Today’s preforming technologies are largely manual, thus increasing the costs of Liquid Composite Moulding (LCM) technologies such as Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM). Systems that can drape 3D profiles automatically and continuously, such as the one developed by FIBRE, have just left the development stage but are in need of further development to in-crease productivity and quality.

The chemical stitching (CS) technology offers a way to reduce the lead time by replacing the time-consuming binder application with localised adhesives application. For the application, needles will be used which inject either a thermoplastic (hot melt) or thermoset (microwave curing) adhesive between the layers. This will also improve permeability and thus the quality of the finished part. Furthermore, the chemical stitching technology is more energy efficient because melting or curing of the adhesive is restricted to minimal areas and volumes.

The aim of this proposal was to develop an efficient process chain for the continuous pro-duction of profiles such as stingers and spars for the CS EDA WP2 torsion box generator.

From the singular requirements concerning the component geometry as well as the equipment footprint it became clear, that a new machine needed to be designed and constructed. Extensive knowledge gathered during the development of 3D preforming technology by the applicant reduced the development time of the core preforming equipment, so that the majority of the work can be focused on developing the integrated preforming/chemical stitching process. Nevertheless, the requirements for using different sorts of fabric (woven, nonwoven, NCF, UD) required testing of the new equipment to find the correct set of process parameters for each fabric. The new equipment was designed in modules, so as to ease later expansion of its capabilities. Thus, the equipment could be enhanced in the future with the ability to produced curved profiles or with additional CS substructures.