The prepreg tape winding product of thermoset composite has been widely used in aerospace industry due to the favorable performance. The manufacturing process is the key to ensure the quality of product. This study is focused on the theoretical analysis of prepreg tape winding process. The mathematical model of thermal and consolidation process is established firstly. The influence mechanism of the major process parameters including heating temperature, consolidation force and winding velocity on consolidation quality is subsequently studied based on the simulation results. And the tape winding experiments and interlaminar shear strength tests are conducted to validate the predictive capability of the theoretical model. Moreover, the coupling role between the process parameters is explained based on the predicted model. In order to control the quality of winding product, the optimization of winding process is proposed, and the three-dimension process window of parameter settings is obtained.
As there is increasing usage of composite components with a closed-end shape, filament winding technology has been applied extensively in engineering practice. However, the residual stresses are readily caused by process parameters in composite manufacturing process. Hence, it is necessary to design the reasonable process parameters for obtaining the expected residual stresses. This study proposed a reverse derivation method to design the winding tension based on the residual stress model of the composite cylinder. To analyze the development of residual stresses, the thermal deformation behavior and a micromechanics model of resin shrinkage are considered to calculate thermal strains and instantaneous shrinkage strains of the hoop wound cylinder during the curing process. Combining the contribution of winding tension to the stresses, the simple model of residual stresses is established based on the superposition principle. Then inversely solving the analytic model, the design method of winding tension is illustrated to guarantee that the hoop wound cylinder with an inner liner has a uniform residual hoop stress. The model accuracy of residual stresses is validated by the destructive slitting experiment. The result indicates that the present model can be used to estimate the residual stresses and design the winding tension for the hoop wound cylinder.
As a significant way to manufacture revolving body composite, the composite prepreg tape winding technology is widely applied to the domain of aerospace motor manufacture. Processing parameters, including heating temperature, tape tension, roller pressure, and winding velocity, have considerable effects on the void content and tensile strength of winding products. This paper was devoted to studying the influence of process parameters on the performances of winding products including both void content and tensile strength and trying to provide the optimal parameters combination for the objectives of lower void content and higher tensile strength. In the experiments, tensile strength and void content were selected as the mechanical property and physical performance of winding products to be tested, respectively. An integrated approach by uniting the Grey relational analysis, backpropagation neural network, and bat algorithm was presented to search the optimal technology parameters for composite tape winding process. Then, the composite tape winding process model was provided by backpropagation neural network utilizing the results of Grey relational analysis. According to the bat algorithm, the optimal parameter combination was heating temperature with 73.8 °C, tape tension with 291.2 N, roller pressure with 1804.1 N, and winding velocity with 9.1 rpm. The value of tensile strength increased from 1215.31 to 1329.62 MPa. Meanwhile, the value of void content decreased from 0.15 to 0.137%. At last, the developed method was verified to be useful for optimizing the composite tape winding process.
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