The 12 most commonly used carbon fiber composite molding processes

Fiber composites from the final part of the pre-diffuse material, the need to use the molding process for processing. With the development of carbon fiber technology, carbon fiber composite molding process is also making progress, but the various molding processes of fiber composite materials do not exist in the way of updating the sea, often multi-industry coexist, to achieve no conditions, no good effect under the conditions.
Jet molding process
belongs to the hand lake process in the low-pressure molding category, the use of short-cut fibers and resin after the gun mix, compressed air sprayed on the mold, reached a predetermined thickness, and then manually pressed with rubber rollers, and then cured molding . A semi-mechanized molding process created to improve hand paste molding has a certain degree of improvement in efficiency, but still can not meet the mass production, used to make car body, hull, bath red, tank transition layer.
turbed molding
will be impregnated by resin adhesive continuous fiber or cloth belt according to a certain law wrapped to the core mold, and then cured, film-stripping into a composite material products process, carbon fiber winding molding can give full play to its high-ratio strength, high-ratio modulus and low density characteristics, the product structure is single, can be used to create cylinders, spheres and some positive curvature swing body or simplified carbon fiber products.
Liquid Forming
transforms the liquid monomer into a polymer, and then changes the process from polymer curing reaction to composite material to complete it directly in the mold at the same time, reducing the energy consumption during the process and shortening the model cycle (a product can be completed in about 2 minutes). However, the application of this process, must be based on accurate pipeline transmission and metering and automatic temperature pressure control, belong to the cross-category of molecular materials and modern high-rise science and technology, the current application is not very wide.
liquid molding mainly include: RTM molding process, RFI molding, VARI molding. The main advantage of resin membrane penetration (RFI) molding process is that the mold is simpler than RTM process mold, resin thickness direction flow, easier to soak fiber, no pre-immersion material, low cost, but the resulting product size accuracy and surface quality such as RTM process, high clearance content, efficiency is also slightly lower, suitable for large flat or simple surface parts.the advantages of
vacuum assisted molding process (VARD) are high utilization rate of raw materials, the least parts finishing process, no pre-immersion materials, low cost, suitable for the production of large-scale wall panel structural parts at room temperature or temperature is not high, but the disadvantages and RFI molding process is similar.
resin transfer molding (RTM)
Resin Transfer Molding (RTM:Resin Transfer Molding) technology is a low-cost composite material manufacturing method, the most commonly used in aircraft sub-load structures, such as hatches and inspection caps, in 1996, the U.S. Defense Pre-Research Agency carried out high-strength main force components of low-cost RTM manufacturing technology research. RTM technology is efficient. Low-cost, good quality, high dimensional accuracy, small environmental impact and other advantages, can be applied to the large volume, complex structure, high strength of composite parts molding, has become a few years in the field of aerospace materials processing research one of the most active direction.
moulated molding
will be carbon fiber pre-immersion material between the upper and lower molds, die molds will be placed on the hydraulic molding table, after a certain period of high temperature and high pressure to cure the resin, remove carbon fiber products, this molding technology has high efficiency, good quality, high dimensional accuracy, small impact by ring filling and other advantages, suitable for batch, high strength composite parts molding. However, the pre-mold construction is complex, the input is high, the size of the part is limited by the size of the press.
Injection Molding
This is a new technology, Bole CIML equipment integrates the traditional "multi-step" process into a "one-step approach", greatly shortens the process, and better retains the fiber length, to achieve energy-saving and efficient production purposes. By addressing a series of key technical problems such as formulation optimization, mixing system, intelligent control system and molding process parameter optimization in material-equipment-manufacturing, it can be completely satisfied with the needs of automotive lightweight products in terms of strength, cost, efficiency and so on.
hand paste molding a wet auxiliary layer molding method
apply release agent on the mold work surface, glue, will be cut carbon fiber pre-immersion cloth laid to the mold work surface, brushing or spraying resin system glue, to achieve the desired thickness, molding curing, molding. In the preparation technology is highly developed today, hand paste process is still simple technology, low investment, wide application and other advantages in petrochemical containers, storage tanks, automotive shells and many other fields widely used, its disadvantages are loose texture, low density, product strength is not high, and mainly rely on labor, quality is unstable, production efficiency is very low.
surgent hot-press tank
will be a single layer of pre-immersion material in the intended direction of the composite blanks stacked in the hot-press tank, at a certain temperature and pressure to complete the curing process, hot-press tank is a can withstand and control a certain temperature, pressure range of the special pressure vessel, blanks are placed with a release agent The mold surface, and then in turn with a porous anti-stick cloth (film), absorbent felt, breathable felt cover, and sealed in a vacuum bag, and then put into a hot pressure tank, heating and curing before the bag will be inserted into a vacuum, remove air and volatiles, and then according to the curing system of different resins heat up, pressurization, curing. The formulation and implementation of the curing system is the key to ensure the quality of thermopression tank molding parts, vacuum thermopress tank molding workers have many advantages, not only can cure different thickness laminates and manufacturing complex surface parts, the mechanics are also very reliable, but the corresponding vacuum hot pressure tank molding also has some disadvantages, such as the size of the production tank by the size of the pressure tank, and high energy consumption, resulting in higher operating costs.
surgery import
called VIP, in the mold laid "dry" fiber composite material, and then lay the vacuum bag, and pull out the vacuum in the system, in the mold cavity to form a negative pressure, the use of vacuum pressure to pressure the unsaturated resin through the pre-paved lines into the fiber layer, so that the resin immersed in the reinforced material, and finally filled the entire mold, after the product curing, remove the vacuum bag material, from the mold to get the required products. In the vacuum environment resin soaked carbon fiber, the foam produced in the product is very few, the strength of the product is higher, the quality is lighter, the product quality is more stable, and reduces the loss of resin, only one mold can get two sides of the smooth flat one of the products, can better control the product thickness, generally used in the boat industry rudder, radar shield, wind power energy blades, cabin cover, automotive industry in various types of vehicle quality, windscreen, etc.
3iTech Induction Heating
A new induction heating process that integrates sensors into the mold, processing carbon fibers at temperatures of 20 to 400 degrees C and heating the mold surface with sensors integrated inside the mold. This is a complementary technology introduced by the start-up RocTool company on the Cage system, using electromagnetic induction can quickly add mold, and can control local temperature, the advantage is to significantly reduce cycle time and component costs, but at present this technology is not suitable for large parts, and the associated output must be large enough.
-laminated molding
will be layer-by-layer pre-diffuse material placed between the upper and lower plate mold pressurized temperature curing, this process can really inherit the production methods and equipment of wood glue, and according to the fluid properties of resin, to improve and improve, lamination molding process is mainly used to produce a variety of specifications, different uses of composite material sheet, with high degree of mechanization and automation, product quality stability and other characteristics, but the equipment investment.
Pull-out molding
will impregnate resin glue continuous carbon fiber wire bundle, belt or cloth, etc., under the role of traction, through extrusion mold molding, nationalization, continuous production of unlimited length profiles, pull-out molding is a special process in the composite molding process, the advantage is that the production process can be fully automated control, high production efficiency. The fiber quality score in the extruded molded products can be as high as 80%, the immersion in the tensile, can give full play to the role of the enhanced material, the product strength is high, its finished product vertical, horizontal strength can be arbitrarily adjusted, can meet the different mechanical performance requirements of the product. The process is suitable for the production of a variety of cross-sectional shapes of profiles, such as type, angle, groove, special-shaped cross-sectional pipe and the above-mentioned cross-section composition of the combination of cross-sectional profiles.