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Victrex (Thornton Cleveleys, U.K., 5/S29) and Coriolis Composites (Queven, France, 6/A32) are announcing cooperative work they did with thermoplastic unidirectional tape (TP UDT) prepreg lay-up and consolidation to improve the manufacturing efficiency of composite parts. The companies are jointly presenting the results of their efforts to address one of the aerospace industry’s key challenges: how to make composite parts at a high speed and lower processing temperatures.

Coriolis Composites and Victrex have each used their own technologies and know-how in teaming up to use an automated fiber placement (AFP) process, reportedly using parameters that unlock the potential of VICTREX AETM 250 UDT, which could benefit aerospace OEMs and in the tier and processor supply chain. Specifically, the cooperation on composite process development could enable the aerospace industry to create composite parts faster and more economically.

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VICTREX AE 250 UDT is a high-performance thermoplastic composite prepreg tape that was designed by Victrex to have mechanical, physical and chemical resistance properties typical of the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) polymer family, such as PEEK, but with a 40°C/104°F lower crystalline melting temperature, at only 305°C/581°F.

The companies say the results of the study are unprecedented in terms of lay-down speed at acceptable porosity levels for TP UD laminates. The companies say this is a decisive step towards enabling the market to scale up manufacturing and realize the benefits of TP UD tapes. VICTREX AE 250 UDT holds the potential for manufacturers to exceed speed of manufacturing of an existing TP UDT intended for the same applications, and reportedly rivals automated fiber placement/automated tape laying (AFP/ATL) deposition rates for thermosets without the autoclave consolidation time required for thermoset UDT (TS UDT).

“During the presentation, we will demonstrate how, with VICTREX AE 250-based UDT prepreg tape, we have been able to achieve a faster lay-up speed when followed by out of autoclave (OOA) consolidation. The results of our study are a significant improvement over what we’ve seen for a similar TP UD tape,” says Dr. Stuart Green, market technology manager for aerospace at Victrex.

“We developed a set of conditions that demonstrated time and energy savings, indicating the potential benefits of the deployment of AE 250 UDT composites for large-scale structural aircraft parts,” says Dr. Justin Merotte, composites project engineer at Coriolis Composites. “In particular, the results showed that a significant increase in lay-up speed was possible with VICTREX AE 250 UDT, while at the same time achieving the low levels of porosity desired for in-situ consolidation.”

The joint presentation will take place on Tuesday, March 12 at the JEC World 2019 Technical Conference.