JPH08174473A - Device and method for manufacturing prepreg member - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the cutting precision, so as to restrain the generating amount of paper powder without adding any special device when a prepreg member as an overlapped body of the prepreg and a separating pattern paper is cut by means of a shear cutter. CONSTITUTION: When a prepreg member having the desired width is manufactured by continuously cutting a prepreg member 5 in which a sheet-like prepreg 5a is held on a separating pattern paper 5b by using a shear cutter 21 provided with a lower blade 22 and an upper blade 23 to be engaged with the lower blade 22, the thickness W1 of the upper blade 23 is set to 0.2 to 0.3mm, the blade tip angle θ2 is set to 20 to 40, and the width W2 of a groove 22a formed on the lower blade 22, and into which the blade tip 23a of the upper blade 23 is to be inserted is set to 0.5 to 1.0mm.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a prepreg material used for molding a fiber reinforced composite material such as a fiber reinforced plastic, and more particularly, a release paper is superposed on at least one surface of a sheet prepreg. The present invention relates to a prepreg material manufacturing apparatus and a prepreg material manufacturing method for cutting the prepreg material into a desired width according to the application.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A sheet-like prepreg used for molding a fiber-reinforced composite material is usually wound in a state of a prepreg material having release paper laminated on at least one surface thereof in order to prevent the prepregs from sticking to each other in a manufacturing stage. Taken. At this stage, the prepreg material is formed into a wide sheet having a predetermined width determined by the manufacturing equipment. Therefore, when the prepreg material is unwound, the prepreg material is unwound while the prepreg is cut together with the release paper into a tape or strip having a desired width according to the application, and then rewound to re-roll the prepreg. The product is made of wood.

In cutting the prepreg material, although depending on the application, the product width after cutting is required to have strict accuracy. Therefore, a shear cutter or a score cutter with high cutting accuracy is used for cutting the prepreg material.
Here, the shear cutter is provided with a rotating lower blade and a rotating upper blade, and while the rotating lower blade supports the running stacked body (that is, the prepreg material) composed of the prepreg and the release paper, by the rotating upper blade. It is cut by shearing from above, that is, by sandwiching. The cutting method using the shear cutter is used as a cutting method having extremely high dimensional accuracy and is preferably used for manufacturing a prepreg material that requires high accuracy.

[0004]

However, even in the case of cutting with a shear cutter, the cutting accuracy may decrease depending on various conditions of the cutter and various conditions of the prepreg material to be cut, such as the type of matrix resin of the prepreg. In some cases, the cut may not be finished sharply, or paper dust may be generated from the release paper to be cut.

To address such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-111
No. 898 discloses a prepreg for the purpose of improving the dimensional accuracy of cutting by increasing the drape property (softness) of the prepreg material at the time of cutting and suppressing the amount of paper dust generated from the release paper to be cut. A method of cutting a material while heating it to 25 ° C or higher is disclosed.

However, this method requires a heating device for heating the running prepreg material to a predetermined temperature, which causes a problem that the entire device becomes large and expensive.

[0007]

An object of the present invention is to suppress the generation amount of paper powder to an extremely small amount while maintaining high cutting accuracy of the prepreg material by improving and optimizing the shear cutter unit itself without adding a special device. It is to provide a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method of a prepreg material that can be manufactured.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a prepreg material producing apparatus according to the present invention, wherein a prepreg material in which a sheet-shaped prepreg is carried on a release paper is engaged with the lower blade and the lower blade. A device for manufacturing a prepreg material having a desired width by continuously cutting using a shear cutter having an upper blade that has a thickness of the upper blade of 0.2 to 0.3 mm and a cutting edge angle of 2
The groove width is 0 to 40 °, and the width of the groove formed in the lower blade into which the cutting edge of the upper blade is inserted is 0.5 to 1.0 mm.

Further, in the method for producing a prepreg material according to the present invention, a prepreg material in which a sheet-shaped prepreg is carried on a release paper is continuously cut using a shear cutter having a lower blade and an upper blade. When manufacturing a prepreg material having a desired width with a thickness of 0.2 to 0.3 mm and a cutting edge angle of 20 to 4
The width of the upper blade of 0 ° and the groove into which the cutting edge of the upper blade is inserted is 0.
Using a lower blade of 5 to 1.0 mm, the cutting edge of the upper blade is inserted into the groove of the lower blade, and the blade tip side surface of the upper blade is engaged with the groove side surface of the lower blade to cut the prepreg material. The method is characterized by that.

