WO1998042495A1 - Process and apparatus for manufacture of a component - Google Patents
Process and apparatus for manufacture of a component Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1998042495A1 WO1998042495A1 PCT/GB1998/000892 GB9800892W WO9842495A1 WO 1998042495 A1 WO1998042495 A1 WO 1998042495A1 GB 9800892 W GB9800892 W GB 9800892W WO 9842495 A1 WO9842495 A1 WO 9842495A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- screen
- fibres
- nozzle
- fibre
- path
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C70/00—Shaping composites, i.e. plastics material comprising reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts
- B29C70/04—Shaping composites, i.e. plastics material comprising reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts comprising reinforcements only, e.g. self-reinforcing plastics
- B29C70/28—Shaping operations therefor
- B29C70/30—Shaping by lay-up, i.e. applying fibres, tape or broadsheet on a mould, former or core; Shaping by spray-up, i.e. spraying of fibres on a mould, former or core
- B29C70/305—Spray-up of reinforcing fibres with or without matrix to form a non-coherent mat in or on a mould
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
- B29K2105/00—Condition, form or state of moulded material or of the material to be shaped
- B29K2105/06—Condition, form or state of moulded material or of the material to be shaped containing reinforcements, fillers or inserts
- B29K2105/08—Condition, form or state of moulded material or of the material to be shaped containing reinforcements, fillers or inserts of continuous length, e.g. cords, rovings, mats, fabrics, strands or yarns
- B29K2105/10—Cords, strands or rovings, e.g. oriented cords, strands or rovings
Definitions
- PROCESS AND APPARATUS, FOR MANUFACTURE OF A COMPONENT
- This invention relates to a process, and apparatus, for manufacture of a component.
- it is concerned with the manufacture of a component of dry glass fibre preformed shape as used by the glass fibre reinforced ('grp') industry (sometimes referred to as the fibre reinforced ('frp') industry).
- 'grp' glass fibre reinforced
- 'frp' fibre reinforced
- Hitherto glass fibre in the form of glass fibre mats have been prepared from sheet material drawn from a fibre glass mat roll and cut to a pattern shape to generally fit a forming mould.
- the mould is then filled with resin so as to impregnate the glass fibre glass mat and subsequently to produce a reinforced plastic moulding.
- a degree of excess fibre mat is placed over the moulded shaped edges. This results in fibre wastage since excess has to be trimmed following the mould step as a secondary moulding operation to achieve the final form of the moulded component. This excess is in addition to wasteful off cuts derived when cutting the pattern shapes from the glass fibre mat roll in the initial mat insertion into the mould.
- Such mats are commonly known as preforms, preformed or preshaped (dry unimpregnated) ideally net size to the shape of the final moulded part.
- Such an ideal net or near net size fibre preform would be best suited to grp /frp closed mould moulding processes such as: cold press moulding, resin transfer moulding, vacuum injection or infusion moulding and reaction injection moulding. However other processes could also benefit from such preforms.
- pre-formable mats are from 2.5 to 3 times as expensive as rovings.
- Glass fibre rovings as a product are factory supplied in reels referred to as 'bobbins' or 'cheeses'.
- the fibre forms a continuous winding of multiple strands and each bobbin has a weight of about 30 kg.
- glass rovings are acknowledged as being the cheapest form of raw stock glass fibre.
- a moulding component such as a pre-form from a roving comprising the steps of:
- a screen which is foraminous to enable air in the stream to pass through the screen while causing deposition of fibres on the screen.
- the drawing step involves the use of motorised pinch rollers.
- the separating step involves the use of an air comb or roller comb.
- the step of displacing the nozzle relative to the screen is undertaken along rectilinear co-ordinates axis substantially parallel to the screen or along a further co-ordinate axis substantially perpendicular to the screen.
- the step of deposition of the polymerisable material occurs by way of a spray nozzle located above the screen.
- the step of providing for the polymerisable material to polymerise involves the use of ultra violet light.
