JPH0230519A - Continuous manufacturing device of fiber-reinforced composite material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To manufacture continuously and efficiently a fiber-reinforced composite, by a method wherein prepreg to be supplied is laminated, the laminated prepreg is conveyed while sliding continuously by sucking away and cured through heating by making use of a sucking and heating device. CONSTITUTION:A sucking and heating device 22 possesses a heater 23 on the lower part, the heater 23 is divided in a longitudinal direction and arbitrary temperature control can de performed independently. Then a suction device is constituted of a spatial part 24, a lid 26 which is put over the spatial part 24 and having a hole 25 and a vacuum pump 28 and the laminated and pressurized prepreg sending away through pressurizing rollers 16, 17 is sucked to the sucking and heating device 22 with this sucking device.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for manufacturing fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics that are used as base materials for various moldings, and particularly relates to a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics that are used as base materials for various moldings. At the same time, the laminated prepregs are laminated using a suction force using a vacuum, and the supplied laminated prepregs are sucked and conveyed without sliding, and through pressurization, heating processes, etc.
The present invention relates to a continuous fiber-reinforced composite material production apparatus that can continuously produce a desired fiber-reinforced composite material by curing the laminated prepreg and further performing a cutting process.

'-bi I? In recent years, various fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics have been widely used in various fields such as aerospace, land transportation, ships, construction and civil engineering, industrial parts, electroacoustic equipment, fishing materials, and sporting goods. has been done. These fiber-reinforced composite materials are used as materials with excellent strength, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, electrical properties, and light weight.
Such a fiber-reinforced composite material is manufactured, for example, as follows.

That is, for example, a thin prepreg of 100 to 200 ml for carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, which is produced by impregnating carbon fibers in a matrix resin and through a predetermined process, is cut into a predetermined shape and a predetermined size. A plurality of sheets of thin prepreg cut into strips are laminated, and then the laminated prepreg is heated and pressurized using a heating and pressurizing device to cure it, thereby producing a fiber-reinforced composite material such as the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic described in 1-1. I was getting . And-
] Carbon # that has been hardened through the prescribed molding process mentioned above!
Fiber reinforced composite materials, such as fiber reinforced plastics, have been trimmed to produce the desired final fiber reinforced composite material.

Conventionally, when manufacturing fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics using the processes mentioned above, each process, in order, involves a cutting process for cutting prepregs, a lamination process for stacking cut prepregs,
The curing process in which the laminated prepreg is cured by applying pressure and heat, and the rimming process are repeated each time each desired carbon fiber reinforced plastic is manufactured. In other words, when manufacturing a desired fiber-reinforced composite material such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, each material is manufactured individually rather than continuously, so there is no time loss between each process. occurs,
When producing a large amount of the desired fiber reinforced composite material, it requires a lot of time to produce and has the drawback of poor workability.

Furthermore, when manufacturing fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics, due to the single operation between each process, manufacturing unevenness occurs between the manufactured fiber-reinforced composite materials, resulting in The disadvantage is that the quality of the fiber-reinforced composite material tends to vary, making it difficult to obtain a homogeneous fiber-reinforced composite material.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a continuous fiber-reinforced composite material production apparatus that can continuously produce a desired fiber-reinforced composite material such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastic and has good workability. It is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a continuous fiber-reinforced composite material manufacturing apparatus that can manufacture homogeneous fiber-reinforced composite materials with uniform quality among the fiber-reinforced composite materials manufactured. It is.

Another object of the present invention is to maintain and store the continuously produced R-fiber reinforced composite material by winding it up into a roll or cutting it into long lengths. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for manufacturing continuous fiber reinforced composite materials.

The second object of the present invention is achieved by the apparatus for manufacturing a continuous fiber-reinforced composite material according to the present invention. In other words, in summary, the present invention includes a plurality of prepreg winding rollers that wind and hold sheet-like prepreg produced through a predetermined process, and a method for laminating the prepregs supplied from these prepreg winding rollers. A suction heating device having a suction means and a heating means is used to suction the laminated and pressurized prepreg supplied from the pressure roller, and further heat and harden it while conveying the pressure roller. This is a continuous fiber-reinforced composite material manufacturing apparatus.

Round lid (Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus 10 for manufacturing continuous fiber reinforced composite materials according to the present invention is shown. This manufacturing device 10
For example, impregnating carbon fiber with matrix resin,
made through a predetermined process, e.g.
A prepreg winding roller mounting table 12 is provided on which a plurality of prepreg winding rollers 11 for winding and holding a 20-sheet thin prepreg for carbon fiber reinforced plastic are mounted. The prepreg winding roller 11 of the prepreg winding roller mounting table 12 is formed to have a diameter of 300 mm and an axial length of about 600 mm, for example. In FIG. 1, only five prepreg winding rollers 11 are shown to simplify the explanation, but seven prepreg winding rollers 11 are actually provided.

