Mikrosam has completed the installation of a custom-made prepreg tape slitting and tow-rewinding machine at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University in the USA.

It will be used for research into composite prepregs by NIAR’s Advanced Technologies Laboratory for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS), a multi-disciplinary manufacturing environment.

“With the addition of the Mikrosam slitter to our portfolio of automated manufacturing equipment, we are able to support the demand from multiple automated fibre placement machines at NIAR – conducting research in a timely manner and supporting our industry partners’ slit-tape material needs,” said Dr Waruna Seneviratne, ATLAS director. “The integrated in-process inspection system and the machine-learning algorithm for detecting defects allows us to perform quality control on the fly.”

The prepreg slitting equipment from Mikrosam, based in Prilep, Macedonia, is a single-step process for the slitting of unidirectional thermoset and thermoplastic prepreg tapes and rewinding them on multiple station traverse winders. The equipment is dedicated to slit prepreg tape from maximum width of 600mm down to 6.35mm and then rewind on a spool that can be used for automated fibre placement (AFP). It can also be used for slitting down 75-150mm wide tapes on a spool that can be directly used on automated tape laying (ATL) processes.

“With the proliferation of AFP units in research, the demand for efficient, scalable in-house slitting units has grown,” said Mikrosam sales manager Dimitar Bogda. “Mikrosam is a pioneer in such units which help customers prepare prepreg tapes on-demand, thus saving costs, controlling quality and reducing lead-time and risk in new ideas. Working with our US representative Composite Automation, we are proud to help NIAR be more productive in research on manufacturing composite parts.” 

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