Original Article

Journal of Thermoplastic Composite

Materials
Experimental 2015, Vol. 28(4) 529–547
ª The Author(s) 2013
investigation of Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav

thermoforming carbon DOI: 10.1177/0892705713486133

jtc.sagepub.com

fibre-reinforced
polyphenylene sulphide
composites
Peidong Han, Joe Butterfield, Mark Price,
Saul Buchanan and Adrian Murphy

Abstract
Pre-consolidated carbon fibre-reinforced polyphenylene sulphide (CF/PPS) laminates were
thermoformed into V-shaped parts via designed out of autoclave thermoforming experi-
ments. The different processing conditions tested in the experiment have resulted in final
part angles whose differences ranged from 2.087 to 3.431 from the original mould angle.
The test results show that processing conditions influenced finished part dimensions as the
final sample angles were found to decrease relative to the tooling dimensions, as mould
temperature increases. Higher mould temperature conditions produce thinner parts due
to the thermal expansion of mould tools. The mould temperature of 170 C, which can
produce parts with high degree of crystallinity as well as small size of crystal, has been
established as the optimal thermoforming condition for CF/PPS composites.

Keywords
Thermoforming, thermoplastic composites, polyphenylene sulphide, part deformation

Introduction
Composites, in general, and carbon fibre (CF)-reinforced plastics, in particular, possess
attractive properties1–3 such as improved structural performance and lower product weight

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, UK

Corresponding author:
Peidong Han, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Ashby Building,
Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT95AH, UK.
Email: phan01@qub.ac.uk

529
530 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

Figure 1. Schematic representation of thermoforming process for thermoplastic composites.

when compared with their traditional metallic equivalents. For thermoplastic-based com-
posites, improved recyclability4,5 is another important factor as sustainability is a key
requirement for transport systems of the future. One of the major attractions of the
CF-reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPs) is the potential rapid processing rates6
that they offer compared to the existing thermoset systems that require much longer and
expensive autoclave processing. In aerospace industry, non-autoclave manufacturing of
advanced composites continues to be of interest because of significant cost advantages
compared with autoclave-based manufacturing.7 Thermoforming8–12 is a family of process
that can be used to process thermoplastic-based composite materials by the combined
action of heat and pressure. Within this family, a variety of techniques exist, which could
be used to form parts using thermoplastic composite materials. Thermoforming is a three-
stage process, involving heating of the raw material blank, coupled with thermal deconso-
lidation, followed by part forming and reconsolidation in a matched tool, with the final
process of step part ejection from the tool, as shown in Figure 1. Matched-die press form-
ing13 is a widely used thermoforming technique and is used in this work to produce the
experimental samples. With thermoforming manufacturing, the thermoplastic materials
showing voids or defects can be reconsolidated to eliminate the defects. Complex three-
dimensional parts can be shaped or formed from a flat consolidated sheet.
Unlike traditional metallic components, composite structures exhibit more complicated
geometric behaviours based on their complex processing history as the assembly of a
structure within the material supplements the eventual assembly of parts into a completed
product. Process-induced deformations mainly affect the dimensional control of finished
components, and this can lead to increased costs as parts become more difficult and there-
fore more time consuming to fit in place during assembly. For CFRTP parts, which can be
prone to geometric variability during thermoforming processing, there is a need for experi-
mental investigation that takes account of these behaviours. The experimental investiga-
tion should also evaluate the performance of thermoformed parts under different
processing conditions and finally establish the optimal forming condition for the material
used in this work. Understanding the deformation behaviour of CFRTPs through experi-
mental investigation can support the mould design in manufacturing as well as tolerance
analysis in assembly process. Realistic composite geometries can then be used to inform
tolerance allocation during product design and manufacturing planners are also better

530
Han et al. 531

Table 1. Characteristic temperatures of neat CETEX1 PPS.