In the present invention, first, the upper blade of the shear cutter has a thickness of 0.2 to 0.3 mm. Since the prepreg generally has surface tackiness, if the thickness of the upper blade is too large, the sticking to the upper blade becomes a problem during cutting, which causes a decrease in cutting accuracy. By suppressing the thickness to 0.3 mm or less, this adhesion can be minimized and the cutting accuracy can be improved. However, if the thickness is less than 0.2 mm, it becomes difficult to sufficiently secure the strength of the cutting blade (upper blade). By setting the thickness within the range of 0.2 to 0.3 mm, it is possible to satisfy both the anti-adhesion property and the strength.

The edge angle of the upper blade is in the range of 20 to 40 °. By forming the cutting edge with a relatively acute angle in this manner, a sharp cut end surface (cut surface) of the prepreg material can be obtained. That is, cutting by shearing is performed in a desired state, and the tearing-off state of the release paper is prevented or even slightly suppressed. Since the part where the release paper is torn off can be kept small, the amount of paper dust generated can be kept small. The cutting edge angle is preferably as small as possible only from the viewpoint of sharpness, but if the cutting edge angle is too acute, the cutting edge may have insufficient strength, and there is a risk that the blade may be bent or spilled. A cutting edge angle of 20 to 40 ° is optimal for exhibiting the above-described good sharpness without causing such inconvenience.

Further, in the present invention, the width of the groove formed in the lower blade into which the cutting edge of the upper blade is inserted is 0.5 to 1.0.
It is set in the range of mm. The lower blade has a function of supporting the prepreg material being cut on its outer peripheral surface, and the prepreg material is an upper blade in which the blade edge is inserted into the groove of the lower blade and the blade side surface engages with the groove side surface of the lower blade. And, in cooperation with the lower blade, is cut by shearing. In this cutting by shearing, one cutting end side portion of the cut prepreg material is pushed into the groove of the lower blade by the upper blade. The other cut end side portion of the prepreg material is supported on the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade. At this time, the cutting end side portion of the prepreg material that is pushed into the groove of the lower blade is not supported by the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade, so that it easily wobbles, and if it wobbles largely, the cutting accuracy decreases. Also, if the amount of pushing into the groove is large,
In particular, a tearing force is generated immediately before the release paper is cut, and the amount of paper dust generated is increased.

The decrease in the cutting accuracy and the generation of paper dust due to tearing cause the larger the groove width of the lower blade, that is, the widthwise dimension of the prepreg material portion which is not supported by the upper blade on the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade. The more it tends to become remarkable. Therefore, in the present invention, the groove width of the lower blade is kept as small as 0.5 to 1.0 mm to improve the cutting accuracy, and
The amount of paper dust generated was kept low. Groove width is 1.0m
When it exceeds m, the above-mentioned problems of deterioration of cutting accuracy and generation of paper dust start to appear. On the other hand, if it is less than 0.5 mm,
It may be too narrow with respect to the upper blade having the optimum thickness described above, and the cutter may be damaged due to undesired contact between the upper blade and the lower blade edge.

As described above, in the present invention, by setting the thickness of the upper blade, the cutting edge angle of the upper blade, and the groove width of the lower blade in respective optimum ranges, good sharpness, high cutting accuracy, and paper A high level of suppression of dust generation is achieved.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a slitter device 1 for carrying out the method of the present invention. The slitter device 1 comprises an unwinding part 10, a cutter part 20 having a shear cutter 21, and a winding part 30. Cut into pieces.

The prepreg material 5 is a sheet-shaped prepreg 5a on which at least one surface is laminated with a release paper 5b. The prepreg 5a is a reinforcing base material, for example, a reinforcing fiber fabric impregnated with a matrix resin for reinforcement. Is.

The reinforcing fiber used for the prepreg 5 is as follows.
Examples thereof include high strength and high elastic modulus fibers such as carbon fibers, graphite fibers, organic high elastic modulus fibers (aramid fibers and the like), silicon carbide fibers, alumina fibers, boron fibers, tungsten carbide fibers, glass fibers and the like. As such reinforcing fibers, only one kind of reinforcing fiber may be used for the same prepreg, or different kinds of reinforcing fibers may be used in a regular or irregular arrangement.

