Fixation with Rtm6 Makes Preforming for Dry Fiber Placement more Economical and Avoids Influence of Additional External Material

Infusion process begins with preforming, where multiple CF layers are formed into three-dimensional shape and are fixed between fibre and mould or in-between the different fibre layers. Manual fixing process with magnet is time-consuming non-reproducible step, which requires additional carrier material and higher manufacturing tolerances. For automated fixing [1],[2] the most time-consuming and cost-ineffective process is binder application onto CF. The influence of the binder's compatibility with the resin to be infiltrated and the effect of added amount of binder on mechanical properties of cured component must also be taken into account [3]. Clear evidence of not completely dissolved binder could be observed in cured component [4]. This paper introduces a new automated fixing method, which applies the adhesive force of RTM6 resin. Due to subsequent infiltration with the same resin no indication of previously applied matrix and mechanical influences could be determined [5]. First, parameter study has been conducted for identification of holding force and quantity of resin according to layer number and position. Approximately 0,094 g/m² resin is required for first layer to hold 8 subsequently applied layers. Thereafter, robot based end-effector is developed to distribute the resin and investigated theoretically and practically on 4m diameter Pressure-Bulkhead