JPH05111898A - Cutting of prepreg material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent paper powder at the time of cutting a superimposed body or a prepreg maternal and a separating paper sheet into a fixed width, to improve the width accuracy of the prepreg material product after the cutting, and to reduce waviness in the terminal surface of a product roll after the superimposed body is wound. CONSTITUTION:When a prepreg material, with which a separating paper sheet is superimposed at least on one side surface, is to be continuously cut into band, along with the separating paper sheet, a shear cutter 22 composed of a lower blade 29, under which a superimposed body 20 of the prepreg material and the separating paper sheet, continuously runs on the outer peripheral surface, and of an upper blade 30 for cutting the superimposed body 20 on the lower blade 29 along with the lower blade 29 through shearing, is used for the cutting. A winding angle of the superimposed body 20 to the lower blade 29 of the cutter 22 is set to be no more than five degrees, while the temperature of the prepreg material at the cutting part is controlled to no less than 25 deg.C.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for cutting a sheet-like prepreg material used for molding a fiber-reinforced composite material such as a fiber-reinforced plastic, and more particularly to a prepreg material in which a release paper is superposed on at least one surface. The present invention relates to a method of cutting (slitting) together with a release paper to a width according to.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A sheet-like prepreg material used for molding a fiber-reinforced composite material is usually wound in a state in which a release paper is superposed on at least one surface in order to prevent the prepreg materials from sticking to each other at the manufacturing stage. Taken. At this stage, the prepreg material is formed to have a certain wide width, which is determined by the manufacturing equipment.Therefore, the prepreg material is rewound together with the release paper except for the applications where the wide width can be used. Cut into a width according to the application, rewind the cut prepreg material and release paper,
It is used as a prepreg material product.

Although it depends on the application of the prepreg material, since the product width after cutting as described above requires considerably strict accuracy,
A shear cutter is used for cutting instead of a leather cutter. This shear cutter is a well-known one that is generally used in slitters and the like, and has a rotating disk-shaped lower blade that supports a superposed body of running prepreg material and release paper on the outer periphery, and shear (push-cut) from above. ) Is used to cut the polymer, and the upper blade is in the form of a rotating disk.

[0004]

However, the cutting of the prepreg material by the shear cutter has the following problems. First, in cutting with a shear cutter, usually, in order to maintain a stable posture during cutting of the object to be cut and prevent the cutting position (cutting point) from changing, Contact. However, since the polymer of the prepreg material and the release paper has a considerably high rigidity, the drapeability (property along the shape) to the lower blade may not be so good depending on the product type. When cutting a polymer having such a poor drape property, as shown in FIG. 10, the polymer is cut on the lower blade 1, particularly at a position where the polymer 3 is cut in cooperation with the upper blade 2. The body 3 becomes slightly floating from the lower blade 1. When the polymer 3 is cut with such a tendency, the cutting position fluctuates, the cutting width fluctuates, or cutting not by shearing but locally by tearing occurs, resulting in a sharp cutting end face. May not be obtained.

As shown in FIG. 11, the cutting by shearing is carried out by pushing the superposed body 3 supported on the lower blade 1 by the upper blade 2. In the case of incomplete shearing, the paper dust of the release paper is apt to be generated especially from the cutting end portion 3a on the side pushed by the upper blade 2. Some of the paper dust generated is mixed into the rolled product, causing various troubles. For example, if paper powder is mixed into a composite material using this prepreg material, it will cause deterioration of the strength characteristics of the composite material.

Further, as described above, when the cutting width changes,
It becomes difficult to satisfy the strict precision required for the prepreg material product width. Furthermore, if the cutting position fluctuates in the width direction of the prepreg material product, undulations (irregularities) will occur on the end surface of the rolled prepreg material product roll, causing troubles such as meandering of the prepreg material when it is rewound and used. become.

As described above, the present invention prevents the generation of paper dust when cutting the polymer of the prepreg material and the release paper into a predetermined width, and improves the width accuracy of the prepreg material product after cutting, In addition, the object is to suppress the generation of waviness (irregularities) on the end surface of the product roll after winding the polymer.

[0008]

A method of cutting a prepreg material according to the present invention which meets this object is to cut a prepreg material having a release paper on at least one surface thereof in a continuous strip shape together with the release paper. A lower blade in which the polymer of the prepreg material and the release paper continuously runs on the outer peripheral surface, and an upper blade that cuts the polymer on the lower blade by shearing in cooperation with the lower blade. And a wrap angle of the polymer around the lower blade of the cutter is 5 degrees or less, and the temperature of the prepreg material in the cutting portion is controlled to 25 ° C. or more.