As the matrix resin of the prepreg material, a thermosetting resin, a thermoplastic resin, or a mixture of a thermosetting resin and a thermoplastic resin can be used. Examples of the thermosetting resin include an epoxy resin, a maleimide resin, a polyimide resin, a resin having an acetylene end, a resin having a vinyl end, a resin having an allyl end, a resin having a nadic acid end, and a resin having a cyanate end. Is mentioned. These can generally be used in combination with a curing agent or a curing catalyst. Further, it is also possible to appropriately mix and use these thermosetting resins. Examples of the thermoplastic resin include polyimide, polyetherimide, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, and polyetheretherketone.

As the release paper 5b, for example, a sealing agent such as clay, starch, polyethylene, polyvinyl alcohol, etc. on both sides of a paper such as kraft paper, roll paper, glassine paper having a thickness of about 0.05 to 0.2 mm. And a release agent made of a silicone or non-silicone release agent, preferably a condensation reaction type or addition reaction type silicone of polydimethylsiloxane and polydimethylhydrogensiloxane. It is like applying an agent.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the unwinding section 10
The unwinding roll 12 is rotatably supported on the support base 11, and the prepreg material 5 to be processed is wound around the unwinding roll 12. In addition, the support table 11 has an unwinding roll 12
A brake 13 for controlling the rotation of the prepreg material 5 is provided to control the unwinding tension of the unwound prepreg material 5 to a desired value.

The cutter unit 20 cuts the prepreg 5a together with the release paper 5b into a tape shape or a belt shape having a desired width according to the application. The cutter unit 20 includes a lower blade 22 and an upper blade 23.
The upper cutter 2 is provided with a shear cutter 21 consisting of
3. The lower blade 22 is arranged above and below with the prepreg material 5 in between. The lower blade 22 and the upper blade 23 are rotated in opposite directions by different rotating means (not shown). When cutting, the cutter unit 20 cuts and separates both side portions of the prepreg material 5 as ears as necessary.

Here, the lower blade 22 is, as shown in FIG.
Contact points on both ends of the prepreg material 5 wrapped around the outer periphery,
The wrapping angle θ formed by the center of rotation C of the lower blade 22 is set to 5 degrees or less. The wrapping angle θ is set to 5 degrees or less in order to suppress the bending of the prepreg material 5 due to the cutting. This means that the angle formed by the prepreg material 5 at the time of starting contact with the lower blade 22 and the prepreg material 5 at the time of ending contact with the lower blade 22 and moving away is 175.
It is synonymous with the range of more than 180 degrees and more than 180 degrees.

That is, when the draping property of the prepreg material 5 is poor, the prepreg material 5 is cut by the lower blade 2 at the cutting portion P _C.
The surface of the prepreg material 5 is lifted from 2 and the cutting position is changed, so that the cutting accuracy of the prepreg material 5 is deteriorated and a sharp cutting surface cannot be obtained. Therefore, the bending of the prepreg material 5 is reduced to suppress the floating of the prepreg material 5 to be extremely small, and the tension of the prepreg material 5 itself facilitates the prepreg material 5 to adhere to the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade 22.

The take-up unit 30 has a support base 31 on which the take-up roll 3 is attached.
2, 32 are rotatably supported, and each winding roll 32 is provided with a winding motor 33. The winding motor 33 is
The winding tension of the prepreg material 5 unwound from the unwinding roll 12 is controlled to a desired value. Here, the prepreg material 5 unwound from the unwinding roll 12 is guided by the guide rolls 2 and 3 provided between the unwinding unit 10 and the winding unit 30, and is used together with the release paper 5b by the cutter unit 20. After being cut into a desired width according to the above, it is wound around the winding rolls 32 and 32.

The prepreg material 5 is preferably controlled by controlling the rotation speeds of the guide rolls 2 and 3 to control the traveling speed, and thus the cutting speed, but by controlling the rotation speed of the winding motor 33. May be. The cutting speed of the prepreg material 5 is preferably 1 to 100 m / min, but the method of the present invention can perform good cutting even when cutting at high speed at a speed exceeding 100 m / min.

