JPH0230518A - Continuous manufacturing device of fiber-reinforced composite material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve workability by manufacturing continuously a fiber- reinforced composite, by a method wherein a specific prepreg curing device curing continuously laminated and pressurized prepreg to be supplied by conveying the same while pressurizing and heating further is arranged. CONSTITUTION:A prepreg curing device 18 is constituted of a pair of pressuring, heating and conveying devices 18A, 18D arranged so that they are separated a little from each other and face on each other at the upper and lower side positions of a prepreg supply line L where the prepreg is supplied. When laminated prepreg supplied away through pressurizing rollers 16, 17 is entered into a little gap to be formed between the pressurizing, heating and conveying devices 18A, 18B arranged by separating a little from each other through the prepreg supply line L, the prepreg is cured by pressuring and heating gradually further with hot rollers 19-21, 19a-12a and belts 27, 27a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION - ADVANTAGES The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for manufacturing m-fiber reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics used as a base material for various moldings, and in particular, to The prepared prepregs are laminated together, the laminated prepregs are cured through a heating, pressure process, etc., and a desired #& fiber reinforced composite material can be continuously produced through a cutting process. The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing continuous fiber reinforced composite materials.

In recent years, various fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics have been used in various applications such as aerospace, land transportation, ships, construction and civil engineering, industrial parts, electrical sound equipment, agricultural and fishery materials, and sporting goods. Widely used in the field. 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.

In other words, for example, carbon fiber reinforced plastic is impregnated with carbon fiber matrix resin and produced through a predetermined process, and a thin prepreg of IOO#~200 is made into a predetermined shape and size. A plurality of sheets of thin prepreg cut into a predetermined shape are laminated, and then the laminated prepreg is heated and pressurized using a heating and pressurizing device to harden it, making it possible to create a material like the above-mentioned carbon fiber reinforced plastic. A fiber-reinforced composite material was obtained. Then, the fJ: fiber-reinforced composite material such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastic that has been cured through the above-described predetermined molding process is trimmed to produce a desired final fiber-reinforced composite material.

Conventionally, when manufacturing fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics using the above-mentioned processes, each process, to be described in order, is a cutting process for cutting prepregs, a lamination process for laminating cut prepregs, and lamination. The curing process in which the prepreg is cured by applying pressure and heat, and the trimming process are repeated each time a desired carbon i-fiber reinforced plastic is produced.

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, and therefore there is no time loss between each process. However, when producing a large amount of the desired fiber-reinforced composite material, it takes a long time to produce the desired fiber-reinforced composite material, resulting in 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 quality of fiber-reinforced composite materials tends to vary, making it difficult to obtain homogeneous fiber-reinforced composite materials.

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

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

Another object of the present invention is to wind up the continuously manufactured fiber reinforced composite material into a roll or cut it into long lengths, and to hold and store the manufactured fiber reinforced composite material net 4. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing a continuous m-fiber reinforced composite material.

The above objects are achieved by the continuous fiber reinforced composite material manufacturing apparatus 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 pressure roller that applies pressure, a plurality of rollers for pressure and heating, and a plurality of rollers for applying pressure and heating, in order to convey and cure the laminated and pressed prepreg supplied from this pressure roller while further applying pressure and heating. and a prepreg curing device comprising a belt stretched between rollers for conveying the prepreg from the pressure roller.

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 m-fiber reinforced composite materials according to the present invention is shown. This manufacturing equipment lO
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 wrapping and holding 20 sheets of carbon fiber reinforced plastic and thin prepreg are mounted. The prepreg winding roller 11 of the prepreg winding roller mounting table 12 is formed to have a diameter of about 300 mm and an axial length of about 600 mm, for example. In addition, in FIG. 1, the prepreg wrapping roller 1
1, only five pieces are shown in the figure for the sake of simplifying the explanation, but seven pieces are actually provided.