[0009]

In such a method, when the polymer of the prepreg material and the release paper is cut into a predetermined width with a cutter,
Since the wrapping angle of the polymer on the lower blade can be suppressed to 5 degrees or less, even if the rigidity of the polymer is somewhat high, the polymer acts at the cutting point in the direction of lifting the polymer from the lower blade. The power of the body itself is extremely small. Then, since the temperature of the prepreg material in the cutting portion is controlled to 25 ° C. or higher by the temperature control means provided immediately before the cutting position in the polymer running direction, for example, the heating means, the prepreg material is appropriately softened, Drapability is enhanced. As a result, the drapability of the polymer of the prepreg material and the release paper is also improved, and the polymer reliably adheres to the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade over the entire contact length of the lower blade in the above angle range. By ensuring close contact with the outer peripheral surface of this lower blade,
Since the position of the polymer at the cutting point, approaching the lower blade, moving away from the lower blade and the width direction of the polymer is prevented, the prepreg material product width after cutting is accurately contained within a desired accuracy range, In addition, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of waviness (irregularities) on the end surface of the wound product roll. Further, since the superposed body is cut by the upper blade while being in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade, the cutting by shearing is surely executed, and the tearing state in the case of incomplete shearing does not occur. Therefore, an extremely sharp cut end surface is obtained, and generation of paper dust from the cut end portion of the release paper is prevented.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show a prepreg material cutting apparatus for carrying out a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows the production of a polymer of a prepreg material to be cut and a release paper. , Showing a device for winding.

First, in FIG. 4, release papers 12 and 13 carrying a resin on one surface are superposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the sent reinforcing fiber sheet 11, respectively, and the polymer 14 is heated by a heating means 15. Preheated, heating roll 16 and press roll
The resin is transferred to and impregnated into the reinforcing fiber sheet 11 by being heated and pressed from both sides by the prepreg material 18
Is created. Then, after the one release paper 13 is peeled off, the prepreg material 18 is wound up together with the other release paper 12 as a prepreg material intermediate roll 19. In this example,
Although the release paper 12 is superposed on one surface of the prepreg material 18, the release paper 12 and the release paper 13 may be wound on the both surfaces of the prepreg material 18 while being superposed on each other. The reinforcing fiber sheet 11 is formed by aligning reinforcing fiber bundles in a sheet shape in one direction, or in the form of a reinforcing fiber sheet such as a cloth, mat, or felt.

As the reinforcing fiber, carbon fiber, graphite fiber,
High strength and high elastic modulus fibers such as organic high elastic modulus fibers (aramid fibers etc.), silicon carbide fibers, alumina fibers, boron fibers, tungsten carbide fibers, glass fibers and the like.
Such reinforcing fiber is the only one for the same prepreg.
Different types of reinforcing fibers may be used, or different types of reinforcing fibers may be used regularly or irregularly.

As the release papers 12 and 13, for example, kraft paper having a thickness of about 0.05 to 0.2 mm, roll paper, glassine paper, and the like are coated on both sides with a blocking agent such as clay, starch, polyethylene, or polyvinyl alcohol. A coating layer is provided, and a silicone-based or non-silicone-based release agent, preferably a release agent composed of a condensation reaction type or addition reaction type silicone of polydimethylsiloxane and polydimethylhydrogensiloxane, is provided on each coating layer. It is like applying.

On at least one of the upper and lower release papers 12 and 13,
A resin to be transferred and impregnated on the reinforcing fiber sheet 11 is carried. A thermosetting resin or a resin in which a thermosetting resin and a thermoplastic resin are mixed can be used as the carrier resin serving as the matrix resin of the prepreg material. As the thermosetting resin, epoxy resin, maleimide resin, polyimide resin,
Examples thereof include a resin having an acetylene terminal, a resin having a vinyl terminal, a resin having an allyl terminal, a resin having a nadic acid terminal, and a resin having a cyanate terminal. These can generally be used in combination with a curing agent or a curing catalyst. Further, it is also possible to appropriately mix and use these thermosetting resins.

