TAPETEST

During manufacturing of composites using tape laying processes the quality of the tape is essential. Variations in the tape affect both – the robustness of the manufacturing process as well as the quality of the final product. Thus, quality control of tapes and improvement of final composite performance are imminent.

With TAPETEST for the first time a commercial test system is available,
that characterizes tapes in detail in multiple aspects:

• Wind-off Module: with active tension control and broken filament counter.
• Friction Module: Measures the friction of the tape to arbitary surfaces (in combination with the tension module).
• Width and Thickness Module: Measures the width and the thickness of the tape using laser triangulation. Detects gaps and variations in the cross sectional profile of the tape.
• Fibre Orientation Module: Monitors the fibre orientation in CF-tapes using polarized light. Variation in fibre orientation, baked-in fluff and stray filaments are detected.
• Eddy Current Module: Measures the internal fibre orientation and homogeneity of fibre distribution using Eddy currents.
• Thermography Module: Measures the dynamic heat take-up of the tape, revealing possible problems during in-situ consolidation during the laydown of thermoplastic tapes.
• Tension and Broken Filament Module: Measures the tension of the tape after passing through the Friction Module. Counts the number of filaments extending from the tape.
• Wind-up Module: Transports the tape through the modules of the TAPETEST. Wind-up for further use of the tape.

TAPETEST is a fully modular system that can be adapted to the customer’s requirements to measure any of the above-mentioned properties.

For testing the performance of rovings, Textechno also offers the modular testing system ROVINGTEST.