Modeling of heat transfer in thermoplastic composite tape lay-up manufacturing

The process of thermoplastic composite tape lay-up has been modeled in terms of heat transfer. The main objective is to investigate the effects of process parameters on the quality of thermoplastic composite laminates fabricated by the tape placement process. Computer codes were written to generate the temperature distribution. The numerical analysis has been carried out using finite difference method. The numerical model was verified with available experimental results. The numerical results compare favorably with those published in the literature. This analysis leads to the prediction of the temperature distribution along the length and through the thickness of the composite. The prediction of the temperature distribution enables proper selection of process variables, which affects the production rate and quality of the parts