Resin pre-impregnated fiber reinforced plastic components are integral to the advancement of rotorcraft due to their highly customizable configuration, outstanding dynamic properties, and light weight. The complexity of their fabrication introduces numerous manufacturing challenges; chief among these is the internal location of individual plies of material. Industry standard solutions are commensurately complicated and require highly specialized equipment and personnel. In order to mitigate this, the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 DEFIANT~(TM) Technology Demonstrator team developed the use of additively manufactured (AM) ply locating templates as a simple, low cost alternative. An AM template eliminates many of the issues associated with industry standard ply location techniques and tools. They are elegantly simple to use while being extremely ergonomic; they are extremely cost effective, and require no capital equipment to support them; and they are flexible and quick to implement.
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