As the matrix resin, it is also preferable to use a mixture of the above-mentioned thermosetting resin and a thermoplastic resin. A suitable thermoplastic resin is selected from carbon-carbon bond, amide bond, imide bond, ester bond, ether bond, carbonate bond, urethane bond, urea bond, thioether bond, sulfone bond, imidazole bond and carbonyl bond in the main chain. A thermoplastic resin having a bond, more preferably polyacrylate, polyamide, polyaramid, polyester, polycarbonate,
Polyphenylene sulfide, polybenzimidazole,
It is a group of thermoplastic resins belonging to engineering plastics such as polyimide, polyetherimide, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, and polyetheretherketone. In particular, polyimide, polyetherimide, polysulfone, polyethersulfone and polyetheretherketone have excellent heat resistance.

The width of the polymer 20 of the prepreg material 18 and the release paper 12 in FIG. 4 is formed to be a substantially constant width according to the specifications of the manufacturing apparatus shown in the drawing. Therefore, if the required width from the prepreg material application matches the width of the prepreg material 18, it is possible to use the prepreg material intermediate roll 19 as it is as a prepreg material product roll, but this required width is wide. Since they differ from each other, as shown in FIG. 1, they are usually continuously cut into strips each having a width according to the application.

In FIG. 1, the intermediate roll 19 of the prepreg material is shown.
Is attached to the unwinding device 21, and the prepreg material 18 and the release paper 12
The polymer 20 is rewound as it is and is continuously cut into a predetermined width by a shear cutter 22, and then wound by a winding device 23 as a prepreg material product roll 24. When cutting,
Both sides are cut and separated as ears as needed (not shown). The unwinding device 21 has an intermediate roll of prepreg material.
A braking device 25 that can control the amount of braking during 19 rotations is provided so that the unwinding tension of the polymer 20 that is rewound can be controlled to a desired tension. The winding device 23 is provided with a winding motor 26 corresponding to each winding shaft so that the winding tension can be controlled to a desired tension. The traveling speed of the polymer 20 is preferably controlled by controlling the speed of the guide rolls 27 and 28 on the way, but it is also possible to control it by controlling the speed of the winding motor 26.

The shear cutter 22 is provided on the traveling path of the polymer 20 between the guide rolls 27 and 28.
The polymer 20 comes into contact with the lower blade of the shear cutter 22 under certain conditions as described below, but the guide roll 27 and the shear cutter
A so-called free pass that does not come into contact with a roll or the like is provided between the 22 and between the shear cutter 22 and the guide roll 28. If such a free pass is too long, it causes wrinkles and fluttering, so it is preferable to regulate it to 1 m or less. Further, the guide rolls 27, 28 are not preferable to have a too small diameter in order to prevent the polymer 20 from being sharply bent on the peripheral surface thereof. If the diameter of the guide roll is 150 mm or less,
When the wrap angle of the polymer 20 is set to 5 degrees or less and the wrap angle is desired to be larger than 5 degrees, it is preferable to set the diameter of the guide roll to be larger than 150 mm.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the shear cutter 22 has a lower blade 29 on which the superposed body 20 of the prepreg material 18 and the release paper 12 continuously runs on the outer peripheral surface, and the lower blade 29. And an upper blade 30 that continuously cuts the polymer 20 into a predetermined width by shearing in cooperation with the above. Regarding the rotational drive of the lower blade 29 and the upper blade 30, those that are driven only on the lower blade 29 side, those that are both driven, and those that are driven by the traveling body without both being driven,
There are various types, but any type may be selected. In any of the types, the upper blade 30 has its side surface pressed against the side surface of the lower blade 29 with a predetermined force, a shearing force acts on the polymer 20 as the blades rotate, and the shearing force causes a heavy load. The united body 20 is cut.

The wrap angle θ around the lower blade 29 of the polymer 20 is set to 5 degrees or less. This wrapping angle θ is regulated by an angle between the polymer 20 when starting contact with the lower blade 29 and the polymer 20 when separating from the lower blade 29 within a range of 175 degrees to less than 180 degrees. It is synonymous with that of the polymer, and the bending angle of the polymer 20 can be suppressed to be small. Since the bending is small, at the cutting position 31 of the superposed body 20 by the upper blade 30 and the lower blade 29, the force for lifting the superposed body 20 from the lower blade 29 is suppressed to an extremely small level. Therefore, the tension around the lower blade 29 makes it easier for the polymer 20 to adhere to the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade 29 at the cutting position 31.

