3D skeleton winding (3DSW) - Overmolding of wound continuous fiber reinforcements

Using local continuous fiber reinforcements in highly stressed component areas, the mechanical properties of injection molded structural parts can be significantly improved while maximizing the potential for lightweight design. The 3D skeleton winding process (3DSW) is a robot-based 3D filament winding approach which enables the winding of thermoplastic impregnated continuous fiber reinforcements, based on commingled yarns (CY), to complex skeleton-like fiber structures. These fiber skeletons (FS) can subsequently be embedded in the final component geometry as local continuous fiber reinforcements using conventional injection molding. The robot-based generation of FS in combination with injection molding means that this manufacturing process can also be applied in the production of highly optimized structural thermoplastic components in larger quantities. This paper presents how the characteristics of the PPS matrix used as thermoplastic filaments in the CY and as overmolding matrix affect the mechanical properties of glass fiber-reinforced tensile loop specimens. Furthermore, the general lightweight potential using wound continuous reinforcements in combination with polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is demonstrated on a generic 3D structural component.