Conbility has released a new 2D tape placement machine, a table-based tape machine which can reportedly produce fully consolidated tailored blanks using laser heating.
The 5 m3 x 2.5 m3 x 2.5 m3 machine has been installed in Conbility´s new technical center based in Germany and available for evaluations and job-shop manufacturing of laminates.
Conbility says that tailored blanks made of thermoplastic tapes can reduce production costs for continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastics. Flat blanks are produced by the assembly of tape cuts and then the blanks thermoformed, and to achieve a repeatable forming and a fast, homogeneous heating of the blanks, a consolidation of the single layers of the blanks is necessary. According to the company, the new 2D-placement machine uses laser radiation to directly weld the tapes together so that the blanks can be directly processed further in classical tamp forming or in one-shot forming/overmolding processes.
This story uses material from Conbility, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
