Effect of temperature and blank holder force on non-isothermal stamp forming of a self-reinforced composite

Composite materials are rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative to metals for structural and load bearing applications in the aerospace, automotive, alternate energy and consumer industries. With the advent of thermoplastic composites and advances in recycling technologies, fully recyclable composites are gaining ground over traditional thermoset composites. Stamp forming as an alternative processing technique for sheet products has proven to be effective in allowing the fast manufacturing rates required for mass production of components. This study investigates the feasibility of using the stamp forming technique for the processing of thermoplastic, recyclable composite materials. The material system used in this study is a self-reinforced polypropylene composite material (Curv$^{(R)}$). The investigation includes a detailed experimental study based on strain measurements using a non-contact optical measurement system in conjunction with stamping equipment to record and measure the formability of the thermoplastic composites in real time. A Design of Experiments (DOE) methodology was adopted to elucidate the effect of process parameters that included blank holder force, pre heat temperature and feed rate on stamp forming. DOE analyses indicate that feed rate had negligible influence on the strain evolution during stamp forming and blank holder force and preheat temperature had significant effect on strain evolution during forming.