Tg Tc1 Tc2 Tm

90 C 120 C 240 C 280 C

PPS: polyphenylene sulphide; Tg: glass transition temperature; Tc1: first crystallization
temperature; Tc2: second crystallization temperature; Tm: melting temperature.

informed, thereby improving the likelihood of achieving tolerances as parts are formed and
products are assembled.

Method
Experiment design
In this work, test samples were manufactured from a commercially available pre-
consolidated thermoplastic laminate system consisting of continuous 5-harness satin car-
bon fibre (T300)-reinforced polyphenylene sulphide (CF/PPS) supplied by TenCate
Advanced Composites (Nijverdal, The Netherlands) (material trade name, Cetex1
PPS). The laminate consisted
of eight plies with 50% fibre volume fraction (Vf) and
layup of ðð0; 90Þ=ð45ÞÞ2 s. Samples used for the experiment measured 150 mm long
and 120 mm wide with 2.48 mm thick. In fibre-reinforced semi-crystalline polymer such
as CF/PPS, the mould temperature is an important factor in determining the crystallinity
behaviour of the composites.14,15 The crystallinity behaviour governs many performance
parameters, including impact resistance, fatigue resistance and dimensional stability at
elevated temperatures. Crystals can only form at temperatures below the second crystal-
lization temperature but above the glass transition temperature of the polymer. The sec-
ond crystallization temperature is the formation of polymer changes from random to
crystalline during solidification process when cooling down from the melt. According
to the characteristic temperatures of PPS (Table 1) used in the current work, mould tem-
perature was selected from a range between 90 and 240 C.
Mould temperatures ranging from 110 to 230 C were investigated to establish optimal
forming condition for CF/PPS composite parts. The mould temperature will affect the
deformation results of thermoforming composite parts, and it is essential for the quality of
final composite part for which the ideal processing window is very narrow. As shown in
Table 2, there were five scenarios tested in the experiment, and all the composite parts
were thermoformed using QFORM machine with V-shaped moulds. Process-induced
deformation is a common phenomenon occurring in the composite part as forming forces
and thermal cycles are applied during manufacture. The spring-in angles and thickness of
thermoformed V-shaped parts were measured with category of forming mould tem-
perature. This can be used to investigate how the processing conditions will affect the
post-forming geometries of CFRTP components. Besides geometry measurement, the
thermoformed samples also underwent differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test to
examine the degree of crystallinity (DoC) of PPS in the final composite parts. Other
tests were carried out on pure PPS to study the mould temperature effect on the size

531
532 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

Table 2. Overview of experiment design.

Sample (mm  mm  mm) 150  120  2.48 (blade)

Tool angle ( ) 92
Number of samples 5 (per temperature) (25 total)
Tool temperature ( C) 110, 140, 170, 200 and 230
Fibre orientation (((0,90)/(+45))2)S
Machine QFORM
Tool Machined aluminium
Material Fibre: woven 5-harness satin
Matrix: PPS
Fibre volume fraction: 50%

of crystal (SoC). Equivalent thermal cycles were recreated according to thermoforming

conditions of composite parts. Polarized light microscopy was used to inspect the size
of the PPS crystals. The design of DoC and SoC tests was to evaluate the mechanical per-
formance of the composite parts formed with different mould temperatures, because the
results of DoC and SoC can indicate the mechanical property of these samples. As a range
of mould temperatures has been used in the experiment, the relationship between forming
mould temperature and finished part performance can be obtained and the optimal process-
ing condition for CF/PPS laminates can be established.

