The Effects of Multiple Heat Cycling of High Performance Carbon Reinforced Thermoplastic Materials

Thermoplastic materials have inherent attributes that are desirable for high speed/low cost part processing. Thermoplastic details can also be .. Read more post-processed to add curvature, co-consolidate, and/or fusion weld to make complex advanced structures. In doing this, repetitive cycling may occur locally or on the entire assembly to accommodate secondary operations. Currently the accepted processing cycle(s) for thermoplastic details have been limited by process specifications to only one forming cycle to make a detail or part. This conservative approach does not allow part manufacturers to perform simplistic operations, such as porosity or thickness correction; let alone secondary operations.