Utilising pulses from a flash-lamp to control the heating of composite material during the composite manufacturing process
Heating of composites tows in Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) in order to increase the tackiness of the composite material is typically done using Infra-Red (IR) lamps, hot gas guns, or lasers.The invention, which originates from the National Composites Centre (NCC), relates to a new heating technique whereby a Xenon flash-lamp is pulsed to accurately and incrementally control the heating of material in AFP. This technique is much cheaper and safer than lasers, and quicker to attain higher temperatures than IR or hot gas guns. With temperatures in excess of 500°C being attainable in a fraction of a second, it is suitable for the manufacture of both thermoplastic and thermoset components.
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