Downstream of the prepreg winding roller mounting table 12, for each prepreg winding roller 11, there is a cover film peeling roller 13a for peeling off the cover film and release paper that sandwich the thin prepreg to be supplied from above and below. and a release paper peeling roller 14a are provided,
The peeled off film and release paper are respectively wound up by a cover film winding roller 13 and a release paper winding roller 14, which are disposed downstream of the cover film peeling roller 13a and the release paper material #roller 14a. It looks like this. However, at that time, the release paper peeling roller 14a, . A take-up roller 14 is not provided, but only a cover film peeling roller 13a and a cover film take-up roller 13 that peel off and wind up only the cover film are provided.

Downstream of the cover film winding roller 13 and the release paper winding roller 14, thin prepreg with release paper attached to the top and bottom layers is supplied from the plurality of prepreg winding rollers 11 of the prepreg winding roller mounting table 12. A guide roller 15 for guiding the stacking and adjusting the height is disposed below the prepreg supply line L that supplies thin prepreg. An auxiliary guide roller 15a is arranged above the prepreg supply line L so as to be in contact with this guide cola 15. These guide rollers 15 and auxiliary guide rollers 15a are each formed to have a diameter of about 150 mm and an axial length of about 600 mm, for example.

Note that when the thin prepreg supplied from the plurality of prepreg winding rollers 11 of the prepreg winding roller mounting table 12 reaches this guide roller 15 and is stacked Rξ, the prepreg winding rollers 11 of the uppermost layer and the lowermost layer
The prepregs supplied from
The layer and the bottom layer are each further fed to the slag with release paper still attached. Therefore, prepreg does not adhere to the guide roller 15 and the auxiliary guide roller 15a.

Downstream of this guide roller 15, a pair of pressure rollers 16 and 17 are arranged to stack and press thin prepregs sent from the guide roller 15 and whose height has been adjusted.
They are disposed across the upper and lower sides of the prepreg supply line L so as to face each other with a slight gap. The pair of pressure rollers 16 and 17 are pressed at a pressure of, for example, 2-5 kg/am (hereinafter, kg/cm represents the pressing force per unit length of the rollers). It is designed to press against the prepreg passing through it. During this lamination and pressurizing work, the pressurizing rollers 16 and 17 are warmed in advance to about 30° C. to 40° C. in order to improve the compatibility between the prepregs. This pressure roller 1
6.17 is formed to have a diameter of about 150 mm and an axial length of about 600 mm, for example.

Note that the top and bottom layers of the laminated prepreg that are supplied to the pressure rollers 16 and 17 and pass therethrough still have release paper attached to them as they pass through and move.
6. Prepreg does not adhere to 17.

A pressure roller 16.1 is downstream of the pressure roller 16.17.
Release paper peeling rollers 18 and 19 are provided to peel off the release paper adhering to the top and bottom layers of the laminated and pressurized prepregs sent from 7. The release paper peeled off at step 19 is wound up at release paper winding ports 20 and 21 disposed downstream of the release rollers 18 and 19, respectively, and at this position, the release paper is removed from the laminated and pressurized prepreg. I am trying to remove it.

At the lower position of the prepreg supply line L where the prepreg is supplied by the flow of the take-up rollers 20 and 21, there is a
A vacuum table, that is, a suction heating device 22, is provided to suction and convey the laminated and processed prepreg sent from the pressure rollers 16 and 17, and further heat and harden the prepreg. There is. This suction heating device 22 is formed to have a width of about 600 mm and a length y of about 15 m, for example.

The suction heating device 22 has a heater 23 in the lower part. The heater 23 is divided into sections, e.g., about 2 m apart, in the longitudinal direction, and each divided heater can be individually adjusted in temperature as desired. For example, the temperature can be set at approximately 100° C. for the lid of the first section from the second level, approximately 150° C. for the second section, and 160° C. thereafter.

This suction heating device 22 further has a space 24 having a width of about 500 mm, a length of about 2000 mm, and a depth of about 10 mm, located at the negative side of the heater 23 and about 1 m from the upstream side. A portion of the upper surface of the portion 24 having a width of about 500 mm and a length of about 2000 mm is covered with a lid 26 in which, for example, about 4 small holes 25 with a diameter of 2.0 mm are bored per 100 crrf. A plurality of support members 27 are disposed between the bottom wall of the space 24 and the lid 26 in order to support the lid 26 in the second part of the space 24 (in FIG. (only one support member is shown for this reason)
.