Downstream of the prepreg winding roller mounting table 12, each prepreg winding stage is provided with a cover film peeling plate for peeling off the cover film and release paper that sandwich the thin prepreg to be supplied from above and below for each roller 11. A roller 13a and a release paper peeling roller 14a are provided,
The peeled off cover film and release paper are wound up by a cover film take-up roller 13 and a release paper take-up roller 14, respectively, which are disposed below the cover film peel roller 13a and # pattern paper peel roller 14a. It has become. However, at that time, for the prepreg winding roller IJ of the highest layer and the lowest layer, respectively,
In order to feed the release paper of the prepreg downstream without being peeled off, the release paper peeling roller 14a and @pattern winding roller 14 are not provided, and the cover film peeling roller 13a and cover are used to peel off and wind up only the cover film. Only a film take-up roller 13 is provided.

Downstream of the cover film winding roller 13 and release paper winding roller 14, prepreg windings are supplied from a plurality of prepreg winding rollers 11 on a roller mounting table 12, and release paper is applied to the top and bottom layers. A guide roller 15 for guiding the thin prepregs to be stacked and adjusting the height is disposed at a position below the prepreg supply line L that supplies the thin prepregs. An auxiliary kite roller 15a is arranged on the − side of the prepreg supply line L so as to be in contact with this guide roller 15, and this auxiliary guide roller 15a is
It cooperates with the kite roller 15 to adjust the height of the supplied prepreg to the prepreg supply line L''2, and these guide rollers 15 and the auxiliary kite roller 1
5a is each formed to have a diameter of about 150 mm and an axial length of about 600 mm, for example.

In addition, when the thin prepreg supplied from the roller 11 reaches the guide roller 15 and is laminated, the plurality of prepreg winding guides on the prepreg winding roller mounting table 12 are used to wind the prepreg of the two-most layer and the lowest layer. roller 1
The prepregs supplied from No. 1 are supplied further downstream with release paper still attached to them, that is, with release paper still attached to the top and bottom layers of the stacked prepregs. Therefore, no prepreg is applied to the guide roller 15 and the auxiliary kite 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 so as to face each other with a slight gap at the lower end of the prepreg supply line L. This pair of pressure rollers 16, 17 is applied with a pressure of, for example, 2-5 kg/cm (hereinafter, kg/cm represents the pressing force per unit length of the rollers). It is designed to press against the prepreg passing through it. In addition,
During this lamination and pressurization work, the pressure rollers 16 and 17 are warmed in advance to about 306C to 40C in order to improve the compatibility between the prepregs. The pressure rollers 16, 17 are 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.
A prepreg curing device 18 is provided which further pressurizes and heats the laminated and pressurized prepregs sent from 7 to harden the laminated prepregs. This prepreg curing device 18 has a width of about 600 m, for example.
m, approximately 15m long.

This prepreg curing device 18 consists of a pair of pressurizing and heating conveying devices 18A and 18B that are arranged so as to be slightly spaced apart and facing each other at a position below the prepreg supply line L to which the prepreg described above is supplied. Consists of. Since the pressurizing and heating conveyance devices 18A and 18B are symmetrical with respect to the prepreg supply line L, the pressurization and heating conveyance device 18A disposed above the prepreg supply line L will be described. Heating conveyance device 18
A is a first hot roller 19, a second hot roller 20, a third hot roller 21, and a fourth hot roller 2 in order from the pressure roller 16, 17 side toward the downstream.
2, pressure rollers 23, 24, 25 and meandering prevention rollers 26 are also provided. In addition, pressure roller 2
3 is a pressure roller 24 between the first and second hot rollers.
The pressure roller 25 is disposed between the second and third hot rollers, and the pressure roller 25 is disposed between the third and fourth hot rollers.

Rollers 15.15a, 16.17.19.20.21.
22 are each formed in substantially the same way, e.g.
The pressure rollers 23, 24, 25 are formed to have a diameter of approximately 210 mm and an axial length of approximately 600 mm.
0 mm, and an axial length of approximately 600 mm.

