Thermoplastic Composites Research Center recently completed a two-year cooperation project.
During the two years of joint development, TPRC and its members have joined forces with companies with different expertise, such as Autodesk, Harper Engineering, KraussMaffei, Safran, Samvardhana Motherson Peguform (SMP) and Victrex PLC. Through the use of thermoplastic composites Overmolding technology designed and manufactured an advanced demonstration part, a typical grid stiffener commonly used in aircraft applications, with high strength, high rigidity and high dimensional accuracy, which is put forward in the production process First of all, insert molding of thermoplastic composites with TenCate Cetex TC1225 C / PAEK and then insert molding with Victrex PEEK 90HMF 40. The relatively low melting temperature of this composite results in Overmolding with PEEK can be done with modest insert temperatures.The heat of the injected polymer melts the surface of the solid insert, making this material well suited to the two-step overmolding process.
This overmolding combines the benefits of compression molding and injection molding: a continuous, fiber-reinforced shell with a relatively simple geometry that is reinforced by an injection-molded complex grid, however, the design of this injection mold But more complex, especially as the process becomes more challenging when combined with continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics.Therefore, for composite engineers who are increasingly looking to manufacturability at an early stage , TCDC researchers Mark Bouwman, Thijs Donderwinkel and Jeroen Houwers conducted experimental validation and fundamental modeling studies on the overmolding process using a thermoforming (AniForm), combined with Autodesk Moldflow software, to predict interfacial strength and warpage caused by residual stresses in the process and turn those into digital models.