A vacuum pump 28 for evacuating the space 24 is connected to the space 24, so that the inside of the space 24 can be brought into a vacuum state of, for example, 300 mm Hg - 500 m mHg. ing. The space 24, a lid 26 with a hole 25 that covers the space 24, and a vacuum pump 28 constitute a suction means, and as described above, this suction means causes the pressure rollers 16 and 17 to be removed. It is possible for the laminated prepreg that is sent to be sucked into the suction heating device 22 .

Note that the space 24 may be provided on the entire two sides of the suction heating device 22, and the space 24 may be covered with a lid 26 having a hole 25. Therefore, in this case, the entire upper surface of the suction heating device 22 is covered with a lid 26 having holes 25.

In addition, on the upstream side of the suction heating device 22, a supply roller 30 is placed on the lower side of the prepreg supply line L for supplying the perforated heat-resistant film 29, which has many small needle holes, to the suction heating device 22''. This supply roller 30
The perforated heat-resistant film 29 that is supplied from the suction heating device 22 and passes therethrough is wound up into a winding opening 31 that is disposed downstream of the suction heating device 22 and below the prepreg supply line L. It's like that.

At that time, the pressure inside the space 24 is reduced by the vacuum pump 28, and this reduced pressure atmosphere is supplied onto the suction heating device 22 through the holes 25 of the lid 26, and the perforated heat-resistant film 29 is conveyed.
The winding roller 31 is sucked onto the suction heating device 22.
I'm trying to wrap it around. Note that this supply roller 30
It is also possible to adopt a circular system in which the perforated heat-resistant film 29, which is supplied and wound up between the roller and the winding opening 31, is connected between these rollers and moves endlessly.

This perforated heat-resistant film 29 is designed to withstand heat of approximately 200 to 250°C.

Above the prepreg supply line L, a suction heating device 22 is provided.
A plurality of pressure rollers 32 are arranged to face the. Further, on the upstream side of the suction heating device 22 and above the prepreg supply line L, a suction heating device 22 and a pressure roller 32 are provided.
A supply roller 34 is disposed to supply the heat-resistant film 33 so as to pass and convey it between the suction heating device 22 and the pressure roller 32.
The heat-resistant film 33 passing between and being conveyed is wound up by a winding opening 35 disposed downstream of the suction heating device 22 and above the prepreg supply line L. Note that this heat-resistant film 33 is also designed to be able to withstand heat of approximately 200 to 250°C.

Thus, through the prepreg supply line L, the perforated heat-resistant film 29 is sucked by the suction heating device 22 and wound onto the winding opening 31 side, and the perforated heat-resistant film 29 is wound onto the winding opening 35 side while being pressed by the pressure roller 32. Laminated and pressed prepreg is supplied from pressure rollers 16 and 17 between the heat-resistant film 33 and the heat-resistant film 33 to be removed.
Pressure roller 1 inserted and supplied between these heat-resistant films
The laminated and pressurized prepreg from 6.17 is transported through the suction heating device 227 without slipping along with these heat-resistant films without adhering to the top surface of the suction heating device 22 or the surface of the pressure roller 32. The material is cured by heating by the heater 23 of the suction heating device 22, applying pressure by the pressure roller 32, and applying pressure by the suction force at the lid 26, thereby producing a fiber-reinforced composite material such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. It is being done.

At this time, by applying Teflon coating to the upper surface of the suction heating device 22, it is possible to improve the supply and conveyance of the heat-resistant film to be supplied.

A cooling plate 36 is disposed downstream of the suction heating device 22, and the cooling plate 36 allows the suction heating device 2 to cool down.
In Step 2, the fiber-reinforced composite material produced by curing the laminated prepreg is cooled.

A product winding device 37 is disposed downstream of the cooling plate 36 to wind up the produced fiber-reinforced composite material, that is, the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic product. The product take-up device 37 includes a shaft 38, a plurality of arms 39 extending radially from the shaft 38, and the arms 39.
a retaining rod 40 attached to the shaft 38;
A drive motor (not shown) is connected to the . Also,
The arm 39 is configured such that its length can be variably adjusted.

If it is necessary to change the winding diameter of the product winding device 37 depending on the thickness of the product, the length of the am 39 can be adjusted to change the winding diameter of the product winding device 37. ing. This product winding device 3
7 is, for example, a winding diameter of about 2000 mm and a width of about 600 mm.
Formed in mm.

When a long product is required, the carbon fiber reinforced plastic is wound in multiple layers by the product winding device 37. For example, if a 30m product is required, that is, 30m of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, the winding will be approximately 5N.

