ECONOMIC PRODUCTION OF HOLLOW PARTS MADE OF THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES

摘要

Usually hollow or complex shaped parts are made in several manufacturing steps that alwaysrncontain a joining step. In principle the joining of thermoplastic composites (TPC) could bernintegrated in the process, because during processing the thermoplastic matrix is molten. Thernmolten state offers the opportunity to join complex shells together or furthermore to weld insertsrnin one shot.rnThe modified diaphragm forming technique provides the possibility to form hollow structures orrnparts with undercuts in one shot without a joining step. In this process an inflatable bladder isrnplaced into a TPC-preform made from commingled yarns which again is placed between tworndiaphragms. During the heating step the bladder membrane is inflated, in order to achieve a goodrnheat transfer to the heated cavity. After the matrix is molten the whole setup is transferred intornthe next station, where the membrane is inflated again in order to form the preform into a cooledrncavity. The paper will explain how this technique works in detail and will show its potential tornproduce complex parts in small batches at low costs.