Precision quality checks on filament wound carbon fiber tubes, compression molded composites and other composite structures.
Advanced Composites Inc. technicians and engineers spend a lot of time on quality assurance of our composite structures. And, they have an array of tools to assist them. They also have definitive quality assurance protocols that they follow. After more than two decades in filament winding and other composites manufacturing systems, Advanced Composites Inc. has established a reputation for our ability to consistently produce on-spec composite products, on-time. Our quality assurance systems have been honed over the years, and the checks associated with these systems allow us to fulfill on our customers’ product needs.
Advanced Composites Inc. products undergo a range of QA procedures.
Advanced Composites Inc. employs a series of quality assurance measures—ranging from ultrasonic imaging to static load testing—to assess material performance across a wide range of technical criteria such as conductivity and resistance, internal and external strain, wall thickness concentricity, and much more. Since each composite product is equipped with a unique bar-code, quality assurance tracking is automated; the relevant data attach to a composite structure as it proceeds through the fabrication and quality control sequence.
Quality Assurance during the composites manufacturing process.
Composite products are evaluated during process for conformity to static, dimensional and conductive benchmarks. When mandated by a customer, or by regulatory requirements for a given application, in-process inspections are extended to include 100% of components.
Digitized data capture during composite structures manufacture.
The ACI work-floor is equipped with an array of electronic devices, both tablets and computers, for easy data entry. As in-process quality assurances are performed, technicians record the data, which is instantly uploaded to the ACI mainframe, allowing supervisors to have a real-time, moving snapshot of the level of technical conformity across the production facility.
Early alerts on composite product defects and errors.
Armed with encyclopedic and up-to-date data on the various stages of fabrication, supervisors can spot the rare aberration and correct it before large quantities of off-spec product are produced. Consequently, Advanced Composites reduces wasted work-hours and wasted material. Such savings, combined with all of the other ways in which we streamline our process, allow us to run our composites manufacturing as efficiently as possible.
Post-production quality checks on tubing and other composite structures.
Advanced Composites Inc. carbon tubing, fiberglass tubes and composite structures pass through a series of inspections for dimensional, structural integrity and material performance. Because different products have different tolerances, our post-production quality checks vary in extensiveness by application. Filament wound carbon aerospace components, for example, have much more rigorous criteria than a filament wound fiberglass lineman’s pole. At the very least, however, randomized samples of each production run are carefully measured along all key characteristics, even for relatively high-tolerance applications, to ensure conformity.
Advanced Composites Inc manufactures for extremely high-tolerance applications.
When Advanced Composites makes composite structures for applications that necessitate exceptionally strict dimensional and structural compliance’s—as is common in the aerospace and defense industries— we check every finished product against a large repertoire of quality assurance protocols. For example, even a structure as simple as a filament wound carbon fiber tube, specified for a low-tolerance application, receives quality checks across six metrics as follows:
- Outside diameter check along nine points of the circumference.
- Inside diameter check along nine points of the circumference.
- Straightness check.
- Perpendicularity check.
- Length check.
- Weight check.
Coordinate measuring machine for precision checks of composite products.
The flagship technology of our quality control program, ACI’s coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is a computer-controlled device with a touch probe for measuring complex geometries. The probe travels in three dimensions (along the X, Y and Z axes) with a 54″ by 72″ by 54″ measuring capability. With accuracy of a few millionths of an inch and optical linear scales of one micron resolution, the device complies with B89 specifications for measuring uncertainty. Advanced Composites’ CMM features air bearings to all axes, manual thermal compensation, and a six-point kinematic location system with 720 index-able positions. For composite structures that prove difficult to measure with micrometers and calipers, the CMM is invaluable in providing exquisitely detailed parametric feedback regarding geometric conformity of carbon fiber and other composite structures.
Advanced Composites Inc. quality assurance certifications.
Advanced Composites has achieved ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D certification for Design and Manufacturing of Composite Structures. View our third-party ISO/AS certificate. ACI has maintained ISO and AS quality certifications since 2008.