Apparatus
An in-house developed QFORM thermoforming machine16 is the main manufacturing
equipment used for the experiment. A schematic diagram of this facility is shown in
Figure 2. The composite sample is initially retained on the fixture using metal wire hooks
connected to transport rail before heating in the oven to reach the processing temperature (for
CF/PPS, it is 320 C). The oven use sandwich-type heating panels above and below the sheet.
This type of heating is recommended to give even heat distribution across the thickness of the
sample.17 There are totally 12 ceramic infrared heating elements installed at the top and bot-
tom tray of the oven. Each element is measured 245 mm in length and 60 mm in width. The
temperature of the oven is controlled using a dual-zone controller (OMEGA CN79000,
Omega Engineering Ltd, Connecticut, USA) based on the feedback from the top and bottom
heaters separately. During the experiment, the target holding temperature is set as 465 C,18
according to a heat efficiency study.
After being heated, the laminate blank will be transferred to the forming station through
transport rail. The forming station mainly consists of press unit, mould tools and mould
heating system. The 60-kN electromechanical press unit supplied from PROMESS (Berlin,
Germany) is suitable for precise and flexible press and positioning tasks. The main para-
meters of the press unit are specified in Table 3. The pressing, holding and demoulding
processes in the forming station are fully programmed through displacement control. The
speed of pressing is controlled as well. The top mould started with a speed of 75 mm/s to
move downwards to the target position set by the displacement control. The high-speed
mould clamping is to prevent excessive temperature drop of the sample due to air cooling.

532
Han et al. 533

Figure 2. Schematic representation of composite thermoforming machine.

Table 3. Specifications of PROMESS press unit used in thermoforming system.

Main functions Others

Nominal load (kN) +60 Type UFM 60/180/120

Stroke (mm) 180 Reference no. 374087
Maximum speed (mm/s) 120 System accuracy (%) <1
Acceleration (mm/s2) 500 Nominal temperature Approximately 20
range ( C) to þ60
Distance resolution (mm) 0.053 Operating temperature Approximately 30
range ( C) to þ70
Repeatability of positioning <0.01 Holding time of max load (h) >1
(mm)

The velocity slowed down to 5 mm/s when the mould is 2 mm away from its objective
position as the high-speed mould involved inertia force may damage the composite part.
A mould frame is configured to connect the press unit and pass force to forming tools.
Therefore, the mould tools are exchangeable as long as they are designed with the assem-
bly feature to the mould frame. Chemical release agent (Alkanes, C7-10-ISO) was painted
on the tool surface to facilitate part removal after demoulding. PID controllers (CAL 3200)
are used to keep the temperature of the cartridge heaters heated moulds at a set constant
value. The cartridge heaters are 150 mm length and 10 mm diameter. The mould

533
534 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

Figure 3. The set-up of thermoforming apparatus in experiment.

temperature is an important processing condition for composite thermoforming and will

decisively affect the performance of finished part. Insulation boards are inserted between
the heated tools and mould frame to prevent the heat transfer to press unit, which requires
operation temperature ranging from 30 to 70 C. During the whole thermoforming pro-
cess, the temperature of the composite sample is monitored and recorded using an eight-
channel thermocouple universal serial bus data acquisition module with sampling interval
of 2 s.
Figure 3 shows the experiment set-up used for thermoforming of V-shaped CF/PPS
part. Detailed design geometry of the forming moulds is shown in Figure 4.

Thermoforming procedure
For each run of the experiment, the CF/PPS laminate sample was heated in the oven to the
forming temperature of 320 C. Once heated, the soft and pliable sample was transferred
into the forming station where it was forced into a three-dimensional shape by the mould
tools. During the press, the bottom mould was stationary and the top mould was moved
downwards through displacement control. The final position of the top mould was set
to keep the distance between the moulds the same as the thickness of the original sample
(2.48 mm). For different scenarios, the forming moulds were heated and held at a constant
temperature, that is, 110, 140, 170, 200 and 230 C, respectively. The part was maintained

534
Han et al. 535

Figure 4. V-shaped mould design for thermoforming experiment.

Figure 5. Sample from pre-consolidated laminate to V-shape final part.

in the moulds for 180 s after being clamped between the tools. After that, the top mould
was moved back to the original position by programmed command and the final part was
formed after demoulding, as shown in Figure 5. For each run of the experiment, the parts
were immediately removed from the bottom mould after the top mould was lifted up. The
parts were then further naturally cooled to ambient temperature outside the mould.
The formed part was placed on a laboratory table during the natural cooling stage with the
L-shaped edge contacting the tabletop. The thermoformed final parts were used for
further inspection such as spring-in angle, thickness measurement and DSC test.
The sample temperature during the whole thermoforming process was monitored and
recorded using a thermocouple data acquisition module. The temperature profiles of
samples formed with different mould conditions are shown in Figure 6. The samples
shared similar temperature climb at heating stage in the oven. Then, significant tem-
perature drop was observed when samples were transferred from heating oven to forming
station. Their temperature stabilized at constant value when clamped in preheated moulds.

