Chara-TPC

In the field of composites, continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (cFRTP) are playing a special role. In addition to short processing cycle times, they are also characterized by their outstanding mechanical properties. Therefore, they are particularly suitable for use in structural lightweight components. However, application obstacles are the frequent lack of fully comparable and efficiently determined material properties, especially for design-relevant complex load cases. The Chara-TPC project is developing the necessary test methods for efficient characterization of short-term dynamic, multi-axial and long-term loads on high-performance components made of cFRTP as well as joints of hybrid components with cFRTP. These are optimized and validated on two industry-relevant reference materials in simulations and experiments. In this context, a new, efficient method for the determination of multiaxial material properties can already be referred to. A fundamental building block of the project is formed by the topics of plate production and specimen preparation, which are upstream of material characterization. Various machining processes are evaluated for quality, robustness and efficiency, and a hot pressing process with a short cycle time is developed.

The Chara-TPC project develops new, efficient characterization methods for complex loading cases of cFRTP for generating comparable material properties. This allows the mechanical potential of this material class to be fully exploited and the hurdles for a large series application to be lowered.