SAMBA Pro Prepreg is Now Part of the Fiber Placement Center

The 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 is available to FPC's industrial partners and other interested companies for developing automated CFRP production processes based on Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) technology.

  "When Cevotec officially joined the FPC at JEC World 2019, it was clear that a Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) system would be installed in the FPC to provide our partners and customers with a complete portfolio of the latest technologies and developments for next-generation composite manufacturing," says Hannah Paulus, Head of Fiber Placement Center at SGL Carbon. "The new SAMBA Pro Prepreg System from Cevotec offers many advantages for producing complex-shaped components with short cycle times." Cevotec, together with its partner Baumann Automation, commissioned the SAMBA Pro Prepreg production cell in Meitingen starting November 2020. It is now operational and first application development projects have already begun.  

The SAMBA Pro Prepreg system in Meitingen is an advancement of the FPP system presented in 2017 at JEC World in Paris. "To ensure maximum flexibility in terms of geometry and patch edges, a laser cutting unit was also installed in this system," reports Felix Michl, CTO of Cevotec. "The entire material feed is temperature-controlled, enabling the pre-impregnated materials to be processed in a controlled environment."

The robots in the system are the proven TP80 pick-and-place robot and TX200 tool manipulator from Stäubli. "This configuration enables us to achieve high lay-up frequency combined with very high positioning accuracy, allowing for fully automated lay-up of complex geometries in medium to small dimensions," explains Michl. In addition, Cevotec has fundamentally revised the vision system—the machine vision quality control system for material quality and placement accuracy—which now offers extended setup options to adapt the system to different materials.   "We look forward to further developing FPP technology together with our FPC partners and opening up new fields of application," states Thorsten Groene, Managing Director of Cevotec. "Within the FPC, the production system serves interested industrial companies from various sectors for active technology and application development, together with researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute." "It is exciting for Fraunhofer IGCV to have the SAMBA Pro Prepreg operational at the FPC," agrees Dr. Renato Bezerra, Research Associate at Fraunhofer IGCV. "This fiber patch placement machine was designed according to the latest state of the art for processing dry fiber and prepreg material. It perfectly complements our portfolio of placement technologies and expands our scope of research and development services."  

Prior to system installation, SGL Carbon also entered into a development partnership with Cevotec to develop innovative applications based on SGL TowPreg and using the SAMBA systems. "The SGL TowPreg tape harmonizes perfectly with our system," reports Felix Michl. "We expect very interesting development projects, for example in green mobility, aviation and medical technology." In general, the SAMBA Pro system covers a wide range of different fiber materials that can be processed automatically for various industries.

  "FPP technology can now prove itself in direct competition with different technologies at the FPC," Michl concludes. "Interested customers can select the optimal technology for their specific application from the technologies available at FPC, which cover the entire spectrum of automated fiber placement. This delivers real added value for all manufacturers seeking innovative manufacturing solutions."