SAMBA Pro Prepreg Now at the Fiber Placement Center

Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV has commissioned a SAMBA Pro Prepreg production system from Cevotec at the Fiber Placement Center (FPC) in Meitingen, Germany. The system, based on Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) technology, is available to all interested companies as well as FPC's industrial partners for developing automatic CFRP production processes. Hannah Paulus, Director of SGL Carbon Fiber Placement Center, stated: "When Cevotec officially joined the FPC at JEC World 2019, it was clear that a Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) system would be installed at the FPC to provide our partners and customers with a complete portfolio of the latest technologies and developments for next-generation composite production. Cevotec's new SAMBA Pro Prepreg System offers numerous advantages for the production of complex-shaped components with short cycle times." Cevotec, together with its partner Baumann Automation, has commissioned the SAMBA Pro Prepreg production cell in Meitingen since November 2020. It is now ready for operation and initial application development projects have already begun.

The SAMBA Pro Prepreg system in Meitingen is an advancement of the FPP system presented at JEC World in Paris in 2017. According to Cevotec CTO Felix Michl, "To provide maximum flexibility in terms of geometry and patch edges, this system is also equipped with a laser cutting unit." "All material feeding is temperature-controlled, so that pre-impregnated materials can be processed in a controlled environment."

The robots in the system are a pair of the proven TP80 pick-and-place robot and Stäubli's TX200 tool manipulator. Michl explains: "This configuration allows us to achieve a high placement frequency combined with very high positioning accuracy and enables complex geometries of medium to small sizes to be placed completely automatically." Additionally, the vision system, an artificial vision quality control system for material quality and placement accuracy, has been fundamentally revised by Cevotec and now offers expanded setup options to adapt the system to different materials.

Cevotec CEO Thorsten Groene stated: "We look forward to further developing FPP technology with our FPC partners and opening up new application areas." "In the context of FPC, the production system serves interested industrial companies from various sectors together with Fraunhofer Institute researchers for active technology and application development."

Dr. Renato Bezerra, research associate at Fraunhofer IGCV, said: "The commissioning of the SAMBA Pro Prepreg at the FPC is truly exciting for Fraunhofer IGCV." "This fiber patch placement machine is designed according to the latest technology for processing dry fiber and prepreg material. The placement technology portfolio complements our offerings perfectly and expands the scope of our research and development services." SGL Carbon also entered into a development partnership with Cevotec prior to system installation. The aim is to develop innovative applications based on SGL TowPreg and using SAMBA systems. Felix Michl states: "SGL TowPreg tape is perfectly compatible with our system," and continues, "We expect very interesting development projects in the green mobility sector, aviation and medical technology." Overall, the SAMBA Pro system encompasses a wide range of different fiber materials that can be automatically processed for different industries. Michl concludes: "FPP technology can now prove itself in direct competition with different technologies at the FPC." "Interested customers can select the most suitable technology for their specific applications from the technologies available at the FPC, which cover the entire spectrum of automated fiber placement. This represents genuine added value for all manufacturers seeking innovative production solutions."