A numerical methodology for improving the thermoforming process of complex thermoplastic composite components
Antonios G. Stamopoulos, Francesco Lambiase Alfonso Paoletti
download PDFAbstract. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for lightweight composite structures. Thermoplastic composite materials appear to be a very promising solution to this direction considering their unique aspects and their capability to be heated and stamped. Nevertheless, the cost of the development of the dies that are necessary to fulfill the requirements of the process was based, until recently, on trial-and-error tests. In the present work, an automotive component is considered, and the corresponding dies are developed using a fast and efficient process simulation software. The process parameters as well as the characteristics of the cavity are defined aiming to minimize the process induced defects.
Keywords
Thermoforming, Composites, Automotive
Published online 9/5/2023, 9 pages
Copyright © 2023 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Antonios G. Stamopoulos, Francesco Lambiase Alfonso Paoletti, A numerical methodology for improving the thermoforming process of complex thermoplastic composite components, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 35, pp 19-27, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644902714-3
The article was published as article 3 of the book Italian Manufacturing Association Conference
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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