535
536 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

350
Heating Mould clamped Demoulding and natural cooling

300

250 230°C
Sample temperature (°C)

200°C
200
170°C

150 140°C

110°C
100

50

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Time (s)

Figure 6. Temperature profile recorded for samples during thermoforming experiment.

After demoulding, the samples naturally cooled with different routes depending on the
mould setting. These temperature curves are important basis for recreating equivalent
thermal cycles in simulation work.

Sample inspection
Inspection of the finished part geometries was carried out using a coordinate
measuring machine (CMM). CMM is a three-dimensional device for measuring the
physical geometrical characteristics of an object. The CMM used in the current work
is Brown & Sharpe (Rhode Island, USA) MICROXCEL PFX with 0.5 mm accuracy.
This machine can be controlled both manually and by computer. Measurements are
defined by a probe attached to the third moving axis (vertical) of this machine, as
shown in Figure 7. Both the inner surface and outer surface angles were measured
for each sample. For each side of V-shaped parts, the angle was calculated using two
planes, which were defined using 20 sample points on each surface. This facilitated
the accurate determination of the sample angle, avoiding the possibility of errors
arising from single angular measurements, which would have been possible using
a Vernier protractor, for example. The thickness of the formed CF/PPS part was
measured using micrometer screw gauge. Five positions on each side of the V-
shaped part were measured, and the thickness of the part is represented using the
average value.

536
Han et al. 537

Figure 7. Coordinate measuring machine inspection on finished V-shaped part.

Results
By comparing the finished V-shaped part angle and original mould angle, significant
deformation was observed. Figure 8 shows the spring-in angle of a 170 C mould-
formed composite part. A 2.525 gap was measured on one side surface between the part
and tool when contacting their other side surface together. The mould angle (92 ) rep-
resents ‘as designed’ part shape and the finished part angle (89.457 ) ‘as manufactured’
part form. Therefore, there is inconsistency of ‘as designed’ part geometry and ‘as man-
ufactured’ part form in composite thermoforming.

All the V-shaped composite parts ðð0; 90Þ=ð45ÞÞ2 s were inspected using CMM to
determine their final angles. The measured angle results under different forming mould
temperatures are shown in Figure 9. The parts formed with mould temperature of 110 C
were closest to the intended 90 part angle (89.851 average angle), followed by 140 C
(89.629 average angle), 170 C (89.496 average angle), 200 C (89.048 average angle)
and 230 C (88.507 average angle) conditions in sequence. The average sample defor-
mation angles with different mould temperature are illustrated in Figure 10. The different
processing conditions tested here have resulted in final part angle differences ranging
from nearly 2to 3.5 from the original mould angle. Generally, as the mould temperature
rises, the spring-in angle of composite part increases. Samples formed with 230 C mould

537
538 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

Figure 8. Spring-in deformation of V-shaped composite part.