Between these first, second, third, and fourth rollers, pressure rollers, and anti-meandering rollers, there is a roller having a width of about 600 mm, for example, which is rotated between these rollers.
A belt 27 made of steel and having a length of about 33 m is stretched. As another belt instead of this steel belt, for example, a belt made of hard rubber or the like may be used. Further, downstream of the fourth hot roller 22, there is a tension adjustment device that presses the steel belt 27 of the pressure and heating conveyance device 18A from the outside to tension and hold the steel belt 27 at a predetermined position. roller 28
is installed. This tension adjustment roller 28 is
For example, it is formed to have a diameter of about 100 mm and a length of about 600 mm.

The pressurizing and heating conveying device 18B disposed below the prepreg supply line L has the same configuration as the above-described pressurizing and heating conveying device 18A, and the steel belt of this pressurizing and heating conveying device 18B 27a is installed.
to the fourth hot rollers 19a, 20a, 21a
, 22a, and pressure rollers 23a, 24a, and 25a are the steel belt 2 of the above-described pressure and heating conveyance device 18A.
Each real roller 19.20.21.22 with 7 stretched
and pressure rollers 23, 24, and 25 via prepreg supply line L, respectively, so as to form a pair.

In addition, each hot roller 19.20.21.22.19a
, 20a, 21a, 22a and the pressing forces of the pressure rollers 23, 24, 25, 23a, 24a, 25a can be adjusted as desired.

At this time, the pressing force between the hot roller pairs is set to increase from the first hot roller pair to the fourth hot roller pair. That is, the hot roller 19
and 19a have a pressing force of 1~2 kg/cm, and the hot rollers 20 and 20a have a pressing force of 2-3 kg/cm.
The pressing force of the hot rollers 21 and 21a, 22 and 22a is 5 to 7 kg/Cm.

Therefore, the pressure applied to these hot rollers,
Strictly speaking, the steel belts of the heating conveyance devices 18A and 18B are arranged so as to press the prepreg more strongly from the first hot roller to the fourth hot roller.

As a result, the pressure roller is placed in a small gap formed between the pressure and heating conveyance device 18A and the pressure and heat conveyance device it 8B, which are arranged slightly apart from each other via the prepreg supply line L. 16.17 When the supplied laminated prepreg comes in, these rollers and belts further gradually pressurize and heat the prepreg to harden it.

That is, the steel belt configured as described above is used to further press and heat the laminated prepreg supplied from the pressure roller to harden the first to fourth prepregs.
When moving the laminated prepregs to the hot roller pairs up to, the gap between them is decreased from the first to the fourth hot roller pair. While smoothly moving and conveying from the first to the fourth hot roller pair, pressure is gradually applied.
Can be heated and cured. Further, by using the steel belt having the above structure, the laminated prepreg is gradually thinned and hardened while passing through the first to fourth pairs of hot rollers via the steel belt, and finally to the fourth pair of hot rollers.
When passing through the hot roller, the thickness is about 0.84 mm.

In addition, in order to gradually pressurize and heat the laminated prepreg supplied from the pressure rollers 16 and 17 and harden it, the real rollers 19 and 1 of the pressure and heating conveyance devices 18A and 185 are used.
The first hot roller pair formed at 9a is about 100
It is heated to 'C. Similarly, hot roller 2
The second pair of hot rollers formed by rollers 21 and 20a is heated to about 130°C, and the third pair of hot rollers formed by rollers 21 and 21a is heated to about 150°C and heated to about 150°C. A fourth hot roller pair formed by rollers 22 and 22a is heated to about 160°C.

In addition, in the prepreg curing device 18, since the supplied laminated prepreg is transported and moved with the release paper placed on the top and bottom layers, the steel belt 27.27
Prepreg does not adhere to a.

A cooling bullet 29 is disposed downstream of the prepreg curing device 18, and the cooling plate 29 cools the fiber reinforced composite material produced by curing the laminated prepreg in the prepreg curing device 18.

