Hot single-point incremental forming of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (PA6GF47) supported by hot air

摘要

Glass-fiber-reinforced polymers (GFRP) are used in a wide range of applications, especially in the aerospace industry, in lightweight constructions and in the production of medical implants. The utilization of unautomated forming is more time-consuming and costly for recently applied processes in the production of medical implants. Consequently, there is a need for an alternative process to reduce the manufacturing costs and time while improving product quality. Therefore, a new forming method was proposed to form GFRP. This method utilizes single-point incremental forming assisted by hot air heating to form the GFRP of a thermoplastic base matrix polyamide 6. The GFRP sheet was sandwiched between combinations of two Teflon layers and metal sheets. The Teflon was applied to improve the forming behaviour of the GFRP. The metal sheets were used to protect the GFRP from friction exerted by the forming tool and to reduce the flow of the melted matrix polymer out of the woven fiber. As a result, conical profiles formed well till reaching a wall angle of 55 degrees. Internal cracks and voids started to appear in the formed profile when reaching the wall angle of 50 degrees. The results are presented regarding the investigation of the experimental process. The proposed method can easily be applied to form GFRP parts. Furthermore, it can be considered as a prototype process, especially in the production of aerospace parts medical implants.