SME EM920117

DESIGNING FOR MANUFACTURABILITY (DFM) HAS OFTEN BEEN OVERLOOKED AS A GOAL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE PROTOTYPES. MORE CONCERN HAS BEEN PLACED ON ACHIEVING A DESIGN PRINCIPLE THAN ON ASSURING THAT A DESIGN CAN OFFER HIGH-VOLUME MANUFACTURING EFFICIENCIES. THE DESIGN OF THE THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE ATHLETIC KNEE BRACE, HOWEVER, HAD A MAIN GOAL OF RAPID-CYCLE PROCESSING. THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY COMPARING MATERIAL CANDIDATES, LAMINATE STRUCTURES, RAPID-CYCLE PROCESSING METHODOLOGIES AND THE FULL UTILIZATION OF FACILITIES (I.E., EQUIPMENT, LABOR, PLANT LAYOUT). THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE SANDWICH STRUCTURES WERE CHOSEN AS A BASELINE STRUCTURE DUE TO THEIR INHERENT SPECIFIC STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES. THERMOFORMING WAS CHOSEN AS THE RAPID-CYCLE PROCESSING METHOD. A NUMBER OF CANDIDATE MATERIALS AND LAMINATE STRUCTURES WERE INVESTIGATED AND AN OPTIMAL DESIGN BASED ON THERMOFORMING D

Product Details

Published:

06/01/1992

Number of Pages:

10

File Size:

1 file , 980 KB