System and process for producing a composite article

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11318644-B2
Application number	US-201715625295-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2017
Priority date	Dec 3, 2013
Publication date	May 3, 2022
Grant date	May 3, 2022

Abstract

A method of producing a composite article is disclosed that includes generating composite plies from a low tack composite prepreg material, connecting, by an ultrasonic welding device, two or more of the composite plies by increasing their tackiness to form a composite stack, and forming, by a compression molding device, a composite article from the composite stack.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of producing a composite article, the method comprising:
generating composite plies from a composite prepreg material;
connecting, by an ultrasonic welding device, two or more of the composite plies by increasing their tackiness to form a composite stack; and
transferring the composite stack to a compression molding device and forming a composite article from the composite stack with the compression molding device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating composite plies includes cutting, by a cutter, the low tack composite prepreg material to form the composite plies.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transferring the composite plies to the ultrasonic welding device via a transfer arm.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising stabilizing one or more of the composite plies prior to connecting the composite plies.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising separating the low tack composite prepreg material from a carrier film prior to generating the composite plies.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting the two or more of the composite plies further includes resonating, by the ultrasonic welding device, ultrasonic energy at one or more predetermined locations of the composite plies to connect the composite plies at the one or more predetermined locations.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a composite preform from the composite stack via a forming device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising trimming excess materials from the composite preform via a trimmer to generate a trimmed composite preform that is used, by the compression molding device, to form the composite article.

9. A method of producing a composite article, the method comprising:
cutting a composite material to form composite plies, the composite material being prepreg material;
connecting, by an ultrasonic welding device, two or more of the composite plies by increasing their tackiness to form a composite stack; and
transferring the composite stack to a compression molding device and forming a composite article from the composite stack with the compression molding device.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising delivering the composite plies to the ultrasonic welding device via a transfer arm.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising stabilizing one or more of the composite plies prior to connecting the composite plies by the ultrasonic welding device.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising separating the composite material from a carrier film prior to cutting the composite material.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the connecting the two or more of the composite plies further includes resonating, by the ultrasonic welding device, ultrasonic energy at one or more predetermined locations of the composite plies to connect the composite plies at the one or more predetermined locations.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising generating a composite preform from the composite stack via a forming device.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising trimming excess materials from the composite preform via a trimmer to generate a trimmed composite preform used, by the compression molding device, as the composite stack for forming the compression stack.

16. A method of producing a composite article, the method comprising:
subjecting a composite material to a cutter to form composite plies, the composite material being prepreg material;
radiating, by an ultrasonic welding device, two or more of the composite plies with ultrasonic energy to form a composite stack, wherein the ultrasonic welding device connects the composite plies by increasing their tackiness; and
transferring the composite stack to a compression molding device and forming a composite article from the composite stack with the compression molding device.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising delivering the composite plies to the ultrasonic welding device via a transfer arm.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising stabilizing one or more of the composite plies prior to radiating the composite plies with the ultrasonic welding device.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the two or more of the composite plies are radiated at a predetermined location of the composite plies and are connected at the predetermined location.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising generating a composite preform from the composite stack via a forming device.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Dahl Jeffrey Scott
• Cacovic Michael

Classifications

• B29C66/73921

  characterised by the materials of both parts being thermoplastics · CPC title

• B29C70/42

  for producing articles of definite length, i.e. discrete articles · CPC title

• B29C65/7891

  of discontinuously moving sheets or webs · CPC title

• B29C2043/3636

  ultrasonically or sonically vibrating, e.g. sonotrodes · CPC title

• B29C66/21

  said joint lines being formed by a single dot or dash or by several dots or dashes, i.e. spot joining or spot welding · CPC title