The processing quality of carbon fiber can also be monitored?

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The Machining Quality of Carbon Fiber Can Also Be Monitored?

As the requirements for lightweight materials and excellent performance are getting higher and higher, the application of carbon fiber and its composite materials is becoming more and more extensive. There are some factors that are too difficult to control, for example, the issue of cost and production efficiency, such as material cost and batch molding processing cost. , high-speed and high-efficiency production of high-quality and low-cost carbon fiber composite materials, etc., have become a great concern to the industry, so how can we improve these problems?

Introduction

Machining Carbon Fiber

When carbon fiber is machined, the matrix and the fiber will have a more complex interaction, which is very different from the metal in terms of physical properties. The density of carbon fiber is smaller but the strength is greater than that of most metals. , the problem of fiber pulling or matrix fiber detachment often occurs. In addition, the heat resistance and wear resistance of carbon fiber also have certain requirements on the equipment. A large amount of cutting heat generated during machining will be a great challenge for the machine.

The quality of carbon fiber machining

Compared with traditional metal materials, it is very difficult to ensure the processing quality of carbon fiber. Carbon fiber filaments have various weaving methods, and the coated structure will have various directions and strengths, which means that the machining cutting path could only according to the direction of the strength of the carbon fiber structure, and the design of the fixture can we have a very perfect process integration. Otherwise, no matter trimming, and drilling, there will be bad burrs or vibrations or even broken parts. Our smart tool holder could go along with the carbon fiber cutting tool which can immediately reflect the stability of the cutting force and whether each carbon fiber filament is successfully cut by the tool, which can ultimately greatly improve the life of the special tool.

How does the smart tool holder monitor carbon fiber processing?

The example in the picture below is the trimming process of a carbon fiber sheet. It can be seen from the picture that the clamp will have different cutting vibration responses in different clamping positions. Each abnormal vibration will cause serious burrs and damage to the carbon fiber parts, and the vibration changes of a new tool and an old tool are also different, so we use the data analysis of smart tool handles to improve the span of the fixture to avoid abnormal vibration.

In addition, it can be seen from the torque diagram that there is no quality difference between the new tool and the old tool, and the data cannot be analyzed. This is because the machine itself does not have any vibration and load response, and these vibrations all come from the carbon fiber workpiece itself. , Because the workpiece is too light and very hard and brittle, we can only grasp the cutting quality by observing the bending moment of the special tool through our smart tool holder with very high sensitivity.

Monitoring drilling quality of carbon fiber

Pre-optimization

Post-optimization

The most frustrating problem with the drilling of carbon fiber parts is the quality of the back hole. Through the optimization of the drilling of the smart tool holder, it can be observed that different bending moments will reflect different axial forces, and the most suitable parameters will make the axial force smooth and effortless during machining, and it can also reduce the back hole burr and improve the tool life. The most successful case at present is the machining of the vent hole in the silicon carbide ceramic brake disc. The manufacturer successfully made the back hole of the disc vent hole. Zero breakage also saves huge tool costs.

Main image and photos provided by Machsync

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