JPH0818379B2 - Method and apparatus for laminating prepreg - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for laminating prepregs to form a prepreg laminated sheet and an apparatus for carrying out the method, and more particularly to a precut prepreg upstream of a lowermost position of a laminating roll. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for surely laminating a prepreg without peeling it off from a release paper before the tip portion is pressed against a laminated surface material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Composite materials are widely used for aircraft parts, machine structural parts and sports / leisure products. This composite material is formed by laminating prepreg impregnated with epoxy resin, etc. on reinforcing fibers such as carbon fiber, glass fiber, boron fiber, etc. to form a prepreg laminated sheet, which is cut into a shape suitable for this prepreg laminated sheet product. To form a prepreg laminated material. Then, a product such as a composite material is manufactured by subjecting the prepreg laminated material to processing such as bending and then pressing and heating. The laminating method is roughly classified into a manual method and a machine automated method, but the laminating methods are almost the same.

The manual laminating method which is the basis of the laminating method will be described with reference to FIG. The prepreg 1 is usually spread on one side on a silicone-impregnated release paper 2, and a prepreg tape 3 made up of the release paper 2 and the prepreg 1 is wound around a core tube 4 to form a prepreg tape roll 5 Are formed (see FIGS. 6A and 6B).
First, the prepreg tape 3 is pulled out from the prepreg tape roll 5 and cut into a predetermined size and shape to form a precut prepreg 6, and then the release paper 2 is peeled off from the precut prepreg 6 (see FIG. 6C). ,
The precut prepreg 6 from which the release paper 2 has been peeled off is used as a substrate for lamination, and is laminated on a lamination surface material 7 made of a plastic sheet or the like to be peeled off later. Then, a predetermined number of pre-cut prepregs 6 are provided on the prep-cut prepregs 6 by changing the direction of the fibers (for example, 45
Or 90 °) (see FIG. 6 (d)), or the fibers are laminated in the same direction (see FIG. 6 (e)) to form a prepreg laminated sheet on the laminate surface material 7. Next, the prepreg laminated sheet is cut into a predetermined shape without cutting the laminated surface material 7, and then the laminated surface material 7 is peeled from the prepreg laminated sheet to form the prepreg laminated material 8 (see FIG. 6 (f)). ). Then, the prepreg laminated material 8 is subjected to bending processing, and is pressed and heated, so that FIG.
A mold material 9 as shown in is formed.

An apparatus shown in FIG. 7 is known as a means for laminating the prepreg 1.

In the laminating apparatus 10, a precut prepreg tape roll 12 is mounted on the unwinding portion 11, and a precut prepreg tape 12a of the precut prepreg tape roll 12 is attached to an idler roll 13 and a laminating roll 14.
The pre-cut prepreg 6 from which the release paper 2 has been peeled off and is spread on the laminated surface material 7 by the laminating roll 14 so that the pre-cut prepreg 6 is laminated and the release paper 2 is wound via the detachable feeding device 15. The take-up part 16 is adapted to be wound.

[0006]

However, when the pre-cut prepreg 6 is pressed against the laminating surface material 7 by the laminating roll 14 to be laminated, the release paper 2 is fixed by the feeding device 15 until the pressing is completed. As shown in FIG. 8, when the pre-cut prepreg tape 12a is pulled out from the unwinding portion 11 and wound around the laminating roll 14 and fed out as shown in FIG. It tries to peel from the release paper 2. Accordingly, if the pre-cut prepreg 6 is pressed against the laminating surface material 7 by further lowering the laminating roll 14 in the state of being peeled off, bubbles 17 and wrinkles 18 are formed on the laminating surface material 7 in the vicinity of the tip portion of the precut prepreg 6. There are problems such as occurrence (see FIG. 9) and bending 19 at the end of the precut prepreg 6 (see FIG. 10), which gives a fatal defect in quality.

Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-19338, in order to prevent inconvenient peeling of the precut prepreg from the release paper, the precut that is drawn out from the unwinding portion and reaches the laminating roll. A method of covering the entire path of the prepreg before and after precut with a casing and heating the inside to an appropriate temperature to soften the prepreg to enhance the adhesion with the release paper, and also as disclosed in JP-A-61-5907. As described above, a heater composed of an infrared lamp is provided on the upstream side of the laminating roll, and further, a preheater also composed of an infrared lamp is provided on the upstream side of the preload roll located on the upstream side of the laminating roll. By heating a plurality of strands corresponding to the above, the strands are softened and the adhesion is improved, and lamination is performed by a laminating roll and a preloading roll. A method for facilitating and reliable has been proposed.

The method of heating the entire path of the prepreg described in JP-A-61-19338 is a method of heating the prepreg or the strand in the same manner over the entire length, so that it does not cause excessive softening and is laminated. It is necessary to prevent the inconvenience from occurring, and when the tip of the prepreg 6 is wound around the laminating roll 14 as described above,
It was difficult to prevent the phenomenon of peeling from the release paper 2.

Further, the one disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-5907 is for surely laminating a strand different from the prepreg on the laminating surface, and this is also the same as the length of the strand. Since it is heated, it is impossible to heat the lamination unfavorably, and it has the same drawbacks as those described in JP-A-61-2907.

The present invention is for carrying out a prepreg laminating method and a method thereof which can accurately guide the tip of the precut prepreg onto the laminating surface while suppressing the influence on the prepreg at the time of starting the laminating of the prepreg. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a device.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a precut prepreg attached to a release paper is peeled from the release paper and spread on a laminated surface material placed on a table by a laminating roll. In the method of laminating the prepreg to be attached, after preheating separately the pre-cut prepreg tip of the pre-cut prepreg tape located upstream from the lowest position of the laminating roll at the start of lamination,
The prepreg laminating method is characterized in that the pre-cut prepreg is spread on the laminated surface material by guiding it to the lowermost position of the laminating roll, and the pre-cut prepreg attached to the release paper is laminated while being separated from the release paper. A prepreg laminating apparatus for spreading on a laminated surface material placed on a table by a roll, characterized in that a heating device for heating only a precut prepreg tip portion of the precut prepreg tape is provided on the upstream side of the laminating roll. The laminating apparatus according to claim 2 is defined as claim 2, and the heating source of the heating device is dry air or a heated wire as claimed in claim 2, wherein the laminating apparatus according to claim 2 is defined as claim 3.

[0012]

In the prepreg laminating apparatus described above, the leading end of the precut prepreg of the precut prepreg tape sent from the upstream side of the laminating roll to the lowest position at the start of laminating is heated to a temperature suitable for introduction into the laminating location. And transfer correctly, enabling accurate stacking. Further, since this heating is applied only to the tip portion of the precut prepreg, the adverse effect on the lamination is small.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and the same components as those in the prior art will be designated by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. To do.

As shown in FIG. 1, the heating device 20 is provided near the idler roll 13 side of the laminating roll 14 so as to face the tip of the precut prepreg 6. The heating device 20 has an injector 21 and a warm air generator 22 as shown in FIG.

The injector 21 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a plurality of nozzles 23 are formed on the surface of the injector 21 facing the precut prepreg tape 12a. Also, the injector 2
Both ends of 1 are supported by holding metal fittings 24.

On the other hand, the warm air generating device 22 includes a heater 25.
And a fan 26, and the warm air generator 22 and the injector 21 are connected by a pipe member 27 such as a flexible tube having a heat retaining effect. Reference numeral 28 denotes an air cylinder. When the laminating roll 14 is lowered to laminate the precut prepreg 6, the air cylinder 2 is used when the injector 21 interferes with the laminating work.
8 can be operated to move the injector 21 to the outside in the width direction of the precut prepreg tape 12a or to the left in FIG. Moreover, 29 has shown the alternating current power supply.

