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Product Fabrication Needs in Composites

To make a part, the four major items needed are:

1. Raw material
2. Tooling/mold
3. Heat
4. Pressure

Depending on the manufacturing process selected, a suitable raw material is chosen and laid on the tool/mold. Then, heat and pressure are applied to transform the raw material into the final shape. Heat and pressure requirements are different for different material systems. Solid materials such as metals or thermoplastics require a large amount of heat to melt the material for processing, whereas thermosets require less heat. In general, the higher the melting temperature of a material, the higher the temperature and pressure required for processing. For example, steel, which melts at 1200°C, requires higher temperatures and pressures to process the part. Aluminum, which melts at around 500°C, requires less heat and pressure for transforming the shape as compared to steel processing. Thermoplastics have melting temperatures in the range of 100 to 350°C and therefore require lesser amounts of heat and pressure as compared to steel and aluminum. Thermosets are in the liquid state at room temperature and therefore are easy to form and process. Thermosets require heat for rapid curing of the material. The temperature requirement for thermosets depends on resin formulation and cure kinetics. In composites, fibers are not melted and thus heat is required for proper consolidation of the matrix materials only.

The higher pressure and temperature requirements during a manufacturing process need strong and heavy tools, which increase the cost of tooling. In addition to higher tooling costs, the higher pressure and temperature requirements mandate special equipment, which is another source of increased processing cost. For example, the higher pressure requirement during SMC molding requires large and bulky equipment and usually costs more than $1 million. The ideal manufacturing process will be the one that requires extremely low amounts of heat and pressure and is quick to process in order to obtain significant processing cost savings.

Every process requires a set of tools to transform the raw material to the final shape. Therefore, the success of a production method relies on the quality of the tool.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Please post the pdf file.

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Unknown said...

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palsvam said...

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