- apparatus for fabricating a moulding component as a pre-form from a roving comprising:
- roller unit providing for a fibre strand to be withdrawn from a bobbin supported by the carrier unit
- fibre separating means such as an air comb or a roller comb for acting on fibre strand from the motorised roller unit so as to cause the strand to broken up by a predominantly shearing action up into constituent filaments or strands of the roving to a greater or lesser extent so as to form a stream of fibres in an outlet region of the separating means;
- nozzle 5 a nozzle and means for urging a supply or air or gas through the nozzle such that fibres at the supply region are entrained in a supply of the gas and can be dispensed from the nozzle along a path towards a working area;
- the screen is foraminous with holes of a size enabling air flowing along the path from the nozzle to pass through the screen with a resulting deposition of fibres from the path originally entrained in the path onto the screen.
- the means for displacing the nozzle relative to the screen provides for the nozzle to be displaced along rectilinear co-ordinates axis substantially parallel to the screen and /or along a further co-ordinate axis substantially perpendicular to the screen and to the rectilinear co-ordinate axis.
- the binder dispensing means incorporates a spry nozzle positioned above the screen.
- the means for causing the polymerisable material to polymerise includes a source of ultra violet light.
- a moulding component fabricated by a process according to the first aspect or any preferred version thereof.
- a moulding component fabricated by apparatus process according to the second aspect or any preferred version thereof.
- the invention provides for a continuous glass rovings to be reeled off a bobbin and fired as a continuous fibre onto a shaped screen to set into position along with a small percentage of resin binder to produce the desired preform.
- the invention eliminates the need to chop or cut the roving because the fibres are dispensed as a continuous thread.
- One consequence is that there is no requirement for a motorised cutting or chopping device in the system.
- the process comprises dispensing multi-filament and stranded glass fibre 11 from a bobbin 12, causing it to be separated into filaments and strands and then to direct the separated strands onto a preform screen 13.
- Bobbin 12 is mounted on a horizontal axis 12B by means of bearings allowing free rotation of the bobbin 12.
- Strand 11 is drawn off the bobbin 12 by way of a set 14 of motorised pinch rollers with elastomeric surfaces.
- strand 11 is passed through a separation stage to cause the roving filaments and strands to become separated from one another by a predominantly shearing action in which the neighbouring fibres in the strand are subjected to a scuffing or relative rubbing action. Control of the effect of shearing action on the fibre is desirable as the material used to form the preform component later in the process.
- the fibre produced can be varied from a fine filament to a heavy strand texture. Fibre separation in this case is achieved in either of two ways. The first involves by running the strand through an air comb fibre separator 15. The second involves the use of a second set 16 of pinch rollers having angled axis of rotation providing for the fibres in the strand to be scuffed apart.
- Form the separation stage (whether comb separator 15 or pinch rollers 16 the fibre is caused to flow along a light and flexible duct 18 lined with a low friction material to an air powered nozzle 19.
- the nozzle 19 is operated to have a sub atmospheric pressure at inlet 19A and a pressurised air flow at its outlet 19B.
- Fibre 20 is entrained into, and is swept through, the nozzle 19 to generally follow a flow path P for entrained fibre particles.
- the nozzle outlet 19B is directed towards the upper side U of shaped screen 13 which is foraminous.
- the holes in the screen 13 are of a size such that air arriving on the screen 13 along flowpath P tends to through the holes to the lower side L of the screen while preventing the passage of fibres which as a consequence are left on the upper side U of the screen 13.
- the preform screen 13 is laid out substantially normal to the path P.
- the fibre deposition on the screen 13 from flow path P is randomised due to the random turbulent flow issuing from the nozzle outlet 19B and entering the flowpath P.
- the area of the screen 13 covered by the fibre deposition is dependent on two major factors: the distance of the screen 13 below the nozzle 19; and the velocity of the nozzle air flow. This is on the assumption that the supply of fibre to the nozzle 19 is not limited by the primary dispensing or fibre separation stages upstream of the nozzle 19.
- the nozzle 19 and the screen 13 are positioned so that only a small area of the screen is covered if the nozzle 19 and/or the screen 13 remain stationary then by moving either the nozzle or the screen or both while the nozzle dispenses fibre the required area of the screen may be covered progressively.
- the speed at which the nozzle traverse the screen in the shown x-axis and y-axis directions for a constant delivery of fibre from the nozzle 19 the density of the randomly dispensed fibres can be controlled.