get largest deformation of 3.431 in average, followed by 200 C (2.890 average spring-
in angle), 170 C (2.442 average spring-in angle), 140 (2.309 average spring-in angle)
and 110 C (2.087 average spring-in angle).
Micrometer was used to inspect the thickness of the formed CF/PPS parts. The
measured thickness results under different forming mould temperatures are shown in
Figure 11. The samples formed with 110 C mould have the thickest dimension
(2.525 mm average thickness), followed by 140 C (2.503 mm average thickness),
170 C (2.487 mm average thickness), 200 C (2.483 mm average thickness) and 230 C
(2.456 mm average thickness) conditions in sequence. The change in sample thickness
is mainly due to thermal expansion of the aluminium moulds. The stroke was controlled
in the press process through a programmed target position. However, the aluminium
moulds were heated to different temperature conditions (from 110 to 230 C), which
generated varied geometric expansions of the moulds. Higher mould temperature will
cause larger geometric expansion of the moulds, which in turn produce narrower gap
between top and bottom moulds. Therefore, the samples formed with 230 C moulds
have the thinnest dimension, while the samples formed with 110 C moulds have the
thickest dimension.
The holding forces applied when the CF/PPS parts were clamped at different mould
temperatures were recorded, as shown in Figure 12. The change in holding force is also
caused by thermal expansion of mould tools as larger force is required to squeeze the
samples when there is a smaller gap between the top and bottom moulds.

538
Han et al. 539

90.0

89.8

89.6

89.4
Finished part angle (°)

89.2

89.0

88.8

88.6

88.4

88.2

88.0
110 140 170 200 230
Forming mould temperature (°C)

Figure 9. Measured V-shaped part angle for five mould temperatures.

The angle inspection can demonstrate the mould temperature effect on final com-
posite part deformation. Although desired part shape can be achieved using an appro-
priate mould temperature, this could sacrifice some of the part quality because the
thermal condition is a key factor for finished part mechanical performance. As the
crystallization of PPS can indicate the mechanical property of CF/PPS composite,19,20
samples were tested on differential scanning calorimeter and polarized light microscopy
after CMM and micrometer measurements. The tested DSC curves (stacked by Y axis
offsets) on samples formed with different mould temperatures are shown in Figure 13.
The DSC program set for every sample comprises only a heating procedure from 30 to
330 C at 10 C/min rate.
According to these DSC curves, the DoC of PPS in the thermoformed composite parts
can be calculated from the following equation21:

Hm  Hc
%DoC ¼  100 ð1Þ
Hf ð1  Wf Þ

where Hm is the heat of fusion (endothermic), Hc is the heat of cold-crystallization

(exothermic), Hf corresponds to the heat of fusion for 100% crystalline material, Wf is
the weight fraction of fibre content in the composite. For CF/PPS composite used in the
current case, Hm and Hc are measured on the DSC curves around 280 and 120 C
area, respectively. Hf is 112 J/g and Wf is 0.5687.

539
540 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

3.6

3.4

3.2

3.0
Spring-in angle (°)

2.8

2.6

2.4

2.2

2.0

110 140 170 200 230

Forming mould temperature (°C)

Figure 10. Spring-in angles of thermoformed V-shaped parts.

2.54

2.52
Thickness of formed samples (mm)

2.50

2.48

2.46

2.44

2.42
110 140 170 200 230
Forming mould temperature (°C)

Figure 11. Measured thickness of V-shaped parts under five mould temperatures.

540
Han et al. 541

20
Holding force (kN)

15

10

0
110 140 170 200 230
Forming mould temperature (°C)

Figure 12. Holding force with different processing conditions.

230°C mould
Heat flow endo up

200°C mould

170°C mould

140°C mould

110°C mould
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Temperature (°C)

Figure 13. Differential scanning calorimetry results of samples formed with different mould
temperatures.

Figure 14 shows the DoC results of thermoformed samples as a function of mould

temperature. With the set mould temperature changes from 110 to 230 C, the DoC in the
finished composite parts initially increases to reach the maximum value at 170 C mould

541
542 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

35

30

25
Degree of crystallinity (%)

20

15

10

0
110 140 170 200 230
Forming mould temperature (°C)

Figure 14. Degree of crystallinity of polyphenylene sulphide due to different processing conditions.

