Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Fabrication Of Thermoplastic Polymer Composite Ribbon, Donald Allan Sandusky

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The goal of this research was to develop a controllable process to convert a thermoplastic powder-coated carbon-fiber towpreg into uniform and consolidated ribbon. The approach comprised four primary activities. (1) The patent and processing literature was studied to evaluate the state of the art. (2) A functional ribbon fabrication technique was developed by scaling-up, in a novel configuration, hardware components found in the literature. (3) The ex parte ribbonizing process was characterized by calibrating equipment, determining steady state and studying cause and effect between process parameters and ribbon quality. (4) Process design and control methods were derived from heat transfer …