C.Scarth@bath.ac.uk (C. Scarth), yc2634@bath.ac.uk (Y. Chen), A.T.Rhead@bath.ac.uk (A.T. Rhead), R.Butler@bath.ac.uk (R. Butler).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2023.110646
Received 13 September 2022; Received in revised form 27 January 2023; Accepted 22 February 2023
Available online 23 February 2023
1359-8368/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
C. Scarth et al. Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646

comparison against defect levels in short (0.5 m) spars with different

stacking sequences, manufactured in laboratory-scale Double Dia­
phragm Forming trials.
In this paper, formability of spars at an industrial length scale is
investigated. It is hypothesised that above some critical length, forming
of stacks containing 0◦ plies (aligned with the spar longitudinal axis)
into complex geometric features will result in higher levels of wrinkling
than would occur in shorter spars, due to higher inter-ply friction forces
arising during forming. This hypothesis is henceforth referred to as the
“length effect”. It is proposed that using shorter, non-standard angle
plies in place of 0◦ plies may mitigate against this length effect, as these
plies can deform via in-plane resin-dominated modes to conform to the
required geometries. The primary contribution of this paper is a set of
forming trials devised to test the existence of this length effect and
demonstrate the benefits of non-standard ply angles for the formability
of long components. Forming trials are undertaken on three 6 m long
spars with differing stacking sequence but identical in-plane stiffness,
containing a central region of constricted geometry subsequently
referred to as the “recess” feature. The Compatibility Index from Ref. [2]
is used to choose the stacking sequences for these spars. Two of the
stacks are composed of standard angles, including long 0◦ plies: one
predicted by Cmax to exhibit wrinkling and a second predicted to be
highly formable. The third stack is predicted by Cmax to be formable but
is comprised of non-standard angle plies. Application of the index as a
figure of merit has previously been verified in forming short spars with Fig. 1. Key dimensions of the C-spars used in manufacturing trials, illustrating:
identical recess geometry but this does not account for spar length. This (a) position of recessed feature in overall spar length, and (b) detailed geometry
is the first study to be published on the formability of composite lami­ of the recess feature. All dimensions are stated in mm.
nates at length scales representative of those seen in the composites
manufacturing industry. stiffness of the uncured resin means fibres are unsupported when they
The paper is structured as follows. The geometry of the spars is are placed under compressive load and can buckle in short wavelength
introduced in Section 2, and the length effect associated with this ge­ wrinkles under comparatively small loads.
ometry outlined in Section 3. The principles used to select the stacking When a 0◦ ply laminate is drawn into the recess, via relative sliding
sequences for the trials are described in Section 4, and the of the fibres and through-thickness shear, see Fig. 2(b), forming over the
manufacturing process outlined in Section 5. In order to assess the effect convex corner occurs before the concave corner, requiring shearing to
of fibre length on formability of each stacking sequence, the severity of produce a bookend at the end of the part before shearing in the opposite
wrinkles in each spar, after both forming and cure, as well as other direction to remove excess length ΔL. This excess length is concentrated
notable defects such as voids, are characterised using Non-Destructive at the centre of the spar recess, causing a compressive force which, as the
Evaluation in Section 6. laminate is now held against the tool, can only be dissipated via defor­
mation or inter-ply slip within the laminate. In the case of a laminate
2. Spar geometry made from non-0◦ plies, see Fig. 2(c), this can be accommodated by
shearing of the plies, resulting in the elimination of the excess length.
A 6 m long spar geometry is chosen which incorporates a central For a laminate with a single 0◦ ply, the excess length in the 0◦ ply pro­
recessed feature (commonly used to accommodate changes in thickness duces a compressive force N, see Fig. 2(d), that can only be dissipated
e.g. for engine pylon attachment) that was previously shown to generate through inter-ply slip or wrinkling. In this case, a build-up of inter-ply
defects during forming [2]. The identical nature of the feature to that in frictional forces (shown in Fig. 2(d)) of magnitude Fply ∝μply pL/2 oc­
Ref. [2] enables comparison with previous forming trials on 500 mm curs, where μply is the coefficient of friction between plies, p is the
long spars enabling assessment of length effects on spar formability. forming pressure and, in this one-dimensional example, L is the length of
Spars were manufactured from 24-ply stacks, to match previous trials, contact between plies. However, if the force built up by friction is
using a male tool with dimensions referring to the inner mould line, see greater than the compressive fibre/ply buckling load, i.e. Fply > Ncr , as is
Fig. 1.
