Deep Drawing of Fabric Reinforced Thermoplastics: Maximum Drawing Depth and Mechanism of Wrinkle Formation

Sheet forming technologies have recently evolved for continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic materials. Stamp forming is gaining in importance. Because of very low cycle times this method is very suitable for the production of simple parts. Although the advantages of stamp forming are obvious, the main characteristics have not been investigated sufficiently yet. In this report a deep drawing tool is described, which enables a standardized investigation of the maximum drawing depth of any chosen material. The deep drawing of fabric reinforced thermoplastic sheets has been examined using various geometrical moulds, punch radii and drawing depths. The results of these investigations, and of others concerned with wrinkle formation, are presented in this paper.