ZCW0800 8 placement head on Zsk's TFP machine
German supplier Zsk has made a series of innovations in an increasingly important manufacturing technology for carbon fiber composites that will eventually overcome the cost and productivity challenges that have hindered the Material's widespread use until NOW.
With the development of tailored Fibre Placement ("TFP", The staple fiber paving), the ZSK process significantly reduces costs, waste and production time, while providing new possibilities for improved component design and improved recycling after Use. The traditional method is to weave a composite fiber into a vertically arranged form, and then cut the fabric into the desired shape. In contrast, TFP arranges functional fibres into bundles where structural properties are most needed, and stitches them into place on a compatible base layer.
This provides absolute positioning degrees of freedom, allowing the fibres to be placed in the optimal bearing direction to ensure they do not move during processing, and to reduce fiber waste to only 3%, rather than producing a typical car part of the usual 30%~ 70% Waste.
Zsk machines can use TFP technology to create three-dimensional preforms that match the final shape of a typical automotive component.
Using TFP technology to create a suspension linkage pre-molded part on a zsk Single-deck machine
Zsk has improved the TFP approach through a number of patented innovations that accelerate fiber deposition, enhance versatility and simplify the design process.
Improvements to the process include:
★ Rapid Fiber placement, shorten the sewing time;
★ Fiber Feeding unit, doubling the fiber deposition speed and permitting simultaneous deposition of different fibres;
★ Automatic switching between different materials;
★zsk Pneumatic cutting system, can automatically cut wire and fiber;
★ Advanced Design code to ensure the perfect repetition of the results, even to automatically control the serrated stitching evenly. TFP allows the use of hybrid fibres to facilitate the production of composite preforms, such as optical materials or metals that provide special properties such as electrical continuity or impedance. By this method, bare antenna conductors and insulated feeders have been combined to form an RFID Component.
In addition to optical and wire assemblies, TFP can also be incorporated into the molding process with a polymer mixed with later melted carbon fiber to form a matrix material, avoid the need for resin fillers, speed up the production of complex components, and improve the Resin-fiber distribution, especially at the end of the MOLD. At present, the difficulty in recovering the used composite material can be overcome by selecting the right polymer to re-melt in the recycling process, thereby simplifying the Separation. Zsk can provide expertise to help automotive suppliers develop prototypes and build new TFP facilities, or they can recommend a professional network of manufacturers to co-develop TFP Components. Zsk also leverages cloud-based and off-line quality control solutions, as well as an industry 4.0 solution for connecting sensors (MY.
ZSK) to provide continuous production support and to assess important data in the production Process. The development of TFP technology has made composites more widely used in Automobiles.