- Motion of the nozzle 19 in the z-axis can be used to govern the area of instant deposition by the nozzle. It also serves to provide for control of deposition in relation to the fibre size entrained in the air flow from the nozzle 19.
- nozzle 19 Various modes of movement of nozzle 19 may be used. As the nozzle 19 has of slight mass it can be readily moved at high speed while dispensing and can be readily manipulated. Apart from, or as an alternative to linear translation the nozzle 19 can be provided with means for angular displacement to vary the angle at which the path P strikes the screen 13.
- the screen 13 being fabricated from perforated metal sheet can also be readily orientated to allow the stream of dispensed fibre from the nozzle 19 to land normally to the surface area being contacted.
- the nozzle outlet 19B and screen 13 can be controlled by means providing for optimised operation so that regardless of the required shape of the manufactured component to be formed on the screen 13 the nozzle outlet 19B are aligned in a manner to produce optimised product.
- a draught of air S is made to flow beneath the screen 13.
- This draught S is readily achieved by a fan 21 with ducting for encouraging air flow only through the preform shape.
- Short vertical fences 22 located on the upper side of the screen and extends round the edge of the preform. Apart from limiting the ability of the deposited fibre to extend outside the required preform boundary the fences 22 can be set at an angle to produce a funnel effect for the air entrained fibre and also to provide for a fibre rich boundary edge for the preform.
- the pre-formable fibre mat is seeded with a thermoplastic binder which when heated will allow the fibre mat to be pressed into a shape and allowed to cool. This serves to set the preform fibre mat into the required shape.
- the second fibre is directed at a screen similar to that described earlier.
- the fibre is in chopped form and is mixed with a water soluble thermoset binder, on e the preform has been deposited on the screen it needs to be dried and then cured with heat to hold the preform in its desired shape. This approach requires significant energy consumption.
- thermoset binder is used but it is not mixed with water. Instead a binder is used having sensitivity to ultra violet light.
- the binder is misted onto the screen 13 by means of a nozzle 23 at the same time as the fibre is deposited.
- the material deposited on the screen is then subjected to ultra violet light from lamp 24.
- the binder polymerises under the action of the UV light to set the deposited fibre in the preform shape within a few seconds.
- a preform is usually required to have a degree of 'lift' that is to say to provide resilience when pressed and a thickness fractionally greater than the mould cavity in which the preset is to be used.
- thickness control is to a great extend regulated by the quantity of fibre deposited per unit area. This is determined by the rate of fibre flow through the nozzle and the traverse speed in the X and Y axial directions.
- a fibre preform needs to have a unit area weight of 1 kg/square metre and to fit a 3 mm mould cavity. If the preform manufactured by the described process results in a correct unit area weight and a thickness of 4 mm it would probably be considered acceptable. However a thickness of 6 mm would not be satisfactory as it would be considered as having too high a 'loft'.
- a transparent/ translucent film can be placed over the screen once the deposition of the fibre and binder have been completed. By adjusting flow beneath the screen the film can be drawn down onto the deposited material so as to consolidate it against the screen to the required depth.
- the use of a transparent/translucent film allows ultra violet illumination to act on the material so as to cure the binder.
