Source | ITA RWTH Aachen University
FEATURE: Automotive Composites
760 mm (29 inches)
1230 mm (48 inches)
Outer shell
Reinforcements
Stiffeners
Inserts
This demonstration composite auto roof component, developed by the
Institut fur Textiltechnik (ITA) at the RWTH Aachen University, was
produced in a multistep automated process that produced a tailored
noncrimp fabric, then robotically formed and placed the foam-flled
stringers and metallic fasteners.
costs. Assumptions included 10-year linear depreciation of all machinery. Greb points out that material costs make up about 95 percent of a preform like the one used for the BMW roof demonstrator.
Tat said, the data showed that a preform based on a tailored NCF
made by the LIBA machine coupled with robotic placement is much
more efcient to produce than a single-step preform, but because
it requires more capital equipment, the per-piece cost is about the
same. However, the analysis also proved that as the part production
rate increases, the unit cost of the preform goes down.
Although no projects are yet in production with an OEM, Greb
notes, "We are constantly working on further improving the process
by enhancing both single- and multi-process chains."
A multistep preform cell
In 2011, the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT,
Pfnztal, Germany) began a long-term collaboration with the
University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada). Te
Fraunhofer Project Centre for Composites Research at Western
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