CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/841219
NEWS 31 CompositesWorld.com We create chemistry that makes countless products love added performance BASF high performance polyurethanes and engineering plastics bring extraordinary innovation to everyday life. These breakthrough materials make vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient, buildings and infrastructure more durable and energy efficient, manufacturing process and products more efficient, and a myriad of consumer dramatically better. Big ideas. Small environmental footprint. Because at BASF, we create chemistry. www.performance-materials.basf.us on as early as 2004. A spin-off from high mileage/low-weight automotive develop- ment, it made its own tapes from large- tow carbon fiber or glass rovings and melted thermoplastic pellets (e.g., nylon), orienting the fiber into a semi-consoli- dated sheet, or tailored blank, which was then heated and pressed into a composite part. In 2008, it produced a unidirectional glass/polyethylene military backpack frame with integrated ribs in 70 seconds, with reported production of 20,000 units. Although Fiberforge was liquidated in 2013, Dieffenbacher (Eppingen, Germany) acquired the RELAY technology and has continued its development. Dieffenbach- er's Fiberforge RELAY Station, capable of 2m-by-2m parts and laydown rates to 150 kg/hr in 2014, has evolved into Fiberforge 4.0 (Fig. 5, p. 29). is more recent devel- opment boasts material throughput of 490 kg/hr with a layup time of less than 1 second per course, and it has the ability to combine as many as four types of tape in one part. Further, version 4.0 reportedly can interface with other Dieffenbacher automated systems to produce more than 1 million parts/yr from a single production line. "Fiberforge 4.0 is a game changer," contends Dieffenbacher's director of technology and business development Matthias Graf, "and we expect that it will bring a breakthrough for composites in the automobile industry." More to come e examples mentioned here are not exhaustive. Other early preforming pioneers, such as Coriolis Composites (Queven, France), also are at work on faster evolutions of AFP for automotive preforms, including glass fiber/polyamide prepreg tape loops, which are overmolded to produce composite engine mounts. And new players continue to emerge. Voith Composites (Garching bei München, Germany), for example, launched its Voith Roving Applicator at JEC World 2017 (March 14-16, Paris, France). More detailed discussions of additional players and other preforming processes, plus news about standardized drapability testing, preform simulation software and specific solutions for aerospace and wind energy structures, can be found online in the CW Blog Automated Preforming series | short.compos- itesworld.com/AutoPFBlog. All that to say this: Given the ongoing activity — already commercial and potential — it's already clear that preforming is unlikely to remain a composites production bottleneck. And in Part 2, CW will explore new solutions for forming fabrics, 3D and continuous preforming processes and the latest in tailored fiber placement (TFP) technology. CW senior editor Ginger Gardiner has an engineering/materials background and more than 20 years of experience in the composites industry. ginger@compositesworld.com Automated Preforming, Part 1