Composites: getting faster & more automated: molds that can change configuration, automated tape laying and winding, robotic sprayup, and faster prepreg molding processes highlighted the focus on productivity at the international composites show in Paris. RTM innovations round out this news report.News at the big JEC composites show in Paris in April was all about speed and automation. New technologies include faster tool building, faster fiber and tape winding (thermoplastic A polymer material that turns to liquid when heated and becomes solid when cooled. There are more than 40 types of thermoplastics, including acrylic, polypropylene, polycarbonate and polyethylene. and thermoset A polymer-based liquid or powder that becomes solid when heated, placed under pressure, treated with a chemical or via radiation. The curing process creates a chemical bond that, unlike a thermoplastic, prevents the material from being remelted. See thermoplastic. ), faster RTM (1) (RealTime Model) Refers to a system or architecture that performs operations in real time. See real time. (2) (Release/Released To M , faster automated prepreg molding, and hilly automated sprayup of large parts like wind-energy blades. Morphing molds Two companies displayed unusual tooling with the flexibility to change dimensions. Surface Generation Ltd. in the U.K. (represented here by Jim D. Gray & Assoc.), showed its patented Reconfigurable Pin Tooling, which is said to cut mold-building time in half for prototyping and short runs of parts with complex compound curves. It uses a bed of square pins, which are automatically raised and lowered by computer software to different heights to form a rough contour of the desired shape. The pins are then CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) See numerical control. CNC - Collaborative Networked Communication machined into a finished mold much more rapidly than a solid block of material because the CNC cutter has so much less material to remove. As pins are gradually consumed, they are coded with matrix or RFID tags to indicate how much is left, so that the software can optimize reusing them for another pattern or mold. When design changes are required, pins in local areas of a tool can be raised or lowered for faster, less expensive reworking. For high-pressure tools (up to 30,000 psi), pins can be made from aluminum, carbon fiber, graphite or steel. For low-pressure molds, aluminum pins are used to make a reverse shape that corresponds to the part. Then polyurethane, epoxy, or foundry sand is cast over the pins to make a short-run mold, which is finished by CNC machining. Surface Generation sells software to analyze mold shapes, plus a bed of pins, CNC automation to adjust the pin heights, and soft-ware to design and store mold shapes using the raised pins. The biggest pin the company has built so far is 20 in. square and weighs 450 lb. The smallest is 1 in. square with tolerance of 0.0001 in. The biggest bed of pins built to date is 6 x 3 ft, incorporating 225 6-in. pins. The smallest is 1 ft square with 61 2-in. pins. The company has also developed a system that mixes pin sizes. A second flexible mold The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. Please help [ improve the introduction] to meet Wikipedia's layout standards. You can discuss the issue on the talk page. system that can change part dimensions is for RTM. Invented by FiberCore Europe BV in the Netherlands, it uses a single variable tool to mold free-span composite bridges measuring from 1 to 30 meters in length or width. This avoids the high cost of one-off tooling and makes plastic composite bridges cost-competitive with concrete, FiberCore says. On display at JEC was the largest free-span composite bridge ever built (24.5 m long x 5 m wide), which means it isn't suspended from cables or supported by an arch. The bridge was molded in one piece out of vinyl ester Vinyl Ester, or Vinylester, is a resin produced by the esterification of an epoxy resin with an unsaturated monocarboxylic acid. The reaction product is then dissolved in a reactive solvent, such as styrene, to a 35 - 45 percent content by weight. from DSM 1. DSM - Data Structure Manager. An object-oriented language by J.E. Rumbaugh and M.E. Loomis of GE, similar to C++. It is used in implementation of CAD/CAE software. DSM is written in DSM and C and produces C as output. and carbon fiber (Panex 35 from Zoltek Co.) over FiberCore's own glass-reinforced, honeycomb-like core material. It was installed after the show in Holland for pedestrian, bicycle, and emergency vehicle traffic. It carries 82.5 tons and weighs 12.5 tons, vs. a weight of 176 tons for an equivalent concrete bridge. FiberCore molds only the span, fitted with hooks to lift it in place. Architects design end supports and hand rails to client specifications. Faster taping & winding Two companies showed unusual processes for dramatically faster fiber winding and tape laying. The Institut fur Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH (IVW IVW Informationsgemeinschaft zur Feststellung der Verbreitung von Werbeträgern EV (German auditing institution) IVW In-Voluntary Withdrawal ), a composite R&D group in Kaiserslautern, Germany, won a JEC innovation award for a wet-winding head with a ring of eight movable arms. It's reportedly three times faster than current methods using winding heads with up to four arms. The eight-arm ring is, however, limited to wrapping an axially symmetrical shape, like pressure tanks for hydrogen-fueled hybrid cars. It also uses new impregnation impregnation /im·preg·na·tion/ (im?preg-na´shun) 1. fertilization. 