隨著ZSK增強TFP技術，復合材料有望在汽車上得到更廣泛的應用
德國供應商ZSK針對日益重要的碳復合材料制造技術推出了一系列創新，終將克服成本和生產力方面的挑戰，這些挑戰阻礙了材料的廣泛應用。ZSK工藝開發了定制纖維鋪設（TFP），大大降低了成本，浪費和制造時間，同時為改進的部件設計和提高使用壽命的可回收性提供了新的可能性。
與將復合材料的纖維編織成垂直排列然后將織物切割成所需形狀的傳統方法不同，TFP將功能纖維排列成需要結構性能的束，并將它們縫合到兼容的基層上。這提供了絕對的定位自由度，允許光纖放置在佳方向以承載負載，確保它們在加工過程中不會移動，并將光纖損耗減少到3％而不是典型汽車的30-70％零件。ZSK的機器能夠使用TFP來創建與典型汽車零件的成品形狀相匹配的3D預成型件。
ZSK通過一系列創新改進了TFP方法，這些創新加速了纖維的沉積，增加了多功能性并簡化了設計過程。工藝改進包括：快速纖維鋪設，減少縫合時間; 光纖供應單元，使沉積速率加倍，并允許同時沉積不同的纖維; 不同材料之間自動切換; ZSK氣動切割系統，用于自動切割電線和纖維; 和先進的設計代碼，確保完美的重復結果，甚至自動控制曲折縫合。
“隨著車輛變得越來越復雜，對輕質材料的需求，以改善二氧化碳排放和產品性能的需求從未如此之大，但復合材料制造的成本在除了專業的利基應用之外的所有領域仍然難以負擔，”經理Melanie Hoerr解釋道。在ZSK進行技術刺繡。“我們使用TFP的方法突破了這一障礙，消除了大部分人工處理和傳統復合材料制造的浪費，同時增加了設計自由度并改善了質量控制。”
TFP允許復合預制件用纖維混合物（例如光學或金屬材料）方便地生產，以提供特定的性質，例如電連續性或阻抗。已經通過該方法組合了裸天線和隔離饋線以構成RFID組件。
除光學和線材組件外，TFP還可以加入混合碳纖維的聚合物，以便在模塑過程中熔化，形成基體，避免使用樹脂填料，加速復雜零件的生產，改善樹脂與纖維的分布，特別是在模具的四肢。通過選擇適當的聚合物進行再熔化以簡化生命周期結束時的分離，可以在很大程度上克服復合材料報廢回收的當前困難。
ZSK既可以提供專業知識，幫助汽車供應商開發原型并建立新的TFP設施，也可以推薦他們的專業制造商網絡之一共同開發TFP部件。ZSK還提供持續的制造支持，包括用于質量控制的基于云的和離線解決方案，以及用于連接傳感器和評估制造過程中的重要數據的工業4.0解決方案（MY.ZSK）。
原文如下：
German supplier ZSK has launched a series of innovations to an increasingly important carbon composite manufacturing technique, which will finally overcome the cost and productivity challenges that have held back wider use of the material until now. A development of Tailored Fibre Placement (TFP), the ZSK process dramatically cuts cost, wastage and manufacturing times while offering new possibilities for improved component design, and enhancing end of life recyclability.
Unlike the conventional approach of weaving the fibres of a composite into a perpendicular arrangement then cutting the fabric to the required shape, TFP arranges the functional fibres in bundles wher they are most needed for structural performance and stitches them into position on a compatible base layer. This gives absolute freedom of positioning, allowing fibres to be placed in the optimum directions to carry the loads, ensures that they do not move during processing, and cuts fibre wastage to just 3% instead of the usual 30-70% on a typical automotive component. ZSK’s machines are able use TFP to create 3D pre-forms which match the finished shape of a typical automotive part.
ZSK has improved the TFP method through a number of patented innovations that speed up the deposition of fibres, increase versatility and streamline the design process. Process improvements include: fast fibre laying which reduces stitching time; the fibre supply unit which doubles the deposition rate and allows simultaneous deposition of different fibres; automatic switching between different materials; the ZSK pneumatic cutting system for automated cutting of wires and fibres; and advanced design code that ensures perfect repetition of results, even controlling zig-zag stitching automatically.
“The demand for lightweight materials, to improve CO2 emissions and product performance as vehicles become heavier and more complex, has never been greater but the cost of composite manufacture has remained unaffordable in all but the most specialist niche applications,” explained Melanie Hoerr, Manager for Technical Embroidery at ZSK. “Our approach using TFP breaks through that barrier by eliminating most of the manual processing and waste of conventional composite manufacture, while increasing design freedom and improving quality control.”
TFP allows the composite pre-form to be conveniently produced with a mix of fibres, such as optical or metallic materials to provide specific properties such as electrical continuity or impedance. Naked antenna wires and isolated feed wires have already been combined by this method to make up RFID components.
In addition to optical and wire components, TFP can incorporate polymers commingled with carbon fibre to be melted later during moulding to form the matrix, avoiding the need for a resin filler, accelerating the production of complex parts and improving the resin-to-fibre distribution, especially in the extremities of the mould. Current difficulties with end-of-life recycling of composites could be largely overcome by choosing appropriate polymers for re-melting to simplify separation during end of life recycling.
ZSK can either provide expertise to help automotive suppliers develop prototypes and establish new TFP facilities, or can recommend one of their network of specialist manufacturers to co-develop TFP parts. ZSK also provides ongoing manufacturing support, with both Cloud-based and off-line solutions for quality control and an Industry 4.0 solution (MY.ZSK) to connect sensors and evaluate important data from the manufacturing process.