and then the DoC slightly drops to 230 C mould. Parts formed with 170 C mould have
the highest DoC of 34.51%, while parts formed with 110 C mould have the lowest DoC
of 25.28%. The nearly 10% DoC gap between the samples could lead to different
mechanical behaviour of these composite parts.
To ensure excellent mechanical behaviour of PPS composites after processing,
maximum DoC is usually desired.19 However, the DoC is not the only criteria to
determine the quality of PPS composites. The size of the crystals is also important as
larger crystals will cause extensive resin volume shrinkage and can generate microcracks
in the composite. Therefore, the optimal performance of PPS composites requires high
DoC as well as small SoC. Polarized light microscopy was used to observe the crystal
size, and the specimen was prepared using microtome. Trial tests found that it is difficult
to cut thin sections (approximately 20–60 mm) from CF/PPS composites due to the
brittleness of CF. PPS film was used in this work to inspect the crystal structure.
Equivalent thermal cycles were recreated for pure PPS film according to thermoforming
conditions of composite parts. The images of PPS crystals under different forming
conditions are shown in Figure 15. The dimension of these crystals can be measured on
the polarized light microscopy pictures. Figure 16 shows the average size of the crystals
with different forming mould temperatures. Samples formed with 170 C tools have the
smallest PPS crystal size, which is 7.5 mm. Mould temperatures of 110 Cand 200 C
produce similar crystal size, 8.1 and 8.8 mm, respectively. Comparing with the relatively
smaller crystal size under low tool temperatures, the samples of 230 C mould have very
large PPS crystals which is more than three times the samples by 170 C mould. The
results can only illustrate the thermal effect on crystal size of PPS because the stress

542
Han et al. 543

Figure 15. Polyphenylene sulphide crystal structures formed with different processing conditions.

24
22
20
Average crystal size (µm)

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
110 140 170 200 230
Forming mould temperature (°C)

Figure 16. Average size of polyphenylene sulphide crystals formed with different processing
conditions.

543
544 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

history of PPS film is different from CF/PPS composites and there is no fibre–matrix
interfacial area in pure PPS specimen.

Discussion
The need for more sustainable transport systems in the future, emphasised more recently
by dramatic increases in energy and fuel costs, is driving the development and use of
lighter materials, and it is anticipated that composites will play an essential role in the
development of next generation transport systems through the remainder of the 21st
century. The use of advanced composite materials in modern civil aircraft has increased
rapidly because of their net performance advantages in weight and cost over conven-
tional metallic alternatives. Extensive basic research on composite materials over the last
three decades has promoted understanding of their basic properties. Nowadays, new
composite material systems as well as delivering key in-service performance require-
ments also should offer more sustainable solutions to their design and manufacturing
methods. Out of autoclave thermoforming was applied to produce experimental parts
using CF/PPS laminates. The experimental study in this work has shown that for thermo-
forming a CF/PPS part, the total cycle time was less than 8 min and the total energy con-
sumed is less than 4000 kJ for a sample size of 150  120  2.48 mm3. Energy efficiency
can be exploited using this rapid forming technique as autoclave-based processing could
consume 43,200 kJ in 8 min for just reaching a temperature of 149 C.
This work focuses on the angle change of post-forming CFRTP parts relative to
mould tools as the previous study22 has proved that the process-induced composite part
deformation is independent of the mould radius. The thermoforming experiments were
designed to identify the effects of processing parameters on the finished part angles. The
deformation behaviour of a 90 , V-shaped CF/PPS angle was examined using the experi-
mental manufacturing and inspection methods described in previous sections. The
V-shaped angular form has been initially used to minimize the range of geometric influ-
ences, for example, varied mould angle or complex curvatures, which could affect the
shape of the final part. A range of mould temperatures (110, 140, 170, 200 and
230 C) were tested to determine the optimal forming mould temperature for CF/PPS
in terms of mechanical performance of finished part. The results arising from thermo-
forming experiment demonstrate that there is a significant process-induced spring-in
deformation ranging from 2.087 to 3.431 from a mould with an angle of 92 . The com-
posites’ anisotropy in shrinkage behaviour, originating from the difference in the thermal
expansion of the fibres and the matrix during thermal processing cycle, is the fundamen-
tal reason for the part spring-in deformation. After demoulding, the part will deform
because of the thermal and crystallization shrinkage during cooling from mould tempera-
ture to room temperature. The results of the influence of mould temperature on the defor-
mation were observed that more deformation arises in samples where a higher mould
temperature has been used. The samples formed using the 230 C mould temperature will
generate the largest shrinkage and spring-in deformation when cooling down to room
temperature. This is because the 230 C mould produces a 210 C temperature drop,
which leads to largest anisotropic shrinkage strains compared to others conditions. The

