Automated fiber placement of glass fiber thermoplastic tow as first ply
AssigneeGoodrich Corporation
InventorsElizabeth A. Herman, Iwona Wrobel, Rony Ganis, Jason Bradley Allen
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a thermoplastic part is disclosed herein. The method includes applying a glass fiber thermoplastic material onto a substrate, applying a carbon fiber thermoplastic material onto the substrate and over the glass fiber material, heating the carbon fiber material to generate heat in the carbon fiber material to heat the glass fiber material, and pressing the glass fiber material and the carbon fiber material onto the substrate.
Claims17
A system for manufacturing a thermoplastic component, the system comprising:
- a spool of glass fiber thermoplastic material;
- a spool of carbon fiber thermoplastic material;
- a laser;
- and
- a mandrel,
- wherein the system is configured to:
- dispense the glass fiber thermoplastic material from the spool of glass fiber thermoplastic material as a glass fiber thermoplastic tow onto the mandrel;
- dispense the carbon fiber thermoplastic material from the spool of carbon fiber thermoplastic material as a carbon fiber thermoplastic tow onto the glass fiber thermoplastic tow;
- heat the carbon fiber thermoplastic tow by directing the laser through the glass fiber thermoplastic tow and onto the carbon fiber thermoplastic tow while dispensing the glass fiber thermoplastic tow;
- and
- press the carbon fiber thermoplastic tow and the glass fiber thermoplastic tow onto the mandrel.
A system for manufacturing a thermoplastic component, the system comprising:
- a spool of glass fiber thermoplastic material;
- a spool of carbon fiber thermoplastic material;
- and
- a mandrel,
- wherein the system is configured to:
- simultaneously dispense the glass fiber thermoplastic material from the spool of glass fiber thermoplastic material as a glass fiber thermoplastic tow onto the mandrel and dispense the carbon fiber thermoplastic material from the spool of carbon fiber thermoplastic material as a carbon fiber thermoplastic tow onto the glass fiber thermoplastic tow;
- heat the carbon fiber thermoplastic tow through the glass fiber thermoplastic tow while dispensing the glass fiber thermoplastic tow and the carbon fiber thermoplastic tow;
- and
- press the carbon fiber thermoplastic tow and the glass fiber thermoplastic tow onto the mandrel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.