expected for sufficiently long fibres/plies, then wrinkling will occur
instead of inter-ply slip. Hence a spar with long 0◦ plies will generate
3. Wrinkling defects due to a length effect in spar forming wrinkles whereas a shorter one, as there is insufficient build-up of fric­
tional inter-ply forces to prevent inter-ply slip, will not. A consequence
The length effect refers to the hypothesis that, above some critical of the above is that plies with off-axis non-standard angles, and thus
length, spars containing long fibres (i.e. 0◦ plies), are more prone to shorter lengths that do not stretch the full length of the tool in the x-
wrinkling during forming than shorter spars with the same stacking direction, are more likely to be able to deform freely in the longitudinal
sequence. A simplified one-dimensional illustration of the causes of this direction of the spars.
length effect is provided in Fig. 2. This illustration shows the forming of
three plies into the central recessed feature shown in Fig. 1 at a cross- 4. Stacking sequence and ply angle design philosophy
section taken along the web centreline in the longitudinal (x) direc­
tion. Forming is initiated with a flat preform and at an elevated tem­ 4.1. Compatibility index for laminate formability
perature to reduce the viscosity of the uncured resin, see Fig. 2(a).
When placed in tension, fibres have an apparent stiffness much The Compatibility Index Cmax [2], for rapidly predicting the severity
higher than the uncured resin and are able to bend and move longitu­ of wrinkles, is based upon the idea that facilitating deformation via
dinally as rigid bodies but are unable to change length. Conversely, compatible low-energy modes, across multiple plies, prevents wrinkling.
although some support is offered by the external pressure, the very low

2
C. Scarth et al. Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646

Fig. 2. Illustration of the length effect in vacuum forming of three plies into a recess: (a) geometry prior to forming, indicating symmetry plane and initial laminate
position; geometry following forming (b) of three 0◦ plies, (c) of three non-0◦ plies, and (d) to show the origin of compressive force N causing wrinkle formation in a
0◦ ply between two non-0◦ plies.

This index is a relative figure of merit for comparing the propensity for
wrinkles to occur during forming of different stacking sequences. Ge­
ometry is not explicitly accounted for in this metric, however, it is
intended to be applied to stacks which are to be formed into geometries
which are known to induce wrinkles, such as double curvature. A full
derivation and validation may be found in Ref. [2]. The key theoretical
concepts are summarised below.
The lamina stiffness matrix of a rotated, uncured ply, Q∗ , expressed
in Kelvin notation [26,27] to ensure that stress and strain share the same
basis, gives the constitutive relationship
⎡ ⎤
⎛ ⎞ ∗ ∗
√̅̅̅ ∗ ⎛ ⎞
σ 11 ⎢ Q11 Q12 2Q16 ⎥ ε11
⎢ √ ̅̅
̅ ⎥ Fig. 3. Ply deformation modes for single 0◦ uncured ply [2].
σ=⎜ ⎟
⎝ σ 22 ⎠ = ⎢ ⎢ √Q
∗
12 Q∗22 2Q∗26 ⎥
⎜
⎥⎝ √ε̅̅22
⎟
⎠ = Q∗ ε (1)
√̅̅̅ ⎣ ̅̅̅ ∗ √̅̅̅ ∗ ⎦ ̅
2σ12 2Q16 2Q26 2Q66 ∗ 2ε12
fibre direction modulus E11.
