Fiber-material molding machine and fiber-material molding method

A fiber-material molding method of placing strips of a tape material side by side and molding the tape material into a molded shape having a curved flange portion, the tape material including a continuous fiber bundle extending in a longitudinal direction, the method causing a fiber-material molding machine to execute:

• spreading the tape material to increase a width of the tape material by;
• and
• placing the tape material after the spreading the tape material onto a surface of a molding tool,
• changing a direction of the tape material so that the incidence angles of the strips of the tape material from a web portion with respect to the curved flange portion are aligned with one another,
• wherein the molded shape is a three-dimensional shape having the web portion having a curved edge and the curved flange portion vertically extending from the curved edge of the web portion,
• wherein the spreading continuously changes the width of the tape material to avoid generation of a gap between adjacent strips of the tape material, the adjacent strips being adjacent to each other when the tape material is placed on the surface of the molding tool, and the placing places the strips of the tape material side by side in a plurality of rows on the surface of the molding tool while placing the tape material in a curved form to form curved strips, so that incidence angles of the curved strips of the tape material from the web portion to the curved flange portion are aligned with one another,
• wherein each of the respective incidence angles is defined as an angle between a corresponding one of the respective curved strips of the tape material and the curved edge in a surface of the web portion,
• wherein the incidence angles are non-zero, and
• wherein, after being molded into the molded shape, the tape material is impregnated in resin, including by resin transfer molding.

A fiber-material molding machine configured to place strips of a tape material side by side and mold the tape material into a molded shape having first and second curved flange portions, the tape material including a continuous fiber bundle extending in a longitudinal direction, the fiber-material molding machine comprising:

• a molding tool comprising:
• a flat plate-shaped portion having first and second outer edges and a flat surface placed between the first and second outer edges, the first and second outer edges facing in opposite directions;
• a first curved edge formed on the first outer edge, the first curved edge being concave toward an inside of the flat plate-shaped portion;
• a second curved edge formed on the second outer edge, the second curved edge being concave toward the first curved edge;
• a first curved side plate extending from the first curved edge and having a first curved surface connected to the flat surface, the first curved surface being perpendicular to the flat surface;
• and
• a second curved side plate extending from the second curved edge and having a second curved surface connected to the flat surface, the second curved surface being perpendicular to the flat surface,
• a spreading unit configured to spread and capable of increasing a width of the tape material by spreading the tape material;
• a placing unit configured to:
• place the tape material which has passed through the spreading unit onto a surface of the molding tool;
• and
• change a direction of the tape material to be placed;
• and
• a controller configured to control the spreading unit and the placing unit,
• wherein the controller is configured to, in a case where the placing unit places the tape material from the first curved surface of the first curved side plate through the flat surface of the flat plate-shaped portion to the second curved surface of the second curved side plate, change the width of the tape material to avoid generation of a gap between adjacent strips of the tape material continuously, the adjacent strips being adjacent to each other when the tape material is placed on the flat surface of the flat plate-shaped portion, and place the strips of the tape material side by side in a plurality of rows on the flat surface of the flat plate-shaped portion while placing the tape material in a curved form to form curved strips, so that first incident angles of the curved strips of the tape material are equal with one another and second incident angles of the curved strips of the tape material are equal with one another, wherein each of the respective first incidence angles is defined as an angle between a corresponding one of the respective curved strips of the tape material and the first curved edge in the flat surface of the flat plate-shaped portion, and wherein each of the respective second incidence angles is defined as an angle between a corresponding one of the respective curved strips of the tape material and the second curved edge in the flat surface of the flat plate-shaped portion.