Digital process management for the integrated bending of thermoplastic CFRP tapes

A bending based approach for the preforming of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) tapes has been implemented at wbk Institute of Production Science. In early experimentation, it became evident that the process requires regular adaption of process parameters in order to meet the desired quality level. To limit the manual effort, the parameter variation and process characterization should be automated. In this paper, an approach for the automatic parameter identification and tuning through systematic variation combined with optical process measurement is presented. The functionality of the measurement system as well as the parameter identification and error compensation are described.