Produktorientierte Auswahl von Handhabungstechnologien für textile Preforms

Worldwide, more and more products are made of composites. This is due on the one hand to their unique lightweight design properties, but also to the possibility of implementing directed properties by adapting the material in the product and increasing its functionality. Due to the different applications and presentations of the starting products, there is a wide range of established process chains. This implies dedicated production technologies in order to be able to manufacture complex shaped FRP components quality-assured and economically. A central key is textile preforming with its interlinking handling steps, which are discussed in this paper. Here, too, handling solutions play an important role, the implementation of which is inadequate from the point of view of textile technology, since the properties of textile structures are not taken into account. Methods are needed that extend the automation approach to include the textile-technical aspect of handling in textile preforming. This is done by providing methods and technologies that allow damage-free handling of textile reinforcement structures. The central aspect of the method is the introduction of a standardised test procedure which enables the quantified comparison of grippers beyond technological limits (form closure, force closure, etc.). This procedure is supported by mutual technological developments of simulation approaches and grippers. Especially for the needle gripper a high economic and technological potential is shown and thus a high industrial relevance is confirmed. Here the complete reset of the reinforcement textile was validated (~0° fiber deviation). This work thus contributes to the reclassification of the needle gripper compared to the state of the art in textile preforming