Application of load adapted hybrid textiles for a thermoplastic seat pass-through

The potential of a continuous non-crimp fabric (NCF) process with implemented offset technologies is being demonstrated by a case study of a seat pass-through. Topology optimization with the relevant load cases and the construction of a load adapted composite design is presented with a weight saving of up to 18 percent. Inverse draping identifies a two-dimensional development of the construction and prepares it for the production based on the textile technology restrictions. The down-stream process ability of such produced textiles was investigated by impregnating heavy tows with polypropylene on laboratory scale and subsequent material characterization of the resulting laminates. The impregnation and consolidation of the seat pass-through is performed by employing load path adapted semi-finished products by using novel variothermal, fluid-based pressing. This allows a better control over the dynamic impregnation and unwanted fiber washing due to the large gradient of the areal weight. The final processing in injection moulding tool of the reference component shows the applicability of the technology also in existing process chains and illustrates the potential of the consistent consideration of a load adapted composite design in the development process.