Continuous thermoforming of unidirectional fiber reinforced tapes for the manufacturing of 3D lightweight components

To achieve lightweight parts with high mechanical requirements fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are an attractive alternative to metallic materials. In particular fiber placement enables the manufacturing of load optimized parts. Thereby the fibers are aligned along the main load directions and can carry the main share of the total load. By using a fiber steering even curved fiber paths are feasible. Fully impregnated thermoplastic tapes proved as one of the most reliable, efficient and automated technologies. However due to material properties the fiber steering of thermoplastic tapes is more complex to thermoset based tapes or prepregs and there are no technologies available yet. Fraunhofer IPT developed a process to manufacture complex geometries by thermoplastic tape placement without damaging the tape. A conditioning of the tape curves the tape lateral and enables the placement of curved paths without warpage and distortion of the tape.