Heated Stylus Incremental Forming for Fiber-Aligned Composite Parts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current incremental forming processes struggle to effectively form fiber reinforced plastics and advanced high strength metals due to issues like fiber misalignment, material brittleness, and difficulty in consolidating composite sheets, which limits the production of high-quality prototype parts.
Innovation Solution
A heated stylus tool with a resistance heating element or induction heating coil is used in an incremental forming machine, allowing for controlled temperature application to soften materials, reduce fiber misalignment, and enhance formability by using a rotatable bearing stylus and sheaths to protect the composite sheets, enabling the formation of fiber reinforced plastics and advanced metals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a rigid stylus tool is used to form composite sheets, then the material can be shaped, but the reinforcement fibers are torn and move out of position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a heated stylus tool that changes the thermal parameter of the composite material. By heating the material locally, the resin matrix becomes softer and more pliable, allowing the stylus to form the composite sheet without tearing the reinforcement fibers. This parameter change enables shaping while preserving fiber alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The heated stylus acts as an intermediary between the forming force and the composite material. The heat from the stylus softens the resin matrix, creating a medium that allows deformation without direct mechanical damage to the fibers. This intermediary thermal effect mediates between the need for shaping and the need to preserve fiber integrity.
2Ease of manufacture
If advanced high strength metals are formed at room temperature, then the process is simple, but the metals are too brittle to be formed
Solution Approach 1:
The heated stylus changes the temperature parameter of the advanced high strength metal locally at the forming zone. This thermal parameter change reduces the brittleness of the metal, allowing it to be formed without cracking or breaking. The metal remains strong in unheated areas while being formable in the heated area.
3Loss of energy
If composite sheets are formed without heating, then energy consumption is low, but the material cannot be consolidated or cured
Solution Approach 1:
The heated stylus applies heat locally only to the area being formed, rather than heating the entire composite sheet. This localized heating consolidates and cures the resin system in the forming zone while minimizing overall energy consumption. The unheated areas remain at low energy state, achieving a balance between consolidation and energy use.
4Manufacturing precision
If a heated stylus is used to form composite materials, then fiber alignment is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the purely mechanical stylus system with a thermally-assisted system. The heated stylus uses thermal energy to soften the resin matrix, reducing the mechanical forces needed for forming. This substitution of mechanical action with thermal assistance improves fiber alignment while the added thermal component is integrated into the existing stylus structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The heated stylus tool improves the formability of composite materials and metals by reducing surface strains, allowing for precise shaping and curing of resin systems, and enabling the production of high-strength prototype parts with tailored material properties, such as 7xxx-series aluminum and advanced high strength steels, without the need for hot stamping.
Implementation Method 1
The proposed solution is to provide a heated stylus tool for an incremental forming machine that may be heated by a resistance heating element
Implementation Method 2
The proposed solution is to provide a heated stylus tool for an incremental forming machine that may be heated by an induction heating coil
Implementation Method 3
Dry fibers may be encased in a sheath of plastic resin with the heat from the stylus locally liquefying resin from the sheath that penetrates the uncoated fibers. The resin penetrating the uncoated fibers cures in place upon cooling to form the FRP prototype part.
Implementation Method 4
The heated stylus allows the composite blank or fabric to be softer at the location being formed while remaining stiffer outside the work area.
Implementation Method 5
The heated stylus may be used to cure composites as they are being formed, reducing the fiber misalignment in a prototype tool or component.
Data Source
AI summary
An incremental forming machine and a process are disclosed that comprise selecting a blank and selecting a stylus tool that has a tip at one end. The stylus tool may be heated to a desired temperature before contacting the blank with the stylus tool to change a characteristic of the blank or part. The stylus tool apparatus may include a tip on an end of a shaft and a resistance heating element disposed inside the tip. Alternatively, the stylus tool apparatus may include an induction heating coil disposed around the tip. The tip of the stylus tool may have a rotatable ball that engages the blank or part.