Thermal Analysis for Thermoplastic Composite Tow/Tape Preheating and Pultrusion

Abstract

The on-line consolidation of thermoplastic composites is a relatively new technology that can be used to manufacture composite parts with complex geometries. The localized melting/solidification technique employed in this process can reduce the residual stresses and allow for improved dimensional stability and performance. An additional advantage of this technique is elimination of the curing steps that are necessary in the processing of thermoset-matrix composites. This paper discusses analytical and numerical anisotropic thermal analysis for preheating and/or pultrusion of impregnated composite tows or tapes. Heat of melting/solidification is included in the form of a heat generation term. A separation of variable method is employed to solve the governing equations analytically. In the numerical analysis, the governing equations are discretized using a nonuniform mesh and solved employing a finite difference approach. The processing parameters, such as processing speed, heat intensity, heat source width, etc., as well as material properties are incorporated in the analysis. The maximum error between the analytical solution and the numerical result is found to be 1%.