Downstream of the cooling plate 29, there is a release paper peeling roller 3 that peels off the release paper of the uppermost layer and the lowermost layer of the fiber-reinforced composite material produced by laminating and curing the prepreg and further cooling.
0a and 30 are disposed, and the release paper peeled off by these peeling rollers 30a and 30 in 1 is as follows:
The paper is wound up by a two-release paper take-up roller 31 and a second release paper take-up roller 32, which are disposed downstream of the peeling rollers 30a and 30, respectively, and at this position, ## is removed from the prepared fiber reinforced composite material. I try to remove the paper pattern.

Note that if the steel belt 27.27a is coated with Teflon, etc., the above-mentioned peeling roller 30a
, 30 and the take-up roller 3132 are the pressure roller 16.
It may be installed downstream of 17.

A product winding device 33 is disposed downstream of the upper release paper winding roller 31 and the child release paper winding roller 32, and winds up the manufactured fiber reinforced composite material, that is, the product carbon fiber reinforced plastic. ing. This product winding device 33 includes a shaft 34, a plurality of arms 35 extending radially from this shaft 34, and a holding rod 36 attached to this arm 35, and a drive motor (not shown) is connected to the shaft 34. has been done. Also, Am35 is
Its length can be variably adjusted.

In addition, if it is necessary to change the winding diameter of the product winding device 33 depending on the thickness of the product, the length of the am 35 can be adjusted to change the winding diameter of the product winding device. There is. This product winding device 33 has a winding diameter of about 2000 mm and a width of about 600 m, for example.
formed in m.

When a long product is required, the carbon fiber reinforced plastic is wound in multiple layers by the product winding device 33. For example, if a 30m product is required, ie 30m of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, there will be approximately 5 layers of winding.

When a long object is not required as a product, the product winding device 3 is not operated without operating the product winding device 33.
The carbon arm reinforced plastics directly conveyed from the cooling plate 29 may be cut into a predetermined length, for example, 1500 mm, by a cutter section 38A disposed immediately upstream of the cooling plate 29. In this case, the carbon fiber reinforced plastic cut by the cutter section 38A is placed on a cart 37 arranged below the prepreg supply line L.

In addition, if a longer product is required, the entire amount of the manufactured carbon fiber reinforced plastic is transferred to the product winding device 33 without using the cutter section 38A.
The canter portion 38A may be used as needed.

This side ivy portion 38A is arranged so that it faces a cutter table 39 on which the carbon fiber reinforced plastic is supplied and placed below the prepreg supply line L, and a cutter table 39 on the upper side of the prepreg supply line L. Kanter 3 that cuts the carbon fiber reinforced plastic into a specified size
8. A water jet cutter, a laser cutter, a diamond cutter, etc. can be used as the cutter 38, and the cutter 38 cooperates with a cutter stand 39 to cut the carbon fiber reinforced plastic on the cutter stand 39. ing.

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
2 (in this embodiment, 7 rollers are provided as described above, but only 5 rollers are shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity) from prepreg winding rollers 11 to guide rollers 15. And toward the auxiliary guide roller 15a, a predetermined hardening performance molded through a predetermined process, for example, 150 ° C.
A sheet of thin prepreg for carbon fiber reinforced plastic having a thickness of about 120 ml and having a hardening performance of 90 minutes at a temperature is fed at a predetermined speed, for example, 0.1 m/min, and is moved by a guide roller 15 to form a laminated state. The supplied prepreg is guided and its height is adjusted, and the prepreg is sent to a pair of pressure rollers 16 and 17.

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

The laminated prepregs sent to the pressure 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 0.84ml. 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 prepreg supplied from Gaitoro-U15 has better conformability.

The uncured prepregs that have been pressed and laminated by pressure rollers 16 and 17 are sent to a prepreg curing device 18 and cured in this prepreg curing device 18 . That is, the pressurized and laminated prepregs sent from the pressure rollers 16 and 17 are transferred via the prepreg supply line L to the pressurizing and heating conveying device 18A, which is disposed slightly apart from the pressurizing and heating conveyor 18A. When entering the gap between the heating and conveying device 18B, the laminated prepreg is rotated between each of the first to fourth hot roller pairs and between the pressure rollers of the heating and conveying device. It is further gradually and continuously pressurized and heated via a steel belt 27.27a that is
harden.

