Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV
Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV

Fiber Placement and Composite Molding

Automated manufacturing technologies for complex composite structures

In the field of fiber placement and composite molding, we have gained solid experience from more than 10 years of research work – starting with the project group »Functionally Integrated Lightweight Construction« at Fraunhofer ICT and later transferred to Fraunhofer IGCV. Within various projects we have already cooperated with numerous partners from research and industry and thus generated a large network for knowledge transfer. Particular mention should be made of the Augsburg region with Premium Aerotec, Airbus Helicopters, MT Aerospace and DLR. In addition, the Fiber Placement Center was established in cooperation with SGL Carbon.

Link to Fiber Placement Center

On top to our experience, we offer a wide range of machinery for fiber placement technologies and their subsequent process chains.

Fiber Placement: Our Services

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»Ready to Fly – Fiber-Placement @Fraunhofer IGCV« Webinar with Kevin Scheiterlein

Fiber Placement: Our solutions

Through many years of experience and successful use of various technologies in the field of automated fiber placement (e.g. Coriolis C1, Csolo or the world's latest Coriolis C1.2 machines and Cevotec Samba Patch Placement), Fraunhofer IGCV has developed extensive expertise in the development of a wide range of products and solutions for various markets, including aerospace and healthcare.

Examples of solutions developed in our projects in the field of fiber placement include:


Shell Structures for Urban Air Taxis and Helicopters

  • Helicopter side shell, Streamlined engine nacelles
  • Monolithic structures in thermoset or thermoplastic
  • Sandwich integration within the process
  • Simulation and load path optimized design

Primary Structures for Aviation and Space

  • Door Surround Structures (Frames, Stringer) for Aviation
  • Monolithic or Sandwich Satellite Structures
  • Thermoplastic Parts for high manufacturing rates
  • Design for Manufacturing, Robust processes, high quality

Tank and complex Tube Structures

  • Pressure vessels, Tubes, Cryogenic hydrogen storage
  • Several material possibilities, from Thin Ply to Thermoplastic
  • Combination of winding and AFP design
  • Longitudinal and Patch reinforced possible

High complexity lightweight applications

  • Exoskeleton main structure, bike (frame, saddle, rim), etc.
  • Transfer Aviation and Space technology into other markets
  • Monolithic and sandwich design approaches
  • Low-cost tooling for lean prototyping and manufacturing

Short Introduction to our Fiber Placement Technologies

Composite Manufacturing at Fraunhofer IGCV: from Automated Fiber Placement to Pultrusion

Equipment and Facilities: Fiber Placement and Tape Laying

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Coriolis C1.2 – Automated Fiber Placement

Technology
  • Part geometries: 2D - 3D
  • Machine type: robot-based system
  • CFRP material: thermoset, thermoplastic and dry fibers
  • Advanced cutting and feeding speed at high velocities
  • High capacity Creel House for heavy spools (15 kg / 33 lbs)
  • Ergonomic head
Advantages
  • Increased productivity through higher process speed and optimized technologies
  • Manufacturing of geometrically complex components with narrow radii
  • Combination of new cutting technology and optimized Creel leads to improved component quality

 

Coriolis C1.2 at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV
Coriolis C1.2 at Fraunhofer IGCV
Logo Federal Ministry of Education and Research
© Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Logo Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Sponsored by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy
© StMWi
Sponsored by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy
Co-funded by the European Union
© European Commission
Co-funded by the European Union

Coriolis Composites C-Solo – Fiber Placement

Technology

  • Part geometries: 2D - 3D
  • Machine type: robot-based system
  • CFRP material: thermoset, thermoplastic and dry fibers
  • Heating systems for material fixation: IR or diode laser
  • Head Configuration: Single Tow
  • Width of the material: 1/4’’ – 1,5”
  • Max. part size: length 3m

Advantages

  • Multi-material processing (tapes, TowPregs and dry fibers)
  • Single-fiber placement head with variable fiber width
  • High-level flexibility of application regarding part geometries and load-path optimized layup (Fiber-Steering)
  • Minimum Material needed for first trials
Coriolis Composites C-Solo at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV
Coriolis Composites C-Solo at Fraunhofer IGCV

Cevotec SAMBA – Prepreg Patch Placement

Technology

  • Part geometries: 2D - 3D
  • Machine type: robot-based system
  • CFRP material: dry fiber and thermoset tapes
  • 10 cooperating robot axes for maximum flexibility
  • Form-adaptive gripper for maximum part complexity
  • Width of the material: 1/2’’ – 2”
  • Max. part size: length 1,2 m, diameter 1 m

Advantages

  • Multi-material processing (carbon-, glass-, metal fibers, adhesive films) with low scrap on highly complex geometries
  • Fast and high-performance product development incl. FEM thanks to dedicated engineering software
  • Industry 4.0 machine equipped with relevant quality inspection sensors
Cevotec SAMBA FPP at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV
Cevotec SAMBA FPP at Fraunhofer IGCV