544
Han et al. 545

thickness results of formed parts were measured and the holding forces for these parts dur-
ing forming were recorded. The changes of thickness and holding force for parts formed
with different processing conditions are mainly due to the thermal expansion of aluminium
mould tools. When the mould is set at high temperature, for example, 230 C in this ther-
moforming experiment, the aluminium tool will expand more in size which in turn pro-
duces a smaller gap between the matched moulds. The data also illustrate that a larger
holding force is used when forming part with a higher mould temperature. This is because
the displacement control is applied in the experiment. The samples formed with higher
mould temperature will expand more and require a larger press force to reconsolidate the
laminates to their original thickness. Based on the experimental investigation of post-
forming CFRTP part geometries under different processing conditions, more realistic com-
posite geometries can then be used to inform tolerance allocation during product design
and manufacturing planners are also better informed, thereby improving the likelihood
of achieving tolerances as parts are formed and products are assembled.
The performance of the finished parts under different mould temperatures was
evaluated using crystallization tests, which can indicate the mechanical property of the
sample. This is to establish the optimal mould temperature for thermoforming parts from
CF/PPS laminate used in the current work. Maximum DoC is usually desired to achieve
excellent mechanical performance of CFRTPs, but the SoC is also important as large
crystals can generate microcracks in the composites. The tested results show that sample
thermoformed with 170 C mould will possess the largest DoC of 34.51% and the
smallest average SoC of 7.5 mm. This is mainly due to the fact that the 170 C mould
temperature is the balanced thermal condition that affects two cooling stages: the cooling
during transfer from forming temperature (320 C) in the oven to forming mould and the
cooling to room temperature (20 C) after demoulding. Other mould temperature con-
ditions could produce larger temperature gradient in either first cooling stage or second
cooling stage. Large temperature gradient means the part is usually formed with large-
sized crystals and low DoC, as there is not enough time for the formation of every crys-
tal. Therefore, the 170 C mould temperature is the optimal processing condition for CF/
PPS composites in terms of the finished mechanical performance and should be applied
to thermoform CF/PPS parts if the mechanical performance is the priority requirement.
With the fixed mould temperature condition of 170 C, two different cooling processes
were investigated in this work. The recorded temperature profile of samples cooling out-
side the mould (natural cooling) and inside the mould is shown in Figure 17. The geo-
metric inspection on the formed parts finds that samples cooling inside the tool have
an average angle of 89.483 and an average thickness of 2.502 mm. Compared with the
naturally cooled parts have 89.496 average angle and 2.487 mm average thickness, the
results illustrate that samples cooling inside and outside tool have similar final part
shape, and the post-forming geometries of formed parts are more related to mould tem-
perature. The DSC test on samples cooling inside the tool shows that they have higher
DoC of 36.57% compared with the naturally cooled parts, which have DoC of
34.51%. However, part with inside tool cooling takes 135 min to reach room temperature
and the forming facility is not available for the next sample during the cooling process,
which is more inefficient and time consuming.

545
546 Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 28(4)

300

250
Sample temperature (°C)

200

150

100

50 Mould clamped cooling

Natural cooling

0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Time (s)

Figure 17. Temperature profile of samples cooling inside and outside tool.