The scalar product of eigenvectors of two adjacent plies gives the
where ply stiffnesses Q∗ij are expressed in the Voigt notation commonly compatibility of these modes and is defined as
used in Classical Lamination Theory [28], and ε12 denotes tensor shear
ci,j (θ1 , θ2 ) = vi (θ1 )T vj (θ2 ) (2)
strain. Each ply is assumed to deform in one of three in-plane defor­
mation modes, given by the eigenvectors vi of the Q∗ matrix. The modes
where subscripts i and j refer to the deformation modes for each ply, and
for a 0◦ ply are illustrated in Fig. 3. It is necessary to account for both
1 and 2 to ply indices. A compatibility of 1 indicates that two modes are
directions of shear [2], referred to as Mode 2 and 2*, with eigenvectors
identical, whereas 0 indicates complete incompatibility. Based on the
given by v2∗ = − v2 .
principle of minimum energy, it is assumed that a stack will tend to
Exact eigenvectors for modes 1 and 3 contain negligible Poisson
deform via the combination of ply deformation modes which results in
deformations that are assumed to be 0 as, for uncured prepreg, the resin-
the highest possible laminate compatibility in resin-dominated modes 1,
dominated transverse modulus E22 is orders of magnitude lower than the
2 and 2*. Compatibility of resin modes with Mode 3 in an adjacent ply, is

3
C. Scarth et al.
undesirable as this fibre-dominated mode would result in a very high
energy deformation. This maximum compatibility, Cmax, is defined as
[2]:
1 ∑
N− 1
( )
Cmax = max ci ,i θj , θj+1 , where ij ∈ {1, 2, 2∗ }∀j = 1, …, N
i1 ,…,iN (N − 1) j=1 j j+1
where cij ,ij+1 (θj , θj+1 ) is the compatibility of modes with index prescribed
by ij and ij+1 in the jth and (j+1)th ply respectively, as given by Eq. (2),
and N is the number of plies. Eq. (3) is an optimisation problem for the
highest laminate compatibility which can be solved with an efficient
linear integer programming method [29].
4.2. Non-standard ply angles
To investigate the hypothesis that long spars containing 0◦ plies are
more prone to wrinkling than spars using non-standard angle plies, it is
desirable to derive stacking-sequences which do not have 0◦ plies but
have a similar structural response to laminates comprised of standard 0◦ ,
±45◦ and 90◦ ply orientations. Matching in-plane stiffness will result in
similar global response, however, does not capture more complex design
criteria such as failure initiation or propagation. This simplification is
considered reasonable for the current investigation which is focussed
upon manufacturability.
Following [1], the stiffness of a standard angle stacking sequence can
be matched by a stacking sequence of the form [± ψ γ /± φ(1− γ) ]S, where
ψ and φ are non-standard ply angles, and γ is the proportion of ψ ◦ plies.
For α = cos(2ψ ) and β = cos(2φ) a specified value of γ, α and β may be
determined using,
ξA1 − (1 − γ)β
α=
γ where the flat preforms were supported upon a highly extensible (up to
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
√( A )2 ( ( A )2 /
√ ξ
) and outer nylon vacuum bag by a release film. The purpose of this
√ 1 − 2 ξ1 γ − ξA2 − 1
A
β = ξ1 ±
2(1/γ − 1)
Where ξA1 and ξA2 are in-plane lamination parameters [30,31] related to
the stiffness of the standard angle stacking sequence. Note that it is only
relative proportions of these angles which are determined at this stage,
with a precise stacking sequence determined using Cmax.
4.3. Design case study
In this Section, three spars are designed with stacking sequences
selected to result in identical in-plane stiffness, using theory in Section
4.2, but differing levels of formability, predicted by the Compatibility
Index from Section 4.1. The formability of these stacks is assessed in
subsequent manufacturing trials. Target in-plane stiffnesses are based
upon ply percentages typical of industrial aerospace spar design,
namely, 10/80/10% of 0◦ , ±45◦ and 90◦ plies respectively. However,
these percentages cannot be precisely achieved in a 24-ply stack.
Instead, while maintaining symmetry and balance, and ensuring a
minimum 10% of plies, percentages as close as possible, are sought,
resulting in ply percentages of 16.67/66.67/16.67 and integer numbers
of plies n0 = n90 = 4, and n45 = 16. The three stacking sequences, and
Table 1
Stacking sequences and corresponding values of Cmax for each of the three spars
to be manufactured in the forming trials.
