SPIF of Composites: Mold Free

J. Patrick A. Fairclough
p.fairclough@sheffield.ac.uk
Victor M. Cedeno-Campos
Pablo A. Jaramillo
Christine M. Fernyhough
Challenges of composites production

• Large parts require large molds

• Require long curing time in
autoclaves
• Mold size is limited by
autoclave size
• Mold wear over time

Large autoclave oven [1]

for aircraft structures
 For small production runs a mould
could be 80-90% of the cost

Currently make smaller parts and join

Joint weaken the structure
“Stress raisers”
Turbine blades
What is Incremental forming?

Pre-preg

Flat mold
[2]

Incremental forming
of aluminium sheets
What is Incremental forming?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Ntxb98-Ak
Thermosets and
Thermoplastic

Thermoset
• Carbon-Epoxy
• Pre-preg: Carbon fibre
coated with epoxy
• Cure at 130 °C
• Fibres are good conductors
of heat
Thermoplastic
• Woven Polypropylene tape
(2mm)
• Melt at 160 °C
• Poor conductor of heat
• Heat stays localised
Thermosets and
Thermoplastic

Sliding method

Caterpillar method
 Single Point to Double Point
Stage III - Mould Free Processing
Stage I - of Composites
Understanding
Double Tool

Stage II –Single Tool

Forming
Validation of Cure
• Small osscialtion superimposed on lateral motion.
• Resin heats ub, viscosity falls, cures viscosity rises,
fully cured resin hardens probe friction reduces
Simultaneous Validation of cure

F_Inc-Peak F_Dec-Peak

t_peak

t_inc

t_dec
Thermosets and
Thermoplastic
ICULPH characterization: samples’ thickness
A: Autoclave
H: Hot press
O: ICULP system

Autoclave Hot press ICULPH

system
Layers StdDev StdDev StdDev
2 0.02 0.06 0.03
4 0.06 0.01 0.03
6 0.02 0.04 0.07
8 0.04 0.11 0.09
Accum. 0.14 0.22 0.22
StdDev
Thermosets and Thermoplastic

A: Autoclave
H: Hot press
O: ICULP system
Heat Conduction in Carbon Fibre
• Thermal conduction between
layers is poor
• Need to get heat into thicker
samples
• Microwaves:
• Carbon conducts  Faraday cage
 poor penetration.
• Induction:
• See above: Better with low
frequency
• Ultrasonic:
• Probably best but probes are large.
Conclusions and future work
• A novel process to cure prepreg composites without moulds
is under development.
• For small simple parts the process is cheaper, faster and it
has a lower carbon footprint that autoclave ovens
• Future work will focus on testing with the dual point
machine configuration
Thank You
References
• [1] Composites.media, “Pressing ahead with the oven”, [online], 1998 - 2019 ©
MIT Publishing, visited on 03/September/2019 at 13:33pm, URL:
https://www.composites.media/pressing-ahead-oven/
• [2] M. A. Davarpanah, S. Bansal, and R. Malhotra, "Influence of Single Point
Incremental Forming on Mechanical Properties and Chain Orientation in
Thermoplastic Polymers," Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering-
Transactions of the ASME, vol. 139, no. 2, Feb 2017, Art. no. 021012.
Reproduced with permission of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME Digital Collection)
• [3] V.M. Cedeno-Campos, P. A. Jaramillo, C. M. Fernyhough, J. P. A. Fairclough,
“Towards mold-free composites. A novel control method to cure carbon fiber
through punctual force”, 2019, Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation
(ETFA 2019), in-press.