From UD-tape to Final Part - A Comprehensive Approach Towards Thermoplastic Composites

At present, the costliest step within the processing chain for endless fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites is represented by the preform production. State of the art preforming concepts result in high material scrap (often above 25%), which consequently leads to elevated material costs. Furthermore, current machine technologies are too slow to serve in line with the cycle time of an injection molding press. In this paper a novel concept for a high-speed tape laying machine will be presented. The new equipment uses combinations of UD-tapes with different width in order to compromise between minimum laying time and reduced scrap. Current cost estimations show the potential to reduce the costs for production of 2D preforms up to 30% compared to cutting blanks from woven fabric-based organosheets.