The shear cutter 21 is constructed as shown in FIGS. The blade edge 23a of the upper blade 23 is inserted into an annular groove 22a formed in the lower blade 22, and the side surface on which the clearance angle θ ₁ of the blade edge 23a of the upper blade 23 is set is one side surface of the groove 22a. Is in contact engagement with.
As shown in FIG. 2, the upper blade 23 and the lower blade 22 are rotated in directions opposite to each other, and cut the running prepreg material 5 by shearing between them.

The thickness of the upper blade 23, more precisely, FIG.
As shown in, the thickness W ₁ at the cutting edge 23a is 0.2 to
It is set to 0.3 mm. Further, the blade edge angle θ ₂ of the blade edge 23a is set to 20 to 40 °. Clearance angle θ ₁
Is not particularly limited, but is preferably 3 to 5 °.

The width of the groove 22a of the lower blade 22, more precisely, the opening width W ₂ of the groove 22a on the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade 22.
Is set to 0.5 to 1.0 mm. Although the clearance angle θ ₃ (FIG. 5) of the lower blade 22 is not particularly limited,
It is preferably 6 °. The groove 22a of the lower blade 22
Although the inner shape of is not particularly limited, as shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that the inner part is largely cut out so that even if paper dust or the like is generated, the inner part is held in the inner part of the groove.
Further, the groove 22a is formed by a lower blade piece and an adjacent piece (which may or may not have a groove).

After the cutting edge 23a of the upper blade 23 is inserted into the groove 22a of the lower blade 22, the upper blade 23 is moved by a small amount in the axial direction so that the side surface of the cutting edge 23a becomes the side surface of the groove 22a as shown in FIG. Pressure is applied. The strength of this contact pressure is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately determined in consideration of the strength of the upper blade 23, the sharpness of cutting due to the cooperation with the lower blade 22, and the like.

As described above, in the shear cutter 21,
By setting the thickness of the upper blade 23 as thin as 0.2 to 0.3 mm, the contact area between the blade edge 23a of the upper blade 23 and the prepreg 5a at the cutting portion can be kept small, and the adhesive force of the prepreg 5a can be reduced. It is possible to suppress the deterioration of cutting accuracy due to adhesion.

Further, since the cutting edge angle θ ₂ is set to an acute angle of 20 to 40 °, an extremely excellent sharpness is obtained in cooperation with the lower blade 22, and a sharp cut end (cutting end face) is obtained. Since the cutting by shearing is performed extremely smoothly, the amount of paper dust generated by cutting the release paper 5b can be suppressed to an extremely small amount.

Further, since the width W ₂ of the groove 22a of the lower blade 22 is set as small as 0.5 to 1.0 mm, the lower blade of the cut end of the prepreg material 5 immediately after cutting is cut at the cutting portion of the prepreg material 5. The area of the unsupported portion of the outer peripheral surface of 22 is greatly reduced. As a result, the amount by which the cutting end immediately after cutting is pushed down into the groove 22a is suppressed to a small amount, and particularly, in the release paper 5b, undesired pulling is caused between the cutting end immediately after cutting and the corresponding part immediately before cutting. The generation of tearing force is suppressed. Therefore, the amount of paper dust generated due to tearing can be suppressed to an extremely small amount. Also,
It also has the function of promoting the cutting by shearing so that it can be performed more smoothly.

In this way, by optimizing the thickness W ₁ of the upper blade 23, the cutting edge angle θ ₂ and the width W ₂ of the groove 22a of the lower blade 22, the adhesion of the prepreg 5a and the tearing of the release paper 5b are suppressed. In this state, the cutting can be smoothly performed by shearing, the cutting accuracy can be improved, and the amount of paper dust generated can be suppressed to be small.

The action and effect of the cutting according to the present invention will be further clarified by comparing the state of FIG. 3 with the cutting state of FIG. 6 showing the structure of the conventional shear cutter for comparison. In FIG. 6, the upper blade 43 has a large thickness,
The edge angle θ ₄ of the blade edge 43a is also large, and the lower blade 42
For the width W ₃ is large widths 42a, the generation amount of sharpness is poor paper powder is large.

