Session: 03-02-02: Advanced Manufacturing

Paper Number: 121589

121589 - Thermal Characterization of Xenon Flash Lamp System for Automated Fiber Placement 

Introduction

Carbon fiber Thermoplastic pre-preg tape laydown and consolidation used with Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) required high temperatures to melt the matrix. There are a few methods that can reach desired temperature among them hot-gas torch, laser heating and arc-flash lamp-based heating systems are the most popular. Among the three, arc-flash lamp-based heating provides the most versatility in terms of heating range and controllability. The lamp pulses light of high radiation intensity to rapidly heat up the tow and substrate material during laydown. The irradiance output by the lamp is controlled by three process parameters namely, (1) pulse width, (2) pulsing frequency and (3) voltage. Further control can be achieved by changing the distance between flash lamp and tows. The irradiance output from the lamp can be widely varied by changing the process parameters. This study aims at characterizing the irradiance output from a xenon arc-flash heating system and develop a process control formulation to effect desired heating of material.

Methods

Irradiance from xenon lamp is a function of pulse width, pulsing frequency and voltage. Current Xenon flash lamp system utilizes a quartz block with five facets, designed to focus the high-intensity radiation rays emitted by the lamp onto the tow. The irradiance emitted at each facet is different and is a function of the facet angle. The irradiance is measured at multiple locations on each facet, to construct the irradiance profile around the quartz block for different process parameters.

An experimental setup is devised to measure the irradiance profile from the xenon lamp, the setup consists of a Humm3 Xenon flash lamp by Heraeus, A gardon gauge water-cooled high heat flux sensor from Hukesflux thermal sensors, capable of measuring irradiance up to 1  MW/m^2. The heat flux sensor is assembled on a 3-axis linear motion system to accurately position the sensor at required locations around the quartz block. The process parameters of the xenon flash lamp are altered to achieve moderately low to very high-power outputs which yields a broad spectrum of irradiance levels emitted by the quartz block. The heat flux sensor is positioned 6 mm, 12mm and 18mm away from each facet to record the irradiance levels as a function of distance for each power level. The irradiance data measured at different locations and power levels is used to construct an irradiance profile around the quartz block.

Work in-progress

The experimental setup has been devised, and initial tests have been performed on a single facet of the quartz block to ensure measurement accuracy. Future tasks are to perform experiments on each facet of the quartz block by varying process parameters and linear distance. The irradiance data will be later analyzed to construct volumetric irradiance profile, around the quartz. Furthermore, the profile generated will be verified using thermal measurements on sample material placed around the quartz block. With the approach listed, a fundamental data set will be generated which when used with process modeling will provide exact thermal loads on material and substrate.

Presenting Author: Devang Tavkari University of Texas at Arlington

Presenting Author Biography: I am pursuing Bachelors in Mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. I work in Dr Paul Davidson's laboratory of advanced material manufacturing and analysis as a research assistant. My research interests are in fluids and thermal energy systems and computational mechanics and dynamics for material analysis. I am currently working Automated Fiber placement of composite materials.