Apparatus for forming thick thermoplastic composite structures

An apparatus for continuous compression molding of a thick thermoplastic composite part, comprising:

• an assembly zone for assembling a ply stack including a plurality of thermoplastic composite plies into a generally flat, unshaped condition;
• a pre-consolidation zone into which the ply stack of thermoplastic plies may be fed for pre-consolidating the ply stack, the pre-consolidation zone including pre-consolidation platen tooling for compressing the ply stack over a pre-consolidation dwell time at the pre-consolidation temperature and at a pressure of about 5 bars to de-bulk the ply stack;
• a pre-forming zone for pre-forming the pre-consolidated ply stack, the pre-forming zone including pre-forming tooling for pre-forming at least one feature in the pre-consolidated ply stack such that the pre-formed ply stack takes a general shape of a final part;
• a consolidation zone including consolidation tooling for consolidating and forming the pre-formed ply stack into a shape of the part;
• and
• a pulsating drive mechanism for moving the ply stack in continuous, incremental steps through the pre-consolidation zone over the pre-consolidation dwell time, and subsequently through the consolidation zone.