Conclusions
The main objective of this work was to investigate the deformation behaviour of CFRTP
part during thermoforming process so that the optimal processing temperature can be
established and manufacturing engineers can better understand the relationship between
processing conditions and final part geometries. Press thermoforming experiments are
implemented to investigate the deformation behaviour of CFRTPs. Sustainability can be
achieved through the use of CFRTPs provided with reusability and rapid thermoforming
provided with low energy processing. For CF/PPS used in the current work, the
experimental investigation finds that, for the different processing conditions tested, there
is significant process-induced

spring-in deformation ranging from 2.087 to 3.431 for
8ply ðð0; 90Þ=ð45ÞÞ2 s laminated samples. More deformation arises in samples
where a higher (230 C) forming mould temperature has been used. The mould tempera-
ture of 170 C has been established as the optimal thermoforming condition for CF/PPS
composites.

Funding
The authors would like to thank the Department for Employment and Learning (Northern
Ireland) for their financial contribution to the All Island Research Programme and
Queen’s University for their support in this project.

References
1. Peters ST. Handbook of composites. London, UK: Chapman & Hall, 1998.

546
Han et al. 547

2. Wisnom M. A new generation of composites. Aerospace Manufac 2011; 5: 30.

3. Muzzy JD. Processing of advanced thermoplastic composites. Manufac Sci Compos 1988; 4:
27–39.
4. Derosa R, Telfeyan E and Mayes JS. Current state of recycling sheet molding compounds and
related materials. J Thermoplast Compos Mater 2005; 18: 219–240.
5. Henshaw JM, Owens AD, Houston DQ, et al. Recycling of a cyclic thermoplastic composite
material by injection and compression molding. J Thermoplast Compos Mater 1994; 7: 14–29.
6. Bourban PE, Bernet N, Zanetto JE, et al. Material phenomena controlling rapid processing of
thermoplastic composites. Compos A: Appl Sci Manufac 2001; 32: 1045–1057.
7. Glaessgen EH. Materials. Aerospace Am 2010; 12: 8.
8. Okine RK. Analysis of forming parts from advanced thermoplastic composite sheet materials.
J Thermoplast Compos Mater 1989; 2: 50–76.
9. Stewart R. Thermoforming. Plast Eng 2005; 61: 22–29.
10. TenCate. Press forming of CETEX continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastics. Nijverdal,
Netherlands: Ten Cate Advanced Composites, 2009.
11. Lebrun G, Bureau MN and Denault J. Thermoforming-stamping of continuous glass fiber/
polypropylene composites: interlaminar and tool-laminate shear properties. J Thermoplast
Compos Mater 2004; 17: 137–165.
12. Lussier D and Chen J. Material characterization of woven fabrics for thermoforming of com-
posites. J Thermoplast Compos Mater 2002; 15: 497–509.
13. Beland S. High performance thermoplastic resins and their composites. New Jersey, NY:
Noyes, 1990.
14. Sepe M. The importance of melt and mold temperature. Plast Technol 2011; 57: 16.
15. Lee N, Kim YK and Kang S. Temperature dependence of anti-adhesion between a stamper
with sub-micron patterns and the polymer in nano-moulding processes. J Phys D: Appl Phys
2004; 37: 1624.
16. Buchanan S. Pressing ahead. Mater World 2011; 5: 27–29.
17. Throne JL. Thermoforming. Munich, Germany: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1987.
18. Butterfield J, McEwan W, Han P, et al. Digital methods for process development in manufac-
turing and their relevance to value driven design. J Aerospace Oper 2012;4:387–400.
19. Ye L, Mai YW and Su Z. In: Composite technologies for 2020: proceedings of the fourth
Asian-Australasian conference on composite materials ACCM 4. Cambridge, England: Wood-
head Publishing Ltd, 2004, pp. 805–810.
20. Tregub A, Harel H, Marom G, et al. The influence of thermal history on the mechanical prop-
erties of poly(ether ether ketone) matrix composite materials. Compos Sci Tech 1993; 48:
185–190.
21. Lee TH, Boey FYC and Khor KA. On the determination of polymer crystallinity for a thermo-
plastic PPS composite by thermal analysis. Compos Sci Technol 1995; 53: 259–274.
22. Huang CK and Yang SY. Warping in advanced composite tools with varying angles and radii.
Compos A: Appl Sci Manufac 1997; 28: 891–893.

547