- the loft control film may be automatically positioned over each screen and automatically removed after the curing stage. The film can be located on a light frame for each screen preform deposition.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP98912628A EP1021291A1 (en) | 1997-03-24 | 1998-03-24 | Process and apparatus for manufacture of a component |
AU67408/98A AU6740898A (en) | 1997-03-24 | 1998-03-24 | Process and apparatus for manufacture of a component |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB9705523.0 | 1997-03-24 | ||
GB9705523A GB2323552B (en) | 1997-03-24 | 1997-03-24 | Method and apparatus for manufacture of a preform |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO1998042495A1 true WO1998042495A1 (en) | 1998-10-01 |
Family
ID=10809391
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/GB1998/000892 WO1998042495A1 (en) | 1997-03-24 | 1998-03-24 | Process and apparatus for manufacture of a component |
Country Status (4)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP1021291A1 (en) |
AU (1) | AU6740898A (en) |
GB (1) | GB2323552B (en) |
WO (1) | WO1998042495A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US6383320B1 (en) | 1999-12-03 | 2002-05-07 | Lear Corporation | Method of forming a headliner |
WO2011021133A1 (en) | 2009-08-21 | 2011-02-24 | Gilbert Chomarat | Textile core having continuous glass fibers |
Citations (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB791976A (en) * | 1956-01-06 | 1958-03-19 | Owens Corning Fiberglass Corp | An improved method of forming glass strands into bodies of predetermined shape |
US3616002A (en) * | 1969-11-12 | 1971-10-26 | Bjorksten Research Lab Inc | Method of making nonwoven articles from continuous filaments |
US3734803A (en) * | 1971-09-28 | 1973-05-22 | Allied Chem | Apparatus for splaying and depositing nonwoven filamentary structures |
US3840941A (en) * | 1971-07-30 | 1974-10-15 | Inst Textile De France | Method and apparatus for making a lap of fibres |
GB2022004A (en) * | 1978-05-15 | 1979-12-12 | Geonautics Inc | Ballistic helmet |
US4600423A (en) * | 1985-05-01 | 1986-07-15 | Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation | Method and apparatus for producing a continuous glass filament mat |
US4679291A (en) * | 1986-02-26 | 1987-07-14 | Shell Oil Company | Robotic stapling system for fiber placement for composite parts |
US5169571A (en) * | 1991-04-16 | 1992-12-08 | The C.A. Lawton Company | Mat forming process and apparatus |
Family Cites Families (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5041260A (en) * | 1989-10-30 | 1991-08-20 | Ford Motor Company | Resin transfer molding method |
US5093059A (en) * | 1991-01-18 | 1992-03-03 | Shell Oil Company | Method for the transport of a homogeneous mixture of chopped fibers |
US5374141A (en) * | 1991-09-11 | 1994-12-20 | Board Of Control Of Michigan Technological University | Mat forming apparatus |
WO1993020994A1 (en) * | 1992-04-08 | 1993-10-28 | Davidson Textron Inc. | Method of forming a preform using a powder binder |
-
1997
- 1997-03-24 GB GB9705523A patent/GB2323552B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
-
1998
- 1998-03-24 AU AU67408/98A patent/AU6740898A/en not_active Abandoned
- 1998-03-24 EP EP98912628A patent/EP1021291A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1998-03-24 WO PCT/GB1998/000892 patent/WO1998042495A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
Patent Citations (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB791976A (en) * | 1956-01-06 | 1958-03-19 | Owens Corning Fiberglass Corp | An improved method of forming glass strands into bodies of predetermined shape |
US3616002A (en) * | 1969-11-12 | 1971-10-26 | Bjorksten Research Lab Inc | Method of making nonwoven articles from continuous filaments |
US3840941A (en) * | 1971-07-30 | 1974-10-15 | Inst Textile De France | Method and apparatus for making a lap of fibres |
US3734803A (en) * | 1971-09-28 | 1973-05-22 | Allied Chem | Apparatus for splaying and depositing nonwoven filamentary structures |
GB2022004A (en) * | 1978-05-15 | 1979-12-12 | Geonautics Inc | Ballistic helmet |
US4600423A (en) * | 1985-05-01 | 1986-07-15 | Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation | Method and apparatus for producing a continuous glass filament mat |
US4679291A (en) * | 1986-02-26 | 1987-07-14 | Shell Oil Company | Robotic stapling system for fiber placement for composite parts |
US5169571A (en) * | 1991-04-16 | 1992-12-08 | The C.A. Lawton Company | Mat forming process and apparatus |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US6383320B1 (en) | 1999-12-03 | 2002-05-07 | Lear Corporation | Method of forming a headliner |
US6736915B2 (en) | 1999-12-03 | 2004-05-18 | Lear Corporation | Method of forming a headliner |
WO2011021133A1 (en) | 2009-08-21 | 2011-02-24 | Gilbert Chomarat | Textile core having continuous glass fibers |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
GB9705523D0 (en) | 1997-05-07 |
AU6740898A (en) | 1998-10-20 |
GB2323552B (en) | 2001-12-12 |
EP1021291A1 (en) | 2000-07-26 |
GB2323552A (en) | 1998-09-30 |
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