Description Layup
A Benchmark [±45/90/0/ ∓ 45]2S
B Optimised SA [(±45)4/(0/90)2]S
C Optimised NSA [(27/-63)3/(-27/63)3]S
Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646
associated value of Cmax are shown in Table 1. Fig. 4 shows the
compatibility ci,j at each ply interface (maximum compatibility is 1) for
the combination of modes which results in the maximum stack
compatibility, Cmax, as determined through the maximisation in Eq. (3).
Spar A is a standard angle stack with low Cmax where interface angles
with magnitude 45◦ , which impede in-plane deformation due to in­
(3) teractions with the stiff fibres in the adjacent ply, occur frequently
resulting in reduced compatibility. As per typical industrial practice
large blocks of plies with similar properties are avoided [32]. Spar B has
a standard angle stack which maximises Cmax by grouping plies into
zones of either ±45◦ , or 0/90◦ exploiting the fact that adjacent plies
separated by an interface angle of 90◦ are completely compatible via the
shear mode (2 or 2* from Fig. 3). In previous small scale forming trials
[2], this zoned strategy led to low wrinkle levels. Spar C employs
non-standard angle plies, with angles determined using the method
outlined in Section 4.2, and a stacking sequence which maximises Cmax
via 90◦ interface angles. This strategy is the same as in Spar B, while
avoiding 0◦ plies to mitigate against the length-effect described in Sec­
tion 3. The slightly higher value of Cmax for Spar C is due to the slight
compatibility across the − 63◦ /-27◦ interfaces of 0.309 as shown in
Fig. 4. Note that the maximum fibre length in Spar C is approximately
590 mm.
5. Experimental methodology
5.1. Spar manufacture
Three spars with geometry given in Fig. 1, and stacking sequences
given in Table 1, were formed from flat, rectangular (6.0 m × 0.3 m), 24-
ply preform stacks of Cycom HTS 977–2 prepreg assembled by hand
layup with de-bulking every four plies. Forming was via a bespoke
Single Diaphragm Forming (SDF) procedure over a male tool, see Fig. 5,
(4)
500%) Stretchlon® 200 membrane, and separated from the membrane
(5) membrane was to prevent the laminate from forming under its own
weight during the heat-up and forming segments, thus preventing
wrinkles from arising due to (i) uncontrolled deformation, and (ii)
reduced shear when forming into the recess and around the radii.
Foam edge support blocks were used to ensure the Stretchlon
membrane and outer bag remain taught prior to, and during forming.
Prior to forming, laminates and tool were placed in an oven and heated
to 90 ± 5 ◦ C, confirmed via twelve thermocouples at various locations
around the edge of the preform. Forming was initiated by creating a
vacuum, applied via two vacuum ports located at each of the longitu­
dinal ends of the tool, in the cavity between the outer bag and the base of
the forming rig, see Fig. 5. The vacuum was ramped up in stages; initially
at a rate of 10 mbar/min up to a pressure of 130 mbar, followed by 37
mbar/min up to 700 mbar, and finally at 150 mbar/min up to 850 mbar.
In each trial the forming operation was completed in the region of 10
min following application of this vacuum. An additional vacuum track,
running along the longitudinal edges of the rig, was used to secure the
outer bag in place. Due to its maximum operating temperature, the
Stretchlon membrane was removed prior to cure, at a temperature of
180 ◦ C, following the manufacturer’s recommended cure cycle.
5.2. Non-Destructive Evaluation
To characterise the defects within each spar, Non-Destructive Eval­
uation (NDE) was undertaken both after the forming operation (but
prior to cure) and following the final cure. Following forming, metrology
scans were undertaken using a Hexagon 7-axis laser scanning arm, on
Cmax
the formed spars. The outer vacuum bag and upper release film layer,
0.69 shown in Fig. 5, were removed prior to the scan to expose the outer
0.91 surface of the spar. However, the Stretchlon membrane and lower
0.94
release film layer remained in place. Due to the size of the spars, the
4
C. Scarth et al.
Fig. 4. Plots of interface compatibility for the combination of deformation modes which result in the maximum laminate compatibility, Cmax, for each stack­
ing sequence.
