With the wide application of carbon fiber, the production process of carbon fiber sheets became a hot topic online. There are many ways can produce the full carbon fiber plate, such as molding, hand lay-up, autoclave, and so on. Different molding processes use different principles and equipment. The common ones are the carbon fiber autoclave process and vacuum forming process. Today let us mainly talk about it.
In this article, you will know
autoclave forming
vacuum forming
What are their respective advantages and disadvantages?
Autoclave Forming
Autoclave molding is to lay the carbon fiber prepreg on the mold according to the layup requirements, then seal the blank in a vacuum bag, and then put it in an autoclave. It is heated and pressurized through an autoclave under vacuum, waiting to cure.
Vacuum Forming
The vacuum forming process is a low-cost forming process. This processing method is an extension of the autoclave process. Its prepreg layup and assembly methods are exactly the same as the autoclave process. The only difference is that the process is only cured in an oven or other heating equipment under vacuum pressure conditions, replacing the high energy consumption equipment of an autoclave.
The autoclave forming parts have excellent quality, high forming precision and uniform thickness. This is because the autoclave ensures uniform pressure, using gas to pressurize, the pressure is even at each point, allowing the structural part to cure and form at the same pressure. And the inside of the tank is heated by circulating hot air flow, and the temperature is uniform and adjustable, so as to ensure that the temperature is strictly controlled within the range of process settings.
Carbon fiber products have high quality, low porosity and controllable resin content. Various complex components can be manufactured
But at the same time, the investment and cost of autoclave equipment are relatively large, and certain auxiliary materials (vacuum bags, sealing strips, etc.) are required. The production efficiency is low, which is not conducive to the popularization, application and continuous manufacture of carbon fiber composite materials.
The main advantage of carbon fiber vacuum forming is that the production cost is relatively low, and it is generally suitable for the manufacture of carbon fiber products, such as carbon fiber door inner panels, outer panels, etc.
However, due to the low pressure of vacuum curing, the precision of the parts is not high, and the mechanical properties are poor.