Thermoplastic composite processing has advanced significantly in the past several years. Beginning with stamp forming of consolidated laminates, which can now be considered commonplace, the next level of the state-of-the-art is in-situ fiber placement. LM PAEK prepregs have arrived on the scene with the advantage of up to 55°C (131°F) lower processing temperatures and significantly lower viscosity compared to PEEK prepregs, while delivering similar performance. This translates into faster cycle times, lower costs and improved in-situ processing.LM PAEK prepreg material forms span the familiar architectures including fabrics, UD tape, slit UD tapes and fabrics, and chopped prepreg bulk molding compounds. TenCate's Cetex? TC1225 slit UD tape has been demonstrated to yield up to 200 mm/s automated fiber placement (AFP) deposition rates for near void free in-situ lamination with higher speeds anticipated in the near future. Much higher rates can also be run if the AFP process is followed by out of autoclave (OoA) consolidation to reduce porosity. The OoA consolidation step yields a laminate that is on par with automated tape laying (ATP).Producing design allowables and the qualification of any new material system for aerospace use is always an intense and costly process. TenCate is enabling the introduction of LM PAEK prerpeg by working with NCAMP to produce a publically available database for T700/TC1225 UD prepreg.
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