When a long object is not required as a product, the product winding device 3 is not operated without operating the product winding device 37.
The carbon fiber reinforced plastic conveyed directly from the cooling plate 36 may be cut into a predetermined length, for example, 1500 mm, by the cutter section 41 disposed immediately upstream of the cooling plate 36. In this case, the carbon fiber reinforced plastic cut by the cutter section 41 is placed on a cart 42 arranged below the prepreg supply line L.

In addition, if a longer product is required, the entire amount of manufactured carbon fiber reinforced plastic may be wound around the product winding device without using the cutter, as necessary. Just use the cutter section.

This ivy portion 41 is arranged so that it faces a cutter table 43 on which the carbon fiber reinforced plastic is supplied and placed below the prepreg supply line L, and a cutter table 43 on the upper side of the prepreg supply line L. A cutter 44 that cuts the carbon fiber reinforced plastic into a predetermined shape.
It is equipped with A water jet cutter, a laser cutter, a diamond cutter, etc. can be used for this ivy 44, and the cutter 44 cooperates with the cutter stand 43 to cut the carbon fiber reinforced plastic on the cutter stand 43. There is.

The operation of the continuous fiber-reinforced composite material manufacturing apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration will be described below.

Now, when the continuous fiber-reinforced composite material manufacturing apparatus 10 is in operation, the prepreg winding roller mounting table 1
From the prepreg winding roller 11 of a plurality of prepreg winding rollers 11 of 2 (in this embodiment, 7 are provided as described above, but only 5 are shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity). Toward the guide roller 15 and the auxiliary guide roller 1.5a,
A thin prepreg for sheet-like carbon fiber reinforced plastic having a thickness of about 120 mm and having a predetermined curing performance, e.g., curing performance at 150° C. for 90 minutes, is molded through a predetermined process at a predetermined speed, e.g., 0.1 mm/min. The prepregs are fed by guide rollers 15 so as to be in a stacked state, and their height is adjusted, and the prepregs are sent to a pair of pressure rollers 16 and 17.

At that time, except for the prepreg from the prepreg winding roller 11 for the most layer and the bottom layer, the prepreg from each winding roller is removed by the cover film peeling roller 13.
The cover film and release paper sandwiched from above and below are peeled off by a and release paper peeling roller 14a, and the peeled cover film and release paper are removed by cover film winding roller 13 and release paper winding roller 14. It is wound up. Here, only the cover film of the uppermost layer and the lowermost layer of prepreg is peeled off and wound up by a take-up roller, but the release paper of the uppermost layer and the lowermost layer of prepreg is not peeled off and remains attached as it is. .

The laminated prepregs sent to the JEE rollers 16.17 are pressed at a pressure of approximately 2 to 5 kg/cm by the pressure rollers 16.17, and are reliably laminated and stacked in the gap between the pair of pressure rollers. The lamination thickness is approximately 0.84 mm.

At this time, due to the pressure applied by the pressure rollers 16 and 17 and the lamination operation, the air between the prepreg sheets supplied from the guide roller 15 is discharged, and the lamination is ensured.

Note that during this pressing and laminating work, the pressure roller 16.
17 is pre-warmed to about 30°C to 40°C,
The compatibility with the prepreg supplied from the guide roller 15 is improved.

The uncured prepreg that has been pressed and laminated by the pressure roller 16.17 is adhered to its second and lower surfaces by a peeling roller 18.19 disposed downstream of the pressure roller 16.17. The released release papers are each peeled off, and the peeled release papers are respectively wound up by winding rollers 20 and 21.

After that, the uncured prepreg from which the release paper has been peeled off is sent to the suction heating device 22, but at this time, the space 24 of the suction heating device 22 is depressurized by the operation of the vacuum pump 28, so that , the perforated heat-resistant film 29 supplied from the supply roller 30, the heat-resistant film 33 supplied from the supply roller 34, and the uncured prepreg described above are suctioned with the uncured prepreg sandwiched between these heat-resistant films. While being sucked into the heating device 22,
Moves by being pressed and rotated by the pressure roller 32,
The heat-resistant film 29 on the lower side is conveyed to the winding roller 3
1 and the upper heat-resistant film 33 is taken up by a take-up roller 35.

At this time, since the heat-resistant film 33 is on the top layer of the laminated prepreg, when it passes through the lid 26 portion having the hole 25, the heat-resistant film 33 is strongly sucked by the suction means, so that the prepreg is further pressurized. can be done.