Fig. 5. Illustration of bespoke Single Diaphragm Forming process used in the trials, depicting schematics (a) prior to forming and (b) post-forming, and photographs
of actual setup (c) prior to forming and (d) post-forming.
metrology data was obtained by stitching together six separate scans:
three scans along the 6 m length, and two scans across the web-direction
of the spars. A separate scan was taken of the tooling to identify varia­
tions in the formed laminate thickness, such as those arising due to
wrinkles. In each case, the triangular meshed surfaces arising from the
spar and tool scans were aligned using the measured location of eleven
M6 bolts bonded to the base of the tool, which were present in both
scans. Thicknesses were estimated as the distance along the outward
pointing normal from the centroid of each element of the tool mesh, to
the intersection of that normal with the spar mesh, determined using a
ray-triangle intersection algorithm [33].
In order to assess the effect of cure upon observed wrinkles and to
observe internal defects such as voids, following cure, a segment of 1 m
length at the middle of each spar was cut and scanned with an X-ray CT
system (Custom 450/225 kVp Hutch) at the University of Southampton.
5
Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646
Stitching of scans at different longitudinal positions provided an overall
field of view of 200x200 × 1010 mm3, with a voxel size of 0.1 mm
covering the whole 1 m spar whilst giving sufficient resolution to detect
features such as thickness variation and internal voids. Local thickness of
the spars is estimated from these XCT images using a Python script. The
inner surface voxels of the spar are initially detected using a Sobel filter.
A local normal vector is subsequently determined from the eigenvector
of an inertia matrix at each inner surface voxel. Finally, the local
thickness is measured as the distance between the inner surface voxel
and the corresponding outer surface voxel along the normal vector. Such
measurement of local thickness has, in theory, a precision of approxi­
mately one voxel, i.e. 0.1 mm [34]. Internal voids are detected using a
Python script based on a top-hat segmentation algorithm, which makes
the detection insensitive to the inhomogeneous brightness in the large
3D images.
C. Scarth et al.
6. Experimental results
Fig. 6 shows thickness maps of the three spars. Fig. 6(a) and (b) are
derived from the post-forming, pre-cure metrology data and Fig. 6(c)
from post-cure X-ray CT data. In Spar A all visible wrinkles (pre-cure)
were restricted to the recess region. In Spar B, visible wrinkles were
observed in the recess region and at approximately 1.8 m and 2.2 m from
one end of the spar. No visible wrinkles were detected in Spar C.
For ease of visualization and consistency with post-cure X-ray CT
data, thickness maps are restricted to the central 1 m of the spars. His­
tograms of the estimated thickness, taken across all measurements
within this central 1 m, are shown in Fig. 7(a). To quantify the size of the
wrinkles, a profile of deviations in the thickness along a longitudinal line
near the centreline of the web (indicated by the blue arrows in Fig. 6(b))
is plotted in Fig. 7(c). The value of this thickness deviation is calculated
by subtracting the modal thickness of the corresponding spar, taken
from the histogram in Fig. 7(a), from the pre-cure thickness data.
The mode is used as it is a better estimate of local average thickness
of the webs than the mean, which is affected by thinning in the corners.
In Fig. 6(c), maps of the spar thickness after the final cure, derived from
the X-ray CT scan data, show that wrinkles observed in Spars A and B
after forming, were no longer visible following cure. Subsequent anal­
ysis focussed on analysing internal features of the cured spars to un­
derstand the effects of displacing the excess material, previously
contained in the wrinkles. Details from a two-dimensional cross section,
taken from a horizontal (x-y) plane in the web of the recess region of
Spar A in the outer-most 0◦ ply are shown in Fig. 8.