Since the heating device 20 is constructed as described above, the warm air generator 22 is provided before the lowering of the laminating roll 14.
When the heater 25 of FIG. 3 is heated and the fan 26 is operated, the temperature-raised and dried air is changed to the nozzle 2 of the injector 21 as shown in FIG.
3 is sprayed toward the tip of the precut prepreg 6, and the temperature of the tip of the precut prepreg 6 rises, so that the viscosity of the epoxy resin impregnated in the precut prepreg 6 increases and the tip of the precut prepreg 6 softens. At the same time, the adhesive force with the release paper 2 is enhanced.
Next, after turning off the heating device 20 and further moving the heating device 20 by the air cylinder 28 as described above, the laminating roll 14 is lowered as shown in FIG. 8, and the tip of the pre-cut prepreg 6 is placed on the laminating roll. Lead to the bottom position of 14. At this time, since the adhesive force between the tip of the prepreg 6 and the release paper is increased, the tip does not separate from the release paper 2 before being pressed by the laminated surface material 7.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show another embodiment of the heating device 20. The heating device 20 has an infrared heater 30 as a heat ray and a reflecting mirror 31, and the infrared heater 3
The heat of 0 is applied to the tip of the precut prepreg 6 by the reflecting mirror 31. Reference numeral 32 denotes an air cylinder, which can move the heating device 20 to the outside in the width direction of the precut prepreg tape 12a or to the left in FIG. Further, 33 indicates an AC power supply. Also in this embodiment, the same operation as in the case of the above embodiment can be performed.

The heating device 20 may be arranged above the precut prepreg tape 12a (on the side of the release paper 2) in FIG. 1, and the same effect can be obtained.

[0020]

As described above, according to the prepreg laminating method of the present invention, only the leading end of the precut prepreg tape of the precut prepreg tape sent to the lowest position of the laminating roll at the start of laminating is heated on the upstream side of the laminating roll. Therefore, the tip portion of the precut prepreg can be correctly guided to the stacking portion while suppressing the adverse effect on the stacking to the minimum. For this reason, it is possible to obtain a stable quality prepreg laminated sheet without generating air bubbles, wrinkles or bending in the precut prepreg at the start of lamination. However, the present invention does not deny that the prepreg is entirely heated for another purpose.

Further, according to the prepreg laminating apparatus of the present invention, the simple purpose of providing a heating device for heating only the tip portion of the precut prepreg is sufficient, so that the intended purpose can be achieved by an inexpensive device. It has an excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a prepreg laminating apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional perspective view of a heating device that uses heated dry air as a heating source.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing a positional relationship between a heating device and a laminating roll.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a heating device using a heating wire as a heating source.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing a positional relationship between a heating device and a laminating roll.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing steps of a method of laminating prepregs.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a conventional prepreg laminating apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a precut prepreg is peeled off.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a precut prepreg showing a state of bubbles and wrinkles generated in the precut prepreg.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the precut prepreg showing a state of a bent portion formed in the precut prepreg.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 prepreg 2 release paper 6 pre-cut prepreg 10 laminating device 11 unwinding part 13 idler roll 14 laminating roll 15 feeding device 16 winding part 20 heating device 21 injector 22 hot air generating device 23 nozzle 30 infrared heater 31 Reflector

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Yasuhiko Nagakura 2068 Ooka, Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture Numazu Plant, Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-1-317767 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of laminating a pre-cut prepreg attached to a release paper to a laminate surface material placed on a table by a laminating roll while peeling the precut prepreg from the release paper. A pre-preg prepreg laminating method characterized in that after preheating the pre-cut prepreg tip part of the pre-cut prepreg tape located upstream from the position, the pre-cut prepreg is spread on the laminating surface material by guiding it to the lowest position of the laminating roll. . 2. A prepreg laminating apparatus for separating a precut prepreg attached to a release paper from a release paper and spreading the prepreg onto a laminated surface material placed on a table by a laminating roll, wherein the precut prepreg is provided upstream of the laminating roll. A prepreg laminating apparatus comprising a heating device for heating only the tip of the prepreg of the tape. 3. The prepreg laminating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the heating source of the heating device is dry air or heat rays having a raised temperature.