Method for producing a leaf spring as a fiber composite component, and a leaf spring
AssigneeBenteler SGL GmbH & Co. KG
InventorUlrich Müller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A leaf spring for a motor vehicle is made from a fiber composite component including individual fibers in form of at least two textile layers stacked on top of each other and a matrix made of a duroplastic or thermoplastic resin surrounding the fibers. The resin is hardened in a mold tool by applying pressure and heat. The stacked textile layers are formed inside a mold tool and fixed by a dry binder applied to at least one of the textile layers to form a dry preform. A fiber composite blank is stamped from the preform and subsequently infiltrated with the resin in a RTM cavity and hardened. The binder applied in dry form may only be arranged in certain areas of the textile layers.
Claims9
A method of producing a leaf spring in form of a fiber composite component for a motor vehicle, comprising the steps of
- applying a binder on a textile web,
- cutting individual textile layers with the binder from the textile web,
- layering fibers in form of at least two of the textile layers with the binder on top of one another,
- shaping the textile layers with the binder inside a mold tool and melting the binder,
- fixing the textile layers by cooling the melted binder so as to form a dry preform,
- separating a fiber composite blank from the preform by stamping,
- infiltrating the fiber composite blank with resin in an RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) cavity, and
- hardening the resin to produce the leaf spring of individual fibers and a matrix formed of the hardened resin surrounding the fibers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.