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Loop Technology (Dorchester, U.K.) has recently launched FibreLINE 2X1, an automated composite preforming system designed specifically for smaller parts. This system is devised to manufacture car parts, train doors and aircraft wing components such as fairings, ailerons, nacelles, cowlings and wing tips. 

Existing within a smaller cell than the company’s standard FibreLINE system, it uses a single robot equipped with an automatic toolchanger to complete the entire cycle of preforming. From deposition and cutting through to shaping, tacking and consolidation, the system lays up on to a 2 × 1-m tool. Notably, FibreLINE 2X1 is available in a variety of configurations specific to end users’ requirements and is said to provide an increase in production rates compared to AFP and traditional methods. 

The composite preforming system features material deposition rates of 200 kg/hr. It provides millimetric precision and repeatability when measuring, cutting, shaping and placing material, according to Loop Technology, while also handling large carbon fiber plies efficiently without damaging them.