Everything you know about carbon fiber molding

What is carbon fiber? Carbon fiber is a microcrystalline graphite material obtained by stacking organic fibers such as flaky graphite microcrystals along the axial direction of the fibers and performing carbonization and graphitization treatment. Carbon fiber not only has many excellent properties, such as high axial strength and modulus, low density, ultra-high temperature resistance in non-oxidizing environment, good fatigue resistance, small coefficient of thermal expansion and good thermal conductivity, It also has the softness and processability of textile fibers and is a new generation of reinforcing fibers.Due to the above characteristics of carbon fiber, it has been widely used in aerospace, automotive, military and other industries.

Carbon fiber composite materialsneed to be processed by amolding processfrom the initial prepreg to the final part molding. With the continuous development of carbon fiber technology, even if thecarbon fiber composite material molding processis constantly improving, the variousmolding processes of carbon fiber composite materialsdo not exist in a way that is updated and eliminated, but multiple processes coexist. This situation has become a reality. The best way to deal with different conditions and situations. In this article, we will introduce you to several of the most commonly used carbon fiber molding processes.

carbon fiber molding types

Injection molding process

Carbon fiber injection molding is a type of low-pressure molding in the hand lay-up process. The chopped fiber and resin are mixed with a spray gun, and compressed air is sprayed on the mold. After reaching a predetermined thickness, it is manually pressed with a rubber roller to solidify the shape. Although a semi-manual and semi-mechanized molding process was created to improve the pure manual molding, work efficiency has been improved to a certain extent, but it is still not enough for mass production, so it can only be used to manufacture car bodies, hulls, and hulls. Transition layer for bathtubs, etc.

Liquid molding process

Place the carbon fiber prepreg between the upper and lower molds. After closing the molds, place the molds on the hydraulic forming table. After a certain period of high temperature and high pressure cure the resin, remove the carbon fiber products.Compression moldingtechnology has the advantages of high efficiency, high dimensional accuracy, and low environmental impact. It is suitable for batching and high-strength composite parts molding. However, this kind of molding process has a large investment in the early stage, and the mold manufacturing is complicated and restricted by the size of the press.

Compression molding process

Place the carbon fiber prepreg between the upper and lower molds. After closing the molds, place the molds on the hydraulic forming table. After a certain period of high temperature and high pressure cure the resin, remove the carbon fiber products. Compression molding technology has the advantages of high efficiency, high dimensional accuracy, and low environmental impact. It is suitable for batching and high-strength composite parts molding. However, this kind of molding process has a large investment in the early stage, and the mold manufacturing is complicated and restricted by the size of the press. This proccess is suitable for batching and high strength composite parts forming, such as the production of automotive parts..

Three elements in carbon fiber compression molding

• Temperature: The temperature control during the molding mainly includes the temperature of the mold, the heating rate, and the curing temperature. Molding temperature mainly depends on the type of material and the quality index of the material. The temperature is also very important. If the temperature is too high, the solidification speed of the material will be too fast, which will cause the solidification of the inner and outer layers of the material in the mold cavity, which will cause the carbon fiber products to swell and warp. When the molding temperature is too low, the fluidity of the material is poor, and the solidification speed of the material is slow, resulting in low strength of the product.
• Pressure: The purpose of molding pressure is to avoid defects such as air bubbles, delamination, and loose structure of the product. At the same time, it can increase the fluidity of the material and facilitate the filling of all corners of the mold cavity, making the product compact.
• Time: The molding time is determined according to the size and difficulty of the product, and the curing time needs to be determined according to the size and difficulty of the resin system product.

Winding molding

The carbon fiber prepreg is wound on the core of the mold according to certain rules. After a period of high-temperature curing, then demolding of form compression parts. Carbon fiber winding molding can give full play to its characteristics of high specific strength, high specific modulus and low density. This molding process is usually used to manufacture cylindrical, spherical and certain positive curvature of the rotary body or cylinder carbon fiber mold products.

Vacuum autoclave molding

carbon fiber prepreg is coated with vacuum, placed in autoclave and vacuumized by vacuum pump. After a period of vacuum heating, the resin is cured to obtain a carbon fiber part blank. The main advantage of this process is that high carbon fiber content composite material can be obtained. The resin can impregnate carbon fiber better.

hand paste pressure layer

The carbon fibre sheet is cut and laminated after dipping in glue, or brushed with resin while laying the layer, and then hot pressed into shape. This method is widely used as it allows you to choose the direction, size and thickness of the fibres. It is important that the shape of the laminate is smaller than the shape of the mould, so that the fibres do not flex when pressed in the mould. In today's highly developed carbon fibre mould preparation technology, the hand paste process is still widely used in many fields such as petrochemical containers, storage tanks, car shells, etc. with the advantages of easy process, low investment and wide application.

Extrusion and drawing

The carbon fibre tow material is completely infiltrated with resin, and the resin and air are removed by squeezing and pulling with traction, and then cured in the oven. This method is simple and suitable for the preparation of rod and tube shaped parts. Can achieve the automation of the carbon fibre mould production process, the production efficiency is high.

With the deepening and development of the application of carbon fiber composite materials, the molding methods of carbon fiber composite materials are constantly appearing in new forms. In practical applications, multiple processes often coexist to achieve applications under different conditions and circumstances. MDC master a variety of carbon fiber molding processes. We have large-scale hot presses, autoclaves, hydraulic forming tables,curing furnaces, CNC high-speed milling machines and other equipment, and has established a special laboratory for analysis and research of innovative functional materials. In order to meet the requirements of high-quality carbon fiber molding.

MDC is a leading compression mould company and a high-quality carbon fiber mold supplier. We have professional knowledge in carbon fiber molding technology. MDC manufactures molded carbon fiber parts and products. We manufacture molded parts for a variety of automotive, aerospace, industrial, robotic and medical applications. Our molded carbon fiber parts are made of 100% carbon fiber and vacuum injected with epoxy resin.

So far, the molds manufactured by the company have fully met the quality requirements of the world's top 500 companies, and the technology has been able to synchronize with the international. In recent years, MDC has continuously developed its own technology through cooperation with internationally renowned manufacturers and exchanges of design and development concepts.

Are you looking for a supplier to produce mass parts with complex shapes? Through cooperation with our carbon fiber mold design experts, your parts will have a more competitive advantage in the market, making parts stronger, faster to form, cheaper in cost and better in appearance. Contact us by filling out an online contact form or calling us. MDC pays attention to the accuracy and details of carbon fiber mold or model, and usually we will molding the first carbon fiber product to demonstrate the project