Experimental and Simulative Description of the Thermoplastic Tape Placement Process with Online Consolidation

  • The aim of this study is to describe the consolidation in thermoplastic tape placement process to obtain high quality structure, making the process viable for automotive and aerospace industrial applications. The major barrier in this technique is very short residence time of material under the consolidation roller to accomplished complete polymer diffusion in the bonded region. Hence investigation is performed to find out the optimize manufacturing parameters by extensive material, process, product testing and through process simulation. Temperature distribution and convective heat transfer under the hot gas torch is experimentally mapped out. Bonding process inside the laminate is the combine effect of layers (tapes) intimate contact Dic development and resulting polymer diffusion Dh at these contacted sections. Three energy levels are identified based on the process velocity and hot gas flow combinations. For the low energy parameter combinations, the energy input to the incoming tape and substrate material is limited and result in incomplete intimate contact which restricts the bonding process. On other hand high energy input although could increase the bonding degree Db even up to the 97%, but also activate the thermal degradation phenomena. It is found out that the rate of polymer healing (diffusion) and polymer crosslinking follows the Arrhenius laws with the activation energies of 43 KJ/mol and 276 KJ/mol. The polymer crosslinking at high temperature exposure hinder the polymer diffusion process and reduces the strength development. So the parameters combination at intermediate energy level provides the opportunity of continuous interlaminar strength improvement through out the layup process. Deformation of tape edges is identified as the dictating factor for the laminate’s transverse strength. Tape placement with slight overlap reinforced the transverse joint by more 10 % as compared to pure matrix joint. Finally the simulation tool developed in this research work is used for identifying the existing limitation to achieve full consolidation. A parameter study shows that extended consolidation either by mean of additional pass or by increasing consolidation length widens the high strength (over 90%) bonding degree Db contour. Thus high lay-up velocity (up to 7 m/min) is viable for industrial production rate.
Metadaten
Author:Muhammad Amir Khan
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:386-kluedo-47293
ISBN:978-3-934930-90-2
Series (Serial Number):IVW-Schriftenreihe (94)
Publisher:Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH
Place of publication:Kaiserslautern
Advisor:Peter Mitschang
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language of publication:English
Date of Publication (online):2017/08/09
Year of first Publication:2010
Publishing Institution:Technische Universität Kaiserslautern
Granting Institution:Technische Universität Kaiserslautern
Acceptance Date of the Thesis:2010/08/30
Date of the Publication (Server):2017/08/09
Page Number:XII, 126
Faculties / Organisational entities:Kaiserslautern - Fachbereich Maschinenbau und Verfahrenstechnik
DDC-Cassification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 620 Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau
Licence (German):Creative Commons 4.0 - Namensnennung, nicht kommerziell, keine Bearbeitung (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)