Efficient manufacturing of prepreg

Purpose and goal

The aim and purpose of the project was to investigate whether different media for pressure distribution in the manufacture of pressed prepreg materials can be used. The methods that have been evaluated have good potential to compete with conventional manufacturing of structural composite parts for the aerospace industry in terms of quality, and especially energy consumption.

Expected results and effects

The results from the analysis of pore content show the same or lower contents than autoclaved materials. The cycle times are radically much lower and the energy consumption is lower than with conventional methods such as autoclaving and contributes to the call for proposals strength area ´Resource-efficient production´. The outcome of the project also shows that there is a need to continue working on the development of the methods that have been tested.

Planned approach and implementation

In the project, a lot of manufacturing tests have been carried out both with the proposed methods and with conventional manufacturing technology. The components have been analyzed mainly with regard to porosity and geometry, as well as an estimate of manufacturing times and energy consumption.