Therefore, the laminated and pressurized uncured prepreg inserted between the heat-resistant films and conveyed from the pressure rollers 16 and 17 is sucked and heated by the heat-resistant film 22.
without adhering to the surface of M26 and pressure roller 32,
By passing these heat-resistant films over the suction heating device 22 at a predetermined speed, for example, 0.1 m/min, while being conveyed without slipping, the heater 2 of the suction heating device 22 is heated.
3, this laminated prepreg is continuously heated and hardened to become a predetermined carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

At this time, the laminated and pressurized prepreg is inserted between the heat-resistant films and conveyed by the suction force of the suction means, and is continuously slid on the suction heating device 22 together with these films. The effect of discharging air bubbles, etc., which are present in the prepreg through the needle holes of the heat-resistant film 29 can be expected.

The carbon fiber reinforced plastic formed into a predetermined shape by continuously curing the laminated prepregs in this way is then supplied from the suction heating device 22 to the cooling plate 1, 36, and is cooled.

After that, if a long product is required, the cooled carbon fiber reinforced plastic is transferred to the cooling plate 3.
6 through the cutter section 41 to the product winding device 37, where it is wound, and when a length measuring mechanism (not shown) detects a predetermined dimensional length, for example, a winding amount of 30 m in this example. Next, the carbon Hh fiber-reinforced plastic is cut by the cutter 44 of the cutter section 41, and the desired final product is thereby wound onto a product winding device 37 having a large diameter (for example, 2 m in diameter in this embodiment). I can do it.

In addition, when a long object is not required as a product, the cutter section 41 disposed immediately downstream of the product winding device 37 can cut the product without operating the product winding device 37.
The carbon fiber reinforced plastic directly conveyed from the cooling plate 36 is cut into a predetermined length, for example, 1500 mm, and the cut carbon fiber reinforced plastic is placed on a cart 42 placed below the prepreg supply line L. be placed.

Thus, in the above embodiment, the supplied prepregs are stacked, and the stacked prepregs are continuously conveyed without sliding while being sucked using a suction heating device.
The carbon fiber-reinforced plastic is heated and cured and then cut using a predetermined cutting means such as a cutter to continuously form a fiber-reinforced composite material such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. There is no manufacturing unevenness in quality among fiber reinforced composite materials, homogeneous fiber reinforced composite materials can be efficiently manufactured, and workability can be improved. Furthermore, if a cutter or the like is not used, it is also possible to manufacture long fiber reinforced composite materials, which has been considered impossible so far.

In addition, as another embodiment of the above-described suction means,
As shown in FIG. 2, a vacuum conduit 24a is provided on one side of the suction heating device 22, and a vacuum conduit 24a extends from the vacuum conduit 24a to the second side of the suction heating device 22.
b, and a small hole 25 similar to that described above may be provided on the upper surface of the suction heating device 22. Then, the vacuum pump 28 is applied to the vacuum conduit 24a to evacuate the inside of the vacuum conduit 24a to reduce the pressure in the same manner as in the above embodiment, and this reduced pressure atmosphere is passed through the vacuum conduit 24b to the suction heating device 22. The heat-resistant film supplied thereon may be suctioned by applying heat to the surface of the film. In this case, unlike the previous embodiment, the lid 26, the support member 27, etc. will be unnecessary, the number of parts will be reduced, and the configuration will be simplified. The suction heating device 22 shown in FIG. 2 also has a heater 23 as a heating means in its lower part, and is designed to heat the surface of the suction heating device 22 as described above. Similar to the example.

As explained above, according to the continuous fiber-reinforced composite material manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the supplied prepregs are laminated, and the laminated prepregs are suctioned and heated using a suction heating device. This method allows the fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics to be continuously molded by being continuously conveyed without sliding while being heated and hardened, making it possible to efficiently manufacture fiber-reinforced composite materials. This improves workability and allows for the production of long objects, which was previously considered impossible. Furthermore, when the manufactured fiber-reinforced composite material is cut into a predetermined length by a cutting means, each fiber-reinforced composite material manufactured and cut as described above has a uniform quality with no manufacturing unevenness. It is possible to produce fiber-reinforced composite materials.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a continuous fiber-reinforced composite material manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a suction heating device including another suction means. 11 Nibbly preg winding port 16.17: Pressure roller 22: Suction heating device 23: Heater 24: Space 25: Hole 26: M 28: Vacuum pump 37: Product winding device 41: Cutter section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A plurality of prepreg winding rollers that wind and hold sheet-like prepreg produced through a predetermined process, and a pressure roller that laminates and presses the prepregs supplied from these prepreg winding rollers;
Continuous fiber reinforcement comprising a suction heating device having a suction means and a heating means for sucking the laminated and pressurized prepreg supplied from the pressure roller and heating and curing it while further conveying it. Composite material manufacturing equipment.