Innovative Product Development of a Three-dimensional Thermoplastic FRP Structure in the In-situ AFP Process

The AFP process with in-situ consolidation allows for automated production of thermoplastic composite structures without the need for a curing process of the resin. Due to the thermoplastic matrix of the composite, it is possible to produce structures for the use as inlays for overmoulding or compression moulding processes. This enables to produce innovative function integrated hybrid multi material parts. In this paper it is demonstrated how such structures can be produced based on an innovative approach for the design of an electric wheel hub engine rotor. A polyphthalamide (PPA) based carbon fibre reinforced unidirectional (UD) tape is used in an in-situ AFP process to produce three dimensional parts as inlays for an overmoulding process. One of the major challenges in in-situ consolidation is to maintain homogenous process temperatures over the three-dimensional placement path of the UD tape to ensure a homogenous quality. The bonding quality of the inlays is estimated by determining the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and comparing it to the ILSS measured on flat laminates manufactured in in-situ tape placement trials in previous work, as well as based on micro-sections.