The importance of the accuracy of the tension coming off of a creel or let-off is forgotten at times. Extensive design effort is put into the equipment to actually produce the sheet or tube formed from carbon fiber or other high-performance fibers, but in many cases the front end of this process is overlooked.

The accuracy of tension coming off of the creel can influence the mechanical properties of the part, and either enhance or degrade it depending on the tension control. In some cases, it is not the absolute value of tension which is important, but the minimization of deviation of tension between ends. A single tow of fiber with higher tension than the others could degrade a UD sheet or a pultruded part…. etc.

We have many success stories from our customers implementing our creels. Uniformity and improved characteristics of a UD sheet or tape, better mechanical properties observed in a pultruded part, stronger filament wound products, and better strength in a woven fabric.

With several decades of experience building industrial control panels for our equipment delivered worldwide, Izumi International now provides industrial control panel design and fabrication services for our customers as well.

We have an in-house UL-508A certified panel shop, and have electrical engineers and electrical technicians on site to design to and build to code requirements.

With the increasing variety of resin systems available for carbon fiber and other high-performance fibers, there is a growing need for development of sizing materials which interface well with each resin/fiber combination.

For the development of the sizing material, it is often difficult to experiment without obtaining un-sized fiber. Unless you produce the fiber in your own facility, in many cases it would be necessary to     de-size the fiber first, and then apply the desired sizing materials.

Any handling process can damage the fibers, and de-sizing / re-sizing can be particularly abrasive to the filaments. Thus, equipment for this process needs to be designed with extra care to prevent filament damage.

We can provide turn-key systems for single tow sizing development lines as well as multi-tow sizing lines for production scale output requirements. Single tow lines are scalable and configurable: in many cases they are compact table-top units. Production scale lines incorporate industrial-grade equipment, same as the equipment we provide for fiber production plants.

See below for some considerations for specifying the right equipment for the sizing line you may need.

In upstream composites production processes, it is often necessary to control a fiber or a band of fibers to an optimum tension value. However, identifying the correct tension is often overlooked, and production processes still utilize tensioning systems which were developed decades ago without much consideration of the actual tension they are generating.

The handling and guiding methods of carbon fibers
to prevent filament damage is often overlooked. However, it is an extremely important factor in carbon fiber production and downstream processes using carbon fiber.

Redirection with sharp angles, use of guides without proper surface finish, excessive tension, static contact points: these are all factors that can induce damage to the filaments in the carbon fiber tow. Broken filaments not only degrade the strength of the carbon fiber, but also cause issues in processing leading to production downtime.

Broken filaments accumulate on rotating parts and will snowball into a mess quickly, which not only needs an operator to intervene but can stop production or create defects in the product.

The main reason proper assessments are not made for fiber damage caused by inadequate handling is that there have been no quantitative means to measure fiber damage. Read more to find out about tools to accomplish this and some analyzation studies.

Dispensing by means of 6-axis robots is an efficient platform for various dispensing applications, when a 3-axis tabletop robot does not provide the flexibility required.

Software options are available to allow for path following of  3D CAD models or sketch patterns within a 3D model. Product models can be inserted into a simulated robot environment so that dispensing simulations can be generated offline. This enables the programmer to verify any axis limitations or collisions without taking the actual robot offline and prevents downtime of production.

Dispense verification options are also available to ensure proper dispense bead width tolerances are met, alert upon dispense failure, or for traceability requirements. Bead reconstruction or repair can be done on the spot to prevent product waste and down time.

Download a brochure for further details and options available.

Read the below to see which dispenser to equip on the 6-axis robot for certain applications.

Karakuri ningyo (からくり人形) are traditional Japanese automated puppets with origins dating back to the 7^th century. Eventually, they gained widespread popularity around 17^th century Edo period in Japan, when a theater opened in Osaka with Karakuri puppets on stage. These dolls relied solely on mechanical components such as springs or cams and clever engineering techniques to produce life-like movements, such as a tea serving doll or an archer doll which loads an arrow in his bow and shoots them one by one. Fast forward to present day 2020, and we live in an age where programmable logic controllers enable precise control sequences in millisecond increments, and 6-axis robots configure a completely automated production line. We now integrate sophisticated electronic controls to fulfill our industrial automation requirements.

However, there are still industrial automation processes that can be done by a fully mechanical, “Karakuri” type system. These systems would require no electricity, which could help achieve a green manufacturing target that may be required in a plant. Having no electronic controls also means lower cost, making integration of this type of automation affordable in situations where cost is a key