JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #91 - August/September 2014 - 21

ROI

The future of thermoplastic composites -
an application roadmap

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt. Ing. Günther Schuh
Dipl.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt. Ing. Myron Graw, M. Sc.
Dipl.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt. Ing. Alexander Kermer-Meyer
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

ightweight components
and their energy-efficient
production will be a major
challenge for the European
industry. Nowadays, only specialized and semi-automated
manufacturing equipment is
available for 3D-shaped, multilayered products based on flexible materials. The "Integrated
Process Chain for Automated
and Flexible Production of
Fibre-Reinforced Plastic
Products (FibreChain)" project
aims at the development of
manufacturing systems for
fibre-reinforced thermoplastic
composites (FRTC) intended
for public and private transportation, mechanical, chemical
and civil engineering, as well as
consumer goods.

Technological solutions
To achieve a flexible volume
production, the synergies of
efficient primary shaping technologies such as laser-assisted

tape placement and reshaping
technologies such as thermoforming are fully exploited.
Tape placement allows the
automated production of large
structural components (e.g. fuselages and wings), developable
parts (e.g. pipes, tanks, shafts
and tailbooms) and tailored
composite sheets, as well as the
local reinforcement of finished
and semi-finished goods with
a single manufacturing unit.
While tape placement is one
of the most flexible processes
available, thermoforming is one
of the most productive. Thermoforming allows the reshaping
of composite sheets and tubes
(tailored, locally reinforced or
standard) into complex shapes
(e.g. car body components or
fuel lines) with cycle times of
less than a minute. In conjunction with sophisticated new
tools for cutting (laser cutting,
milling) and joining (laser
joining, welding, fastening)
of thermoplastic composites,
the utilization of rapid and
precise quality assurance tools

On the verge of advancement to serial production of composite components, suppliers
are facing the challenge to decide which infrastructure to build to achieve a fast return
on investment and to be competitive in future
markets. A technology- and market-requirement based roadmap for sustainable success
has been developed.

(laser scanners) and a control
environment that is applicable
to all the main industrial routing systems (joint-arm robot,
gantries, machine tools) will
make it possible to establish an
industrially relevant process
chain requiring low investments.
To further synchronize the
production of thermoplastic
composites with inputs from
lean manufacturing, multipurpose equipment - such
as thermoforming systems
enabling the in-situ integration
of inserts into composite parts
within thermoforming and a
multi-functional laser source
suitable for tape placement,
cutting and joining of composites - has been developed.
Taking into account the sensitivity of thermoplastic composites to the endured thermal
loads, all processing actions
come along with simulation
and testing tasks, to allow the
validation and advancement
of a performance prediction

No91 August - September 2014 /

software program.
The transfer of thermoplastic
composite systems into major
markets also requires material innovations. Within the
FibreChain project, new fibre
sizings have been developed to
reduce the cost of thermoplastic composites. Furthermore,
systems and processes are being
developed to ensure, on the
one hand, the flexible manufacture of high-performance,
unidirectional fibre-reinforced
tapes with reduced costs and,
on the other hand, the highvolume production of low-cost,
fabric-reinforced composite
sheets. Figure 1 provides a full
overview of the FibreChain
project.
Having manufacturing solutions available that allow the
flexible volume production of
composite components, the
question arises on which product and industries should technology development focus on.
On a short-term perspective,

jec composites magazine 21

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #91 - August/September 2014

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