Tape-Slitter Müller GmbH & Co. KG

Technology

  • Prefabrication of Thermoplastic Tape Materials
  • Slitting Width: 6,35 - <600mm
  • 4 spool units for winding cores
  • Max. Speed 25m/min
  • Inner Core diameter 3” or 6”
  • Max. initial tape width 600mm
  • Web-guiding system to correct tape width fluctuations

Advantages

  • Possibility to bring in material splices (research stadium)
Tape-Slitter at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV
Tape-Slitter at Fraunhofer IGCV

Langzauner LZT-OK-130-L – Heating press

Technology

  • Press-Area: 860 x 600 mm
  • Max. Force: 1370 kN
  • Steel-Heating-Plates (Tmax): 360°C
  • Heating-/Coolingrate: upto 10°C/min
  • Temperaturecontrol via max. 12 Thermocouples
  • Consolidation of Thermoplastic Materials
  • 3D-Thermoforming

Advantages

  • Oil Heating and Cooling System
  • Available 3D and Flat plate toolings
Langzauner Heating Press at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV
Langzauner Heating Press at Fraunhofer IGCV

Continuous Fiber Tailoring – CFT (Fraunhofer IGCV)

Technology

  • Efficient production of highly drapeable 2D stacks
  • Machine type: Built-up prototype machine for concept validation
  • Material: different dry 50K rovings, thermoplastic binder veil
  • Layer fixation: infrared activation of binder systems
  • Variable number of rovings: 1-30
  • Max. layer width: 600 mm

Advantages

  • Highly productive processes for manufacturing of near net shape layers
  • Continuous processing of cost-effective raw material
  • Suitable for single-unit as well as for high-volume production
  • High flexibility
  • Reduced component costs
Continuous Fiber Tailoring at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV/ Bernd Müller
Continuous Fiber Tailoring at Fraunhofer IGCV

Coriolis Composites C1 – Fiber Placement

Technology
  • Part geometries: 2D - 3D
  • Machine type: robot-based system
  • CFRP material: thermoset, thermoplastic and dry fibers
  • Heating systems for material fixation: Infrared lamp, diode laser
  • Head Configuration: 8 tows
  • Width of the material: ¼’’
  • Max. part size: length 7 m
Advantages
  • Multi-material processing (Prepreg-Tapes, TowPregs and dry fibers)
  • Near-net-shape and reduced scrap
  • High-level flexibility of application regarding part geometries and load-path optimized layup (Fiber-Steering)
Coriolis C1 at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV / Thomas L. Fischer
Coriolis C1 at Fraunhofer IGCV

RoboMAG Compositence – Fiber Placement

Technology

  • Part geometries: 2D - 2,5D
  • Machine type: robot based
  • Material: thermoplastic
  • CFRP material fixation: advanced edge fixation, thermoplastic adhesive
  • Head Configuration: 16 Tows
  • Width of the material: 12 mm
  • Max. part size: 2 x 2 m²
Advantages
  • High productivity for medium series production
  • Suitable for wide range of applications: manufacturing of tailored 2D Stacks and 2,5D Preforms
Compositence RoboMAG AFP at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV
Compositence RoboMAG AFP at Fraunhofer IGCV

Relay 2000 FiberForge – Tape Laying

Technology

  • Part geometries: 2D
  • Machine type: two–axis motion table
  • Material: thermoplastic tapes with glass or/and carbon fibers
  • Material fixation: ultrasonic spot welding
  • Number of tapes: 2
  • Tape width range: 50 mm – 150 mm
  • Max. part size: 2 x 2 m²

Advantages

  • Highly productive processes for manufacturing of tailored Stacks
  • Medium to large series production
  • Combination of different materials and/or widths
  • Simple machine programming
Fiber Forge Relay 2000 ATL at Fraunhofer IGCV
© Fraunhofer IGCV
Fiber Forge Relay 2000 ATL at Fraunhofer IGCV

Projects

 

© Fraunhofer IGCV

HybCar

The HybCar project develops technologies for the efficient production of hybrid CFRP/metal structural components in the automotive sector.

 

© Fraunhofer IGCV

From TRL2 to Take-off

Together with Premium AEROTEC GmbH and others, a CFRP production process chain was developed enabling significant weight and cost reduction compared to present-day titanium constructions.

 

© Fraunhofer IGCV

HErzSchLag

This project links different processes for the cost-efficient production of CFRP parts. The acronym HErzSchLag translates into "heart beat" and is derived from the German words for "highly automated preform production through deposition in layers".  

 

© Fraunhofer IGCV

OSFIT

One-Shot-Fully-Integrated-Thermoplastic-Frame: Efficient process chain for the production of integral thermoplastic composite aircraft frames

 

© Fraunhofer IGCV

COBAIN

Lightweight construction at the push of a button: Automated development and evaluation of composite manufacturing processes

 

© Fraunhofer IGCV

IMPULS

Innovative, medium-term implementable and cost-saving solutions for CFRP fuselage structure components.

Composite technology

Your partner for sustainable lightweight construction through holistic expertise and intelligent processes.

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Projects

Selected reference projects in the field of composite technology.

Projects

Contact

Your contacts for composite technology at Fraunhofer IGCV.

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