Filament winding is an automated process used to manufacture composite materials, using glass, carbon, or aramid fibers wound around a mandrel and coated with resin. The arrangement of fibers affects the material’s compressive and tensile strength, and the resulting high strength-to-weight ratio makes it ideal for aeronautical and industrial products.
Filament winding is a technique used to manufacture composite materials, which are materials made up of two or more physically and chemically different substances. The filaments are wound around a form of die called a male die or mandrel. The most common filaments used in this process are glass, carbon and aramid fibers. This technique is especially important for aeronautical and industrial products.
Being a highly automated procedure, the filament winding process is usually precise and exact in its measurements. The fibrous material is immersed in a resin bath and covered with medium-low molecular weight reagents. The fiber is then collected from cylindrical bobbins and wound around the mandrel. When the material is wrapped, epoxy resin, epoxy resin or polyester resin is evenly poured onto it.
It is extremely important that the mandrel is held securely in the filament winding machine. This allows the mandrel to be wound more precisely and the filaments to be positioned in the correct pattern, based on the final application. Specialized computer programs are generally used to control this precise process.
Once all the filaments have been spun around the mandrel, the resin-coated composite is cured by heating in a computerized oven. The heat hardens the fiber and makes it easier to remove the new component from the mandrel shape. The component is carefully extracted using a machine that maintains the structure of both the mandrel and the component. After extraction, the new composite fiber structure is ready to be processed and used.
The arrangement of the filaments is fundamental to how the final product is made. A high-angle pattern of fiber lay encourages greater crush resistance in the material. Compressive strength refers to the amount of compressive force required to crack or break a material. Arranging the fibers in a low angle pattern improves the tensile strength of the material. Tensile strength is the amount of stress a material can withstand when pulled or stretched before tearing or breaking.
A high strength-to-weight ratio in the component structure is a result of the rigors of the filament winding process. This final structure is capable of withstanding a lot of pressure and stress, whether it is in the shape of a helix, sphere or cylinder. For this reason, composite structures made with this process are very popular in the industry. Such components are used as pressure vessels, aircraft bodies, electric poles, pipes and much more.
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