In the present embodiment, the temperature control means 34 consisting of a heater 32 and a control device 33 for controlling the heating of the prepreg material 18 of the polymer 20 is provided upstream of the shear cutter 22.
Is provided. The heater 32 is immediately upstream of the lower blade 29,
In addition, it is arranged in the width direction of the polymer 20 so as to extend from the position of the lower blade 29 to the position of the side 20a (FIG. 3) on which the polymer 20 after being cut by the upper blade 30 is pushed. ing. The temperature of the prepreg material 18 at the cutting portion of the shear cutter 22 is
The temperature is controlled to 25 ° C or higher, preferably 25 ° C to 50 ° C.
The purpose of this heating control (temperature control) is to moderately soften the prepreg material 18 at the cutting position, so that the control accuracy is not critical as long as it is within the above temperature range. Therefore, in the above temperature control, the surface temperature of the prepreg material 18 after heating may be measured by a non-contact type thermometer (not shown) at an appropriate position and the measurement signal may be fed back. A relatively rough control method may be used in which the characteristics of the voltage or current of the above and the temperature of the prepreg material 18 after heating are grasped, and the open control is simply performed based on the characteristics.

By setting the temperature of the prepreg material 18 to the above temperature range, the prepreg material 18 at the cutting position 31 is appropriately softened, and the rigidity of the prepreg material 18 is significantly reduced by the appropriate softening. 18 kinds of prepreg materials, 18 prepreg materials
The thickness of the release paper 12 and the thickness ratio of the release paper 12, and the like, to some extent, but the rigidity of the prepreg material 18 is reduced, the rigidity of the polymer 20 is also significantly reduced, the polymer on the lower blade 29.
The drape of 20 is greatly improved. As a result, due to the synergistic effect of keeping the wrap angle small, the polymer
20 firmly adheres to the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade 29. Due to this close contact, the polymer 20 approaches the lower blade 29 at the cutting position 31,
It does not substantially fluctuate in the separating direction or in the width direction of the polymer 20. Therefore, by the upper blade 30, the lower blade 29, the polymer 20 is sheared and cut in a stable and desirable state, and a sharp cutting end face is obtained, and the cutting position does not change, so the polymer 20 is accurate. It is cut to the target width. Further, the cutting width is regulated with high accuracy, and the cutting position does not change in the width direction of the polymer 20, so that the end surfaces of the wound prepreg material product roll 24 are also aligned,
The waviness (irregularities) can be suppressed to an extremely small level. further,
Since the cutting is performed by substantially complete shearing, there is substantially no local tearing, and the generation of paper dust from the cut end of the release paper 12 is prevented. In particular, in the present embodiment, the heater 32 extends up to the portion 20a on the side that is conventionally pushed by the upper blade 30 where paper dust is easily generated. Generation of powder is prevented.

The width accuracy of the prepreg material product after cutting the polymer, the undulation of the end surface of the prepreg material product roll 24, and the generation of paper dust can be measured and evaluated as follows. FIG. 5 shows an example of measuring the product width accuracy of the polymer 20 of the prepreg material 18 and the release paper 12 after cutting. Using this measuring device, the undulating state (meandering state) of the prepreg material 18 in a state of being unwound from the prepreg material product roll 24 can also be measured. In the figure, reference numeral 41 denotes a base plate which is finished in a flat state with the same high accuracy as the surface plate. On both sides of the base plate 41, guide rails 42 extending in parallel with each other in the longitudinal direction of the base plate 41.
A reference plate 43 having a side end surface extending parallel to the guide rail 42 is provided at a portion of the base plate 41 on the guide rail 42 side. On the guide rail 42, a measurement frame 45 having a slide rail 44 extending in a direction perpendicular to the guide rail 42 can be moved along the guide rail 42 while maintaining the perpendicularity of the slide rail 44 with respect to the guide rail 42. Is provided. The slide rail 44 is composed of a magnetic scale capable of measuring the length in the longitudinal direction, and detects the position of the head 46 movably provided along the slide rail 44 with high accuracy (for example, accuracy of 5 μm). You can do it. The position of the head 46 is, for example, digitally displayed (not shown). At the reference position in the head 46, a microscope or a magnifying glass 47 is provided, and by determining the position of the head 46 while observing with the magnifying glass 47, the object to be measured, from the side end surface of the reference plate 43, It is possible to measure the dimension up to the observed part.