2. saturation (1). impregnation 1. the act of fertilizing or rendering pregnant. 2. saturation. technology, which reduces leakage and uses less resin. The IVW has built two prototypes, one for its lab and one for Toyota. FiberForge Inc. in the U.S. is supplying the first commercial system of its high-output tape-laying machinery for carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics. FiberForge's first hcensee, Cutting Dynamics in Avon, Ohio Avon is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,446 at the 2000 census. It is the home of the annual Avon Duct Tape Festival. It was also recently recognized by Forbes magazine as the 67th fastest-growing city in America with a 41. , will use the ALS Als (äls), Ger. Alsen, island, 121 sq mi (313 sq km), Sønderjylland co., S Denmark, in the Lille Bælt, separated from the mainland by the narrow Alensund. (automated layup system) equipment to make seat frames for commercial aircraft, replacing aluminum. FiberForge has licensed a second system as well. The patented technology lightly tacks carbon-fiber/thermoplastic tape at precise locations on a flat 2D thermoplastic blank (U.S. Pat. 6607626). This is much faster than robotically laying wet tape onto a 3D part blank. The flat, near-net "tailored blank" is then thermoformed into a 3D shape (U.S. Pat. 6939423). Directional fiber placement optimizes strength and stiffness. The tape head is fixed over a moving table with three axes of movement: x and y flatbed tractors and a rotating top. The fully automated system produces a part in less than 4 min. It's currently sized for blanks up to 1 meter square, but Fiberforge says systems could be built to form parts up to 2 or 3 m square. Core components of Fiberforge's system are built by Accudyne Systems. Ingersoll Machine Tools introduced a system to heat thermoset or thermoplastic carbon-fiber prepregs with infrared lamps to make them tacky before placing them on a mold. IR heat is more even and controllable than the conventional use of hot gas jets. News In RTM molding Shoreteam Co. in France, an R&D group for RTM technology, showed a new trimless Inside Channel Process for RTM, which fills parts using a single entry port for resin and a single vacuum port. Rosin goes into a channel inside the core layer of the fiber sandwich, so the part needs no trimming after molding. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LOF LOF Loss Of Frame LOF Loss of Function LOF Leap of Faith LOF Line Of Fire LOF Lord of the Flies (book by William Golding) LOF Lots of Fun LOF Length of File LOF Lube, Oil, & Filter tech Sarl in France has developed a patented one-shot RTM system to make a seamless hollow part using a bladder. LOF tech molds a one-piece kayak, which went into production last February. Resoltech Sarl in France collaborated by developing a very low-viscosity epoxy for the process. The technology, which LOF tech offers for license, is also being used to produce long, thin, hollow parts like sailboat spars. Roctool Sas in France (U.S. office in Atlanta), introduced a high-speed RTM process using its Cage System of electromagnetic induction-heated molds to reduce cycle time by as much as 50%. Since only the surface of the tool is heated, it heats and cools much more rapidly than conventional molds. Roctool offers licenses on this new high-speed RTM Process Faster prepreg molding Car hoods represent one of the last big opportunities on auto bodies to replace metal with plastic, so they're getting close attention. Gurit (formerly SP Systems) in the U.K., a supplier of epoxy-based prepregs, is becoming a Tier One automotive parts supplier. Gurit (North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. office in Canada) is building a new plant in the U.K. to mold lightweight hoods and other auto body panels for special-edition cars with short runs of around 3000 parts. Gurit's process doesn't need an autoclave autoclave Vessel, usually of steel, able to withstand high temperatures and pressures. The chemical industry uses various types of autoclaves in manufacturing dyes and in other chemical reactions requiring high pressures. to remove air bubbles during molding. Its Sprint CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. (car body sheet) multi-layer film/fiber laminates are molded in a heated tool, followed by a semi-closed tool process with a vacuum bag. The process, developed under a U.K. government research grant, reportedly makes lower-cost parts than traditional carbon-fiber prepregs. The hood is made of a single layer of Sprint CBS prepreg, which has dry fibers on the surfaces, epoxy resin films underneath, and a syntactic-foam core in the center. Gurit cuts the prepreg material automatically, assembles it in kits, cures and consolidates the kitted material in a vacuum press with relatively low-cost tooling, which removes the air. Then the panel is molded with a light SF95 surfacing film to pull air away from the surface and suppress fiber read-through. Cycle time is 60 min at 248 F or 30 min at 266 F, compared with several hours in an autoclave. Hoods demold with a ready-to-paint surface, Gurit says, and are then primed, painted and lacquered lac·quer n. 1. Any of various clear or colored synthetic coatings made by dissolving nitrocellulose or other cellulose derivatives together with plasticizers and pigments in a mixture of volatile solvents and used to impart a high gloss to . The hoods go into production this summer. Innomat GmbH and Dr. Mirtsch GmbH in Germany have developed a continuous in-line prepreg "structuring" and curing process that imprints a continuous pattern of hexagonal hex·ag·o·nal adj. 1. Having six sides. 