Carbon fibres and epoxy resin cannot be distinguished due to the low
attenuation contrast between these two phases. However, internal voids
can clearly be observed from the cross-sectional slices. The paths of
adjacent fibres may be inferred from the shapes of these voids. Data from
a more detailed CT scan with voxel size 0.017 mm are also shown in
Fig. 8(b), in which the paths of fibres bridging one of these voids may be
discerned. Fig. 9 shows a top-down view of a three-dimensional volume
rendering which overlays voids detected over all through-thickness
6
Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646
locations in the recess region of the web in all three spars. Through-
thickness profiles of the void volume fraction in the flat regions of the
web of each spar are shown in Fig. 10. This volume fraction is calculated
at each through-thickness cross-sectional slice as the ratio of the number
of voxels of void to that of composite.
7. Discussion
The forming trials reported in this paper are aimed at investigating
the effects of length upon formability of composite spars, by considering
the propensity for wrinkles to arise during forming. In the authors’
previous work [2], extensive manufacturing trials were undertaken on
short (0.5 m) spars which were used to validate the theory in Section 4.1.
To assess the effects of length, comparisons will be drawn between the
results in Section 6 for long (6 m) spars, and this previous work. Using
the theory based on these previous trials, if length has no effect on the
formability of 0◦ plies, Spars B and C would have low levels of wrinkling
due to their similar, high values of Cmax in Table 1. Conversely, if length
does affect forming as hypothesised in Section 3, the 0◦ plies in Spars A
and B would lead to more wrinkling in these spars than in Spar C, which
does not have long 0◦ plies. Wrinkles are present in Spars A and B with
differences between spars most clearly visible from Fig. 6. Three wrin­
kles are discernible in both Spars A and B. Also notable in Spar B is the
large region of excess material visible in the flat end region of the web,
approximately 3.3 m from end of the spar. Similar wrinkles also occur at
approximately 1.8 m and 2.2 m from the same spar end, which are
omitted from the Figures for brevity. A marked improvement in the
quality of Spar C compared with Spar B can thus be seen as evidence of
this “length effect”. Fig. 6(a) and (b) show that, following forming,
wrinkles were not present in Spar C. This observation indicates that
using non-standard ply angles in place of 0◦ plies results in fewer
wrinkles, supporting the above hypothesis.
It is unclear why wrinkles formed asymmetrically at multiple loca­
tions outside of the recess feature in Spar B. It is possible that the length
effect was exacerbated due to the larger number of 0/90 ply interfaces,
Fig. 6. Thickness maps of the three spars measured
from metrology data taken on a central 1 m section:
(a) View of the central 1 m region (defined between x
= 2.5 m and 3.5 m) at a post-forming, pre-cure stage.
Note: additional wrinkles observed in Spar B at x =
1.8 m and 2.2 m are not depicted to ensure trends are
displayed with adequate resolution. (b) View of the
central recess region at post-forming, pre-cure stage.
(c) Thickness maps of the three spars measured from
XCT images taken on a central region following cure.
C. Scarth et al. Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646

Fig. 7. Histograms of local thickness measurements in (a) the post-forming, pre-cure spars, and (b) the post-cure spars. (c) Pre-cure profiles of the deviation of the
thickness of each spar from the mode, taken along a longitudinal line near the web centreline. The path of this line is indicated by the blue arrows shown in Fig. 6(b).
(For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 8. Cross-sectional slices in the x-y plane, at different scales showing internal voids in Spar A, including (a) a local CT scan (voxel size = 0.017 mm) showing
curved, dry fibres inside a void. The position of the void in (a) in the part is shown in (b).

which have been shown to have a higher resistance to ply slip compared
with other interface angles [35]. A larger amount of excess material may
have been present in the central region of this spar, but wrinkling caused
by dissipating this excess was not restricted to the recess. This may arise
if multiple wrinkles dispersed at intervals along the span is the minimum
energy state, compared with a concentrated zone of larger wrinkles. The
locations at which these occurred may be due to localised in­
homogeneities in, for instance, the resistance to slip or push-down force
applied by the bag. Asymmetry in the forming rig, such as misalignment
at joints of the edge blocks or overlaps in the breather cloth at the pe­
riphery, may have wrinkled the outer bag thus driving the occurrence of
wrinkles at these locations. There is, however, insufficient evidence to
state categorically why or where these wrinkles occurred.
