I am looking into forged composite, anyone got any idea how they are made? are there any info where I can learn the process?
It is no more than smc process… Or more easily compared to injection molding. It’s nothing new… And the term forged is misleading … Should be “cast composite”. It’s a mix of resin and chopped fiber injected into a mold. There’s more to it but for simplicitys sake I think this gives you a basic idea. Extremely cheap process for production.
This is not to be confused with how brake rotors are made… That’s a bit closer to being forged!
But the term forged is used because fiber orientation is random I suppose.
injection molding? I thought it would be more like press molding? correct me if I am wrong.
I guess you’d want some way to get excess resin out…but if it were compression mold it would have to be a closed mold that compresses but allows squeeze out. I would think.
I’d like to know how they get good resin ratio… If they do.
“forged composites” may be trademarked even, between callaway and lamborghini. It’s a special case of compression molding. Look into sheet molding compounds and compression molding.
short and long chopped fiber strand prepreg I think? Cytec makes tooling prepreg like this. In short, if it’s SMC/prepreg, it’s compression molded. Depending on resin, can be quick turnaround. If it’s injection molded, it will need special systems to allow the short fibers to flow and not get binded. Can someone forward a good pic of the surface?
As for where to get it, doubt you can get the same material as Lambo has.
look here
http://www.hexcel.com/Products/Industries/IHexMC-Materials
http://www.hexcel.com/Resources/UserGuides/HexMC_UserGuide.pdf
http://www.hexcel.com/Resources/DataSheets/Molding-Data-Sheets/R1A_eu.pdf
Or you can.
What am I missing with this Hexcel material? It has slightly more tensile strength than 6061 aluminum, but about half the density! I’m anticipating sticker shock with the cost of a roll. Obviously a lot of the cost comes in the tooling, but is it really this easy to work with?
Coming from the plastic injection mold business where we do a lot of glass filled nylon parts for automotive companies. The process is pretty straight forward once you have the basics down. I’m assuming this material is the same?
How hard is it to get the flow just right where it doesn’t want to flash? I’m assuming a lot of work is spent getting the material to flow where you want it to with mold flow analysis. Let me know all your experiences
Thanks,
Jason
I think it’s quite easy to work…I believe that the major difference between forged and plastic injection, is the time available, longer with forged. But it’s only my idea, it’s not my work
I can’t think of a good small starter project to take advantage of this material. Something with good 3d details, but a high strength requirement? Any ideas?
I have seen high-end watch bodies being made with this technique…I think there is a video on youtube.