2. Containing a hexagon or shaped like one. 3. Mineralogy indentations onto sheet without the wall thinning seen with conventional embossing embossing, process of producing upon various materials designs or patterns in relief by mechanical means. The material is pressed between a pair of dies especially adapted to its hardness and the depth of the design needed. . The regular indented in·dent 1 v. in·dent·ed, in·dent·ing, in·dents v.tr. 1. To set (the first line of a paragraph, for example) in from the margin. 2. a. honeycomb pattern honeycomb pattern A reticulated or net-like pattern with relative periodicity in a 2-D plane Bone radiology An HP is seen in a plain skull film as patchy new bone fills in underlying osteoporosis circumscripta is typical of Paget's disease of bone Pulmonology increases sheet stiffness and allows thinner sheet to be used. Such 3D "structuring" has been used for a decade in metal sheeting but is new to thermoset plastics. The continuous process takes thermoset prepreg, "structures" it, and cures it in-line with either light or heat. Innomat developed the prepreg formulation, and Dr. Mirtsch built the heating and structuring machinery, which uses elements on rolling wheels to indent To align text some number of spaces to the right of the left margin. See hanging paragraph. the pattern. Scholz Maschinenbau in Germany has built what is believed to be the first microwave composite autoclave for R&D at the German Aerospace Agency (DLR DLR Dollar(s) DLR Dealer DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center) DLR Docklands Light Railway (London, UK) DLR Dynamic Language Runtime ) in Braunschweig, Germany. It reportedly can cure carbon-fiber prepregs faster and more efficiently than convection heating the whole mass of the autoclave with hot air. The R&D autoclave is equipped with microwave heating at one end and conventional electric heating Electric heating Methods of converting electric energy to heat energy by resisting the free flow of electric current. Electric heating has several advantages: it can be precisely controlled to allow a uniformity of temperature within very narrow limits; it is at the other, allowing tests that compare or combine the two. Microwave ovens have been developed before to heat prepregs more efficiently, but without autoclave pressure. Pressure improves the evenness of prepreg heating, Scholz says. The microwave autoclave is 1.6 m diam. x 4 m long and has 96 microwave field emitters. Automating wet sprayup Two exhibitors showed new robotics to automate sprayup systems for more repeatable processing of very large composite parts. Matrasur Composites in France showed new integration of robots into what is reportedly the first 100%-automated sprayup process. Matrasur offers three types of robots: teachable teach·a·ble adj. 1. That can be taught: teachable skills. 2. Able and willing to learn: teachable youngsters. Robomat, conventional Robostrat, and fiber-cutting Usimat. Operators don't need special qualifications to program Robomat, a lightweight, carbon-fiber, six-axis robot, which is installed on a bridge that adds six additional axes. The robot is programmed via lead-through teaching. The operator holds the robot's spray gun and leads it through a sprayup routine with gel coat, resin, or resin and glass. Afterward, the operator pushes a button to record it for the robot. The robot can then reproduce the same gesture alone. ABB's robotics div. in the U.S. has also devised (but not yet built) a robot capable of spraying gel coat onto wind-energy blades of any length. ABB n. 1. Among weavers, yarn for the warp. Hence, Noun 1. ABB - an urban hit squad and guerrilla group of the Communist Party in the Philippines; formed in the 1980s uses an unusually flexible, wall-mounted, six-axis robot, model IRB IRB See: Industrial Revenue Bond 5500, which ABB launched last year. It has a reach comparable to a standard robot on a 6-meter rail. When the already long-armed robot is mounted on rails, it can spray gel coat on wind blades of any length, ABB says. NEED TO KNOW MORE? For more information on these companies or their products, visit www.ptonline.com/suppliers ABB Inc., Auburn Hills, Mich. (248) 391-9000 * www.abb.com Accudyne Systems Inc., Newark, Del. (302) 369-5390 * www.accudyne.com FiberCore Europe, Rotterdam, Netherlands +31 (10) 476-5858 * www.fibercore-europe.com FiberForge, Glenwood Springs, Colo. (970) 945-9377 * www.fiberforge.com Jim D. Gray & Assoc., Richardson, Texas Richardson is a suburb in Dallas County and Collin County, Texas. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 91,803, while according to a 2006 estimate, the population had grown to 99,200. (972) 699-9976 * www.surface-generation.com Gurit, Magog, Que. (819) 847-2182 * www.gurit.com Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc., Rockford, III. (815) 987-6012 * www.ingersoll.ccm Innomat GmbH, Teltow, Germany +49 (3328) 33 02 58 * www.innomat-gmbh.de IVW Institut fur Verbundwerksteffe GmbH, Kaiserslautern, Germany +49 (631) 201 70 * www.ivw.uni-kl.de Matrasur Composites, Marcoussis, France +33 (169) 80 18 01 * www.matrasurcomposites.com Dr. Mirtsch GmbH, Teltow, Germany +49 (3328) 30 58 02 * www.woelbstruktur.de Resoltech Sarl, Eguilles, France +33 (380) 46 80 01 * www.resoltech.com Roctool North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Atlanta (866) 260-2572 * www.roctool.com Scholz Maschinenbau GmbR, Coesfeld, Germany +49 (2541) 745-0 * www.scholz-maschinenbau.de Shoreteam Co., Caen, France +33 (231) 06 05 65 * www.shoreteam.org By Jan H. Schut, Senior Editor |
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