A STUDY ON AUTOMATED FIBER PLACEMENT OF CF-LM-PAEK USING DIRECT ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE HEATING

Abstract

This study examines direct electrical resistance heating for the automated fiber placement (AFP) of carbon fiber (cf) low-melt polyaryletherketone (LM-PAEK) laminates, proposing it as an alternative to state-of-the-art radiation-based methods like laser heating. The technology referred to as Continuous Resistance Heating Technology (CoRe HeaT), utilizes the electrical conductivity of carbon fibers to heat them intrinsically via direct Joule heating. This enables extremely fast heating of the processed tapes and therefore allows much faster layup speeds, bringing the potential to significantly boost productivity. However, rapid placement of thermoplastic prepregs requires post-consolidation of the laminates in a hot press or autoclave due to insufficient time for the material to develop intimate bonds. Thus, a manufacturing process involving fast layup followed by post-consolidation in a hot press is investigated. Test laminates produced with CoRe HeaT are compared to manually stacked reference laminates using ILSS and tensile tests (0° and 90°). The results reveal only minor differences, establishing the technology and the high-speed layup process route as viable alternatives to the common in-situ approach.