At this time, steel belts are used for pressure and heating conveyance devices at the positions of each pair of hot rollers and pairs of pressure rollers, so the laminated prepreg is continuously pressed and heated in good condition. Furthermore, because of the rotating steel belt 27.27a, even when the first to fourth hot rollers move in sequence, the laminated prepreg can be smoothly moved, pressurized, and heated. and can be cured. In this way, the laminated prepreg is gradually thinned and hardened while passing through the first to fourth pairs of hot rollers via the steel belt, and when it passes through the fourth pair of hot rollers, it is about 0. It is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic with a thickness of ξ of 84 mm.

The carbon fiber-reinforced plastic formed into a predetermined shape by continuously curing the laminated prepreg in this manner is then supplied from the prepreg curing device 18 to the cooling plate 29, where it is cooled.

After that, if a long product is required, the cooled carbon fiber reinforced plastic is placed on a cooling plate 2.
9 to the product winding device 33 via the cutter section 38A, and is wound around the product winding device 33, and when a length measuring mechanism (not shown) detects a predetermined length, for example, a winding amount of 30 m in this embodiment. , the force of the cutter part 38A.
The carbon fiber reinforced plastic is cut at 8, thereby allowing the desired final product to be wound onto a product winding device 33 having a large diameter (for example, 2 m in diameter in this embodiment).

In addition, when a long object is not required as a product, the cutter section 38A disposed immediately above the product winding device 33 does not operate the product winding device 33.
The carbon fiber reinforced plastic directly conveyed from the cooling plate 29 is cut into a predetermined length, for example, 1500 mm, and the cut carbon fiber reinforced plastic is placed on a cart 37 placed below the prepreg supply line L. be placed.

In this way, in the above embodiment, the supplied prepregs are laminated, and the laminated prepregs are continuously cured in the prepreg curing device 18 to continuously form a fiber-reinforced composite material such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics. Since it is molded, there is no unevenness in quality among the fiber reinforced composite materials manufactured, and homogeneous fiber reinforced composite materials can be efficiently manufactured, resulting in good workability. . In addition, if you do not use a cutter, etc., it is possible to reduce the
It becomes possible to manufacture m-reinforced composite materials.

&"L"L button As explained above, according to the continuous fiber-reinforced composite material production apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to continuously produce fiber-reinforced composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastics. The prepreg curing system is equipped with a plurality of rollers and a belt stretched between these rollers for conveying and continuously curing the supplied laminated and pressurized prepreg while further applying pressure and heating. By arranging the apparatus, it is possible to continuously manufacture a desired fiber-reinforced composite material such as carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, resulting in good workability.

As a result, continuous work, for example, 24-hour operation is possible, and unmanned operation is also possible, which has great effects. In addition, it is possible to manufacture homogeneous fiber reinforced composite materials with no manufacturing unevenness in quality between each fiber reinforced composite material manufactured, and it is also possible to manufacture long items (for example, long items), which was previously considered impossible. It may also be 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. 11 Nibli preg winding roller 13.14: Peeling roller 15 Nigator roller 16.17: Pressure roller 18 Nibli preg curing device 19.20.21.22: Hot mouth 23.24.25: Pressure roller 27: Belt 29: Cooling plate 30a , 30: Peeling roller 31, 32/winding roller 33: Product winding device 34: Shaft 35: Arm 36: Holding rod 37: Cart 38A: 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;
In order to convey and harden the laminated and pressed prepreg supplied from this pressure roller while further applying pressure and heating, a plurality of pressure and heating rollers and a laminate stretched between these rollers are used. and a prepreg curing device comprising a belt for conveying the prepreg from the pressure roller.