Feasibility study for manufacturing CF/epoxy – Thermoplastic hybrid structures in a single operation

Abstract

CF/Epoxy sheet with injected thermoplastic is a hybrid structure that combines high mechanical properties of thermoset composite with the toughness and complex geometries of injected thermoplastic into a single component. To overcome the high cycle time and production cost associated with the manufacturing of such hybrids, the authors undertook a feasibility study for developing an integrated technology for the manufacturing of thermoset CF/Epoxy prepreg sheet and injected thermoplastic polypropylene. First, several demonstrator parts were manufactured to elucidate the effect of the process parameters on the process performance and the appearance of the final hybrid component. Then, to have a better understanding about the curing condition of prepreg sheet during this hybrid process, a set of numerical simulation was conducted to study the relationship between the initial preset machine parameters (i.e., holding time, injection speed rate,) on the temperature distribution and history of the prepreg sheet. The results show that the proposed technology is capable of manufacturing hybrid components in a single operation under different process and design conditions.