As shown in FIG. 5, the superposed body 20 of the prepreg material 18 and the release paper 12 rewound from the prepreg material product roll 24 is placed on the base plate 41, and one end surface in the width direction is on the side of the reference plate 43. Place it so that it touches the end face. By observing the other end face in the width direction of the polymer 20 with the magnifying glass 47 and positioning the head 46 at a position corresponding to the other end face, a reference plate
The length from the end face in contact with the side end face of 43 to the other end face, that is, the width (cut width) of the polymer 20 can be measured. If the polymer 20 has undulations (meandering) and the end face of the polymer 20 is floated in the width direction with respect to the reference plate 43 due to the measurement site in the longitudinal direction, the floating dimension may be subtracted. By measuring at various points in the longitudinal direction, the polymer 20
The width accuracy of the polymer 20 is measured, and the degree of waviness (meandering) of the polymer 20 is measured by following the position of the end surface of the polymer 20.

The undulation (concavo-convex) state of the end surface of the prepreg material product roll 24 is measured by, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a linear gauge using a dial gauge 48 or a differential transformer on the head 46 of the apparatus shown in FIG. A sensor or an air sensor using air pressure, which can measure the vertical position, is attached with a gauge, and the position of the end surface of the prepreg material product roll 24 placed on the base plate 41 may be continuously measured. .. As shown in FIG. 7, the prepreg material product roll 24 is simply placed on the surface plate 51, and the support base 53 to which the dial gauge 52 having the probe 54 is attached is slid on the surface plate 51 for measurement. May be.

Regarding the undulations (irregularities) of the end surface of the prepreg material product roll 24, for example, as shown in FIG.
One end surface of the roll is used as the reference surface 61, and the difference between the convex portion and the concave portion on the reference surface 61 side and the difference between the convex portion and the concave portion on the opposite reference surface side may be measured. This end surface waviness (unevenness) can be easily set within the above target range by the cutting method according to the present invention.

Further, regarding the generation of paper dust at the time of cutting,
The easiest way is to rewind the prepreg material product roll 24 and visually observe the paper dust that has been caught.

The method of the present invention can be applied not only when using a shear cutter, but also when using a score cutter using a columnar lower blade 29 as shown in FIG.

[0029]

As described above, according to the method for cutting a prepreg material of the present invention, when the polymer of the prepreg material and the release paper is cut into a predetermined width by the cutter, the cutter is wound around the lower blade. Along with making the angle smaller than a certain angle, the temperature of the prepreg material in the cutting portion was controlled to a certain temperature or more, and the polymer was brought into close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the lower blade so that the cutting position did not fluctuate. A target cutting width can be obtained with high accuracy, and waviness (irregularities) on the end surface of the rolled up prepreg material product roll can be suppressed to an extremely small level. Further, since the cutting can be performed by substantially complete shearing, a sharp cutting end face can be obtained, and
It is possible to prevent the generation of paper dust from the cut end of the release paper.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an apparatus for performing a method of cutting a prepreg material according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a partially enlarged side view of the device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

4 is a schematic side view of an apparatus for producing the prepreg material intermediate roll of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a width measuring device for a prepreg material.

6 is a perspective view showing a state in which a dial gauge is added to the apparatus of FIG. 5 to measure the unevenness of the end surface of the prepreg material product roll.

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view of another prepreg material product roll end surface unevenness measuring device.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a prepreg material product roll.

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view showing how the present invention is carried out using a score cutter.

FIG. 10 is a side view of a conventional shear cutter unit.

11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line XI-XI of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Reinforcing fiber sheet 12, 13 Release paper 14 Polymer at the production stage of prepreg material 18 Prepreg material 19 Intermediate roll of prepreg material 20 Polymer between prepreg material and release paper 21 Unwinding device 22 Shea cutter 23 Winding device 24 Prepreg Material Roll 25 Brake device 26 Winding motor 27, 28 Guide roll 29 Lower blade 30 Upper blade 31 Cutting position 32 Heater 33 Heater controller 34 Temperature controller 41 Base plate 43 Reference plate 44 Slide rail 46 Head 47 Magnifier 48, 52 Dial gauge 51 Surface plate 53 Support base 61 Reference plane θ Winding angle

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When a prepreg material having release paper laminated on at least one surface thereof is continuously cut into strips together with the release paper, a polymer of the prepreg material and the release paper is formed on the outer peripheral surface during the cutting. Using a cutter consisting of a lower blade that runs continuously and an upper blade that cuts the polymer on the lower blade by shearing in cooperation with the lower blade, the polymer of the polymer to the lower blade of the cutter is used. A method of cutting a prepreg material, characterized in that the wrap angle is set to 5 degrees or less and the temperature of the prepreg material in the cutting portion is controlled to 25 ° C. or higher.