Next, the results of testing under each condition using the apparatus according to the present invention as described above will be described. Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Examples 1 to 7 The prepreg material obtained by superimposing the following prepreg and release paper on each other was cut at a cutting speed HV (m / min), an upper blade edge angle (°), and an upper blade shown in Table 1. The thickness (mm) and the width of the lower blade groove (mm) were cut into a predetermined width, and the sharpness and the amount of paper dust generated were evaluated. Prepreg: average single yarn diameter 7 μm, tensile elastic modulus 23,50
0 kgf / mm ^2, and 55 vol% carbon fiber tensile strength 365kgf / mm ^2, 250 ℃ curable epoxy resin 4
Unidirectional prepreg consisting of 5% by volume (carbon fiber areal weight: 150 g / m ² ). Release paper: Kraft paper is coated on both sides with clay and then coated with a silicone release agent. Thickness 0.11
mm release paper.

The sharpness and the amount of paper dust generated depend on the state of the cutting edge surfaces of the cut prepreg material on the upper blade surface side and the lower blade surface side, and the upper blade surface and the lower blade surface after cutting. The amount of paper dust on the surface was visually evaluated. Very good sharpness, "◎" indicates that the amount of paper dust generated is extremely small, good sharpness,
"○" indicates that the amount of paper dust generated is small, "Creating" is normal, and "△" indicates that the amount of paper powder generated is normal,
Those with a large amount of paper dust generated are shown by "x".

As a result, in Examples 1 to 4 in which the upper blade edge angle, the upper blade thickness, and the lower blade groove width were within the ranges specified in the present invention, the sharpness was good and the amount of paper dust generated was small. Satisfactory results were obtained, but in any of Comparative Examples 1 to 7 in which any of the conditions is out of the range specified in the present invention, the sharpness,
Satisfactory results were not obtained for the amount of paper dust generated.

[0039]

[Table 1]

[0040]

As described above, according to the manufacturing apparatus and the manufacturing method of the prepreg material of the present invention, the thickness of the upper blade, the cutting edge angle, and the groove of the lower blade of the shear cutter are added without adding any special device. Only by optimizing the width, it is possible to cut the prepreg material by smooth shearing with extremely good sharpness, the cutting accuracy can be improved, and the amount of paper dust generated can be suppressed to an extremely small amount. By suppressing the amount of paper dust generated, the cleaning cycle of the cutter can be greatly extended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a prepreg material manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic side view of a shear cutter unit of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

4 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view of the upper blade of the cutter of FIG.

5 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view of a lower blade of the cutter of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a partial vertical sectional view of a conventional shear cutter shown for comparison.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Slitter Device 2, 3 Guide Roll 5 Prepreg Material 5a Prepreg 5b Release Paper 10 Unwinding Part 12 Unwinding Roll 13 Brake 20 Cutter Part 21 Shark Cutter 22 Lower Blade 22a Groove 23 Upper Blade 23a Blade Edge 30 Winding Roll 32 Winding Roll 33 Take-up motor C Rotation center (of lower blade) P _C Cutting part (of prepreg material 5) θ Wound angle θ ₁ Upper blade clearance angle θ ₂ Upper blade edge angle θ ₃ Lower blade clearance angle W ₁ Upper Blade thickness W ₂ Lower blade groove width

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A prepreg material in which a sheet-shaped prepreg is carried on a release paper is continuously cut using a shear cutter having a lower blade and an upper blade engaging with the lower blade to obtain a desired width. An apparatus for producing a prepreg material, wherein the upper blade has a thickness of 0.2 to 0.3 mm, a cutting edge angle of 20 to 40 °, and the cutting edge of the upper blade formed on the lower blade is The prepreg material manufacturing apparatus is characterized in that the width of the groove to be inserted is 0.5 to 1.0 mm. 2. When manufacturing a prepreg material having a desired width by continuously cutting a prepreg material in which a sheet-shaped prepreg is carried on a release paper using a shear cutter having a lower blade and an upper blade, An upper blade having a thickness of 0.2 to 0.3 mm and a cutting edge angle of 20 to 40 ° and a lower blade having a groove width into which the cutting edge of the upper blade is inserted are 0.5 to 1.0 mm. A method of manufacturing a prepreg material, characterized in that the blade edge of the upper blade is inserted into the groove of the lower blade, and the blade tip side surface of the upper blade is engaged with the groove side surface of the lower blade to cut the prepreg material.