Abstract
Carbon fiber reinforced composites are widely used in many industries due to their high performance. Its application in the aerospace industry has increased significantly, however, in mass produced automobile sector it is still limited. The current production of carbon fiber tow is slow and capital intensive. Thus, carbon manufactures produce higher tow counts to increase production rate to reduce its cost. In order to offset the higher cost of carbon fiber composite, an innovative and unique approach has been developed. The higher tow count carbon spools are split into smaller tow counts. Due to the delicate nature of carbon fiber, it is important to control the filamentation during that process. Different splitting process line strategies have been developed in this research work for understanding the process limitations and challenges involved. The process was made feasible for production by developing a fully automated process line with a laser feedback system. The system splits a 12K spool into two 6K tows. The quality of the 6K split tows has been determined statistically by recording real time data from the laser during the splitting process. It was demonstrated that the proposed process effectively controls filamentation and produces consistent tow quality.
Highlights
In order to offset the higher cost of carbon fiber composite, an innovative and unique approach has been developed
Different splitting process line strategies have been developed in this research work for understanding the process limitations and challenges involved
The superior mechanical performance of carbon composites has significantly increased its application in the aerospace industry
Summary
The superior mechanical performance of carbon composites has significantly increased its application in the aerospace industry. The carbon manufacturers are developing new methods to produce low-cost precursor and investigating economical production methods. Tows with a higher count (number of filaments) are produced to reduce its cost. There are several industrial applications where finer tows are desirable due to better drapability and mechanical performance such as discontinuous robotic preforming. The tow count has a profound influence on the performance of discontinuous fiber composites. Rondeau [2] has compared the stiffness and strength of 12k, 6k and 3k discontinuous fiber composites to unidirectional continuous prepreg counterparts. It has been observed that the finer tow count showed better stiffness and strength retention compared to the 12k and 6k composites.
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