In Fig. 6(a) and (b), the corners of all spars thin by approximately
1.5–2 mm, as higher local pressure exerted on these regions during
forming results in material being displaced away from the radii. For all
spars, the thickness histograms in Fig. 7(a) are characterised by three
peaks (modes): the first peak corresponds to the thin corner radii, and
the second to the average thickness of un-wrinkled regions. A small third
peak can be identified at approximately 7.2 mm, which corresponds to
the slight increase of thickness adjacent to the corners, created by the
material displaced from radii, as visible in Fig. 6(a) and (b). The spread
of observed thickness values in Fig. 7(a) is notably lower for Spar C
compared with the other two spars, indicative of lower variability across
the spar.
Thickness maps and histograms (Figs. 6(c) and 7(b)) show no sig­
nificant thickness variation or wrinkling across the webs and flanges of
any spar following cure. A thinning of approximately 2 mm in the cor­
ners is evident, likely exacerbated by resin bleeding under higher
autoclave pressures. The average spar thicknesses are slightly lower
following cure, likely due to further consolidation and the presence of
the Stretchlon membrane and release film layer in the post-forming
metrology scans. The higher autoclave temperatures and consequent
decrease in resin viscosity, combined with higher applied pressures, are
assumed to have allowed the excess material in the wrinkles to be
displaced in-plane. This outcome differs from previous trials [2],
wherein substantial wrinkling was present in many of the spars
following cure. This discrepancy likely arose as the previous forming
trials were with a different material (AS4/8552), undertaken at lower
temperatures (40 ◦ C, 60 ◦ C and 80 ◦ C as opposed to 90 ◦ C), and the
considered stacks had a larger number of 0◦ plies, resulting in more
severe wrinkles.
There are multiple explanations for the formation of the internal
voids contained in the cured spars, shown in Figs. 8–10. An approximate
correlation may be made between the location of the wrinkles (pre-cure)
in Fig. 6, and the location of the voids (post-cure) in Fig. 9. Voids in
Spars A and B are mostly in clusters aligned with the 0◦ plies. In Spar A
these clusters are largely in the central recess region, whereas in Spar B
these tend to be located within or adjacent to the ramps. Considering
Fig. 10, a higher concentration of voids typically arose in the central
recess region, where the highest concentration of wrinkles was located.
It is likely that some void formation is therefore caused by the flattening
of wrinkles during cure, resulting in transverse displacement (waviness)
of the fibres to accommodate the excess material contained in the
wrinkles in some cases creating voids. Delaminations between buckled
plies during wrinkling may have increased the local volume of trapped
air, contributing to these voids. In Spar A, flattening of the wrinkles has
produced some curved voids, the geometry of which may be used to
infer the paths of adjacent fibres, and is indicative of in-plane fibre
waviness caused by compression of an out-of-plane fibre buckle into an
in-plane fibre buckle. An example detail of some curved voids, approx­
imately aligned with the outermost 0◦ ply, is shown in Fig. 8, including
higher-resolution scan data. Waviness may be clearly discerned in the
higher resolution image, particularly in the fibres which bridge the void,
against which they have higher contrast. In Spar B some large voids
appear aligned with the − 45◦ plies. These larger voids are likely due to
gaps at the abutment of adjacent sheets of prepreg which make up a
single − 45◦ ply across the 6 m span. Similar gaps are also visible, albeit
much less severe, in Spar A, and in the 27◦ and 63◦ plies of Spar C. The
transverse displacement resulting from flattening of wrinkles may also

7
C. Scarth et al.
Fig. 9. Three-dimensional volume rendering of voids detected in the middle recess region of each spar. The colour differentiates unconnected voids. (For inter­
pretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
have enlarged the abutment gaps in the − 45◦ plies. The through-
thickness trends in Fig. 10 show that most of the voids in Spars A and
B arose within or adjacent to 0◦ plies, with a significant percentage of
voids arising in the end regions in which there were no wrinkles. An
additional mechanism is likely to have led to voids at these locations.
