Influence of inlay consolidation quality on morphology of hybrid injection-moulded parts and their bending behaviour

Abstract

This paper investigates the interactions of process parameters along the process chain for the manufacture of a trunk-like injection-moulded component with local inserts of unidirectional thermoplastic tape. In contrast to the established technology for overmoulding continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastics with a high proportion of unidirectional fibres, the component design investigated consists of 99 wt% long fibre injection moulding material reinforced with a very low amount of strip-like inserts of 1 wt% carbon fibre tape. The design facilitates cost, CO2-e and weight reduction compared to a pure injection-moulded part. The process chain comprises laser-assisted tape placement, preforming of the inserts by local bending and finally overmoulding. Particular attention is paid to the effect of the consolidation quality of the inserts after tape placement on the fracture behaviour in two sections of the part, the radii at the bending sections, which are subjected to post-consolidation during preforming, and the flat sections, which are only subjected to potential post-consolidation effects due to overmoulding. The investigations are carried out by means of various bending tests and analysis of the morphology by means of micrographs.