ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company that has a long history of working with carbon fiber due to its high strength-to-weight ratio. ATK is particularly known for their advanced filament winding techniques. Filament winding is an advanced composite manufacturing process that automates the process of applying resin to carbon fibers while wrapping them around a mandrel.

As the demand for lighter and stronger aerospace structures has risen, so has the demand for more advanced filament winding capabilities. As one of the industry leaders in composite filament winding technology, ATK asked BYU Capstone Team 1 to design a faster and more efficient method to grip the tow, or an untwisted bundle of carbon fiber, in order to perform fiber testing.

According to ATK’s specific needs and functional specifications, BYU students created a new method for gripping carbon fiber tows by placing inserts between the grips of each load frame during tensile testing. Each insert has a thin groove smaller than the tow diameter that extends along the insert’s axial length. The tow rests inside the grooves of the inserts, during clamping and tensile testing. This promotes good alignment of the tow specimen and allows for easier testing. The new method was also able to test at elevated temperatures, something that was not possible with the previous design.