One explanation is that volatile compounds, released during cure, use
fibre paths to escape from the laminate as permeability is much higher in
the fibre direction [36]. Hence, these volatiles may become trapped
within the long 0◦ plies during cure whereas they may more readily
escape from other plies with shorter fibre paths. Figs. 6–10 show very
few voids and no wrinkles are evident in Spar C, which has no 0◦ plies,
clearly illustrating the benefits of non-standard angles.
8. Conclusions
The effects of stacking sequence, ply angle and spar length upon
formability of flat prepreg stacks have been investigated through
forming of three 6 m long C-spars with a central recess. The Compati­
bility Index, an analytical metric previously shown to correlate well with
8
Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646
observed levels of wrinkling in forming of shorter, 0.5 m long C-spars
containing an identical recess feature to that in the present study, was
employed to provide stacking sequences for three spars: Spar A had
standard angle plies with a low Compatibility Index metric (low form­
ability), Spar B had standard angle plies and a high Compatibility Index
metric (high formability), and Spar C had a high Compatibility Index,
non-standard angle, stack with in-plane stiffness matched to spars A and
B and maximum fibre length less than 0.6 m.
Contrary to the Compatibility Index predictions for spar B, wrinkles
were observed in both standard angle spars which contained 6 m long
0◦ plies. This indicates that the increased spar length has altered the
behaviour of 0◦ plies during forming. Following forming, no wrinkles
were observed in the non-standard angle stack of Spar C, which corre­
lated with Compatibility index predictions, indicating that long plies,
are detrimental to the formability of long spars. A substantially lower
void content was also observed in Spar C following cure, attributed to
the absence of wrinkles prior to cure, and the short escape route along
fibres for volatiles produced during manufacture and cure. The benefits
of non-standard ply angles in forming of long spars have therefore
C. Scarth et al.
Fig. 10. Through-thickness profile of void volume fraction (porosity) in three different regions of each spar. Profiles are shown for each region in (a), with the colour
of each of the plots in (b)-(d) matching the corresponding region in (a). Overall void volume fractions φ of each region are given using the same colour code. (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
clearly been demonstrated through a marked reduction in all observed
defects compared with standard angle spars. This is an important
outcome for high-rate manufacture of large composite parts in the
future.
Author statement
C. Scarth: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis,
Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original
draft.
Y. Chen: Data curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Software,
Visualization, Writing – original draft.
C. Aza: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft.
A.T. Rhead: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology,
Supervision, Writing – review & editing.
R. Butler: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology,
Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal re­
lationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:
No conflict of interest is present but for absolute transparency GKN
Aerospace sponsor Prof. Butler’s Research Chair in Composites Analysis
and made a small contribution (~5%) to the funding of the Engineering
and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) projects ADAPT (EP/
N024354/1) “Certification for Design – Reshaping the Testing Pyramid”
(CerTest, EP/S017038/1) and “Design simulation tools and process
improvements for NCF preforming” (EP/P006701/1).
9
Composites Part B 255 (2023) 110646
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), who fund
the ADAPT project (EP/N024354/1), the Programme Grant “Certifica­
tion for Design – Reshaping the Testing Pyramid” (CerTest, EP/
S017038/1) and “Design simulation tools and process improvements for
NCF preforming” (EP/P006701/1). Spar manufacture was undertaken at
the National Composites Centre (using ADAPT funding) by Graham
Clarke, Michael Bryant, Stuart Sykes and Andrew Bruton whose con­
tributions are gratefully acknowledged. Richard Butler holds the Royal
Academy of Engineering/GKN Aerospace Research Chair in Composites
Analysis. The contributions of Yang Chen and Chrysoula Aza were
supported by the Digital Engineering Technology and Innovation (DETI)
programme. The authors are also grateful to Dr Kathryn Rankin and
Prof. Ian Sinclair at the University of Southampton for X-Ray CT imag­
ing, and to Steve Thomas at the University of Bath for his assistance with
tooling and machining.
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