Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials - 2. Improved Quality Through Automation and Refined Process Control.

Part 1 of this three-part series on fiber composites gave a description of the processing methods. In this, the second part, a full-scale process control system is presented, taking the example of prepreg processing. It starts with the control of prepreg manufacture. Image processing systems provide good service on account of their high performance and flexibility. A second quality check is required before the prepregs are processed in order to establish the influence of storage. It goes without saying that particular attention should be paid to the curing cycle. The finished component must then be subjected to controls once again. Nondestructive test procedures will permit 100 percent control in large-scale production in the future.