Influence of prepreg material quality on carbon fiber reinforced plastic laminates processed by automated fiber placement

In this paper, the influence of prepreg material quality to the mechanical properties of CFRP parts is presented. During the out life of prepreg slit tape, the processability changes by aging especially when storing the material at room temperature. Therefore, investigations are done with an in-house developed AFP machine and are monitored with a thermal monitoring system to determine the influence of material aging to mechanical properties and changes in the manufacturing process. The manufactured CFRP plates are finally tested by 3-point bending test.