The prepreg-autoclave process is the state-of-the-art technique to manufacture fibre composite parts for the aircraft industry due to their high-quality standards. The disadvantage of this process is the high energy consumption and the high process costs. Therefore, many researches are done to improve out-of-autoclave processes, like the resin transfer moulding (RTM) process. The out-of-autoclave process needs to build parts in comparable quality. One promising way to improve the quality of the RTM process is the integration of non-woven fabrics in the layup. The aim of the project NICItA, which is funded by the federal ministry for economics and energy within the scope of the Luftfahrtforschungsprogramm, is the development of multifunctional non-woven fabrics. The non-woven fabric acts as a binder and flow aid and should improve the impact behaviour of the fibre composite part. For the construction of the non-woven fabric extensive material tests and tests for the binder property, preform stability and infusion behaviour are performed, to derive optimal non-woven fabrics parameters.
Different materials and their combinations, mixture ratio and the surface weight are considered. The different functions (binder and infusion aid) have their own requirements on the fabric with partially contrary needs. To fulfil these contrary needs, the different materials are first processed into an organoweb in the carding process. This semi-finished product forms the basis for the subsequent hot press process. This process combination allows to activate different components at a time and therefore to manipulate the material properties.
In the next steps of the project, the impact behaviour of parts with the new developed non-woven fabric will be investigated. The results of all tests will be merged to one guideline for the construction of non-woven fabrics.