3DProCar

The Research and Technology Centre for Resource-Efficient Lightweight Structures in Electric Mobility - FOREL was established in 2013 on the initiative of the National Platform for Electric Mobility (NPE) as a BMBF lighthouse project and is an open and independent platform of high-tech lightweight construction system solutions in multi-material design for the mobility of the future.

As part of the "3DProCar" project, an efficient and cost-effective process chain for the production of complex thermoplastic fiber reinforced composites structures was developed and technologically implemented. The basis for this is the use of innovative hybrid carbon staple fiber yarns, which are processed into new integral textile reinforcement structures using productive and material-efficient weaving techniques. These 2D and 3D semi-finished products are then processed fully automatically into a complex preform by a system of cooperating robots and finally consolidated in the thermopressing process using novel technologies for preform temperature control and direct consolidation. The possibility of processing recycled carbon fibers into hybrid yarns with high mechanical properties supports the implementation of closed material cycles.

The development activities in 3DProCar included extensive theoretical and experimental work along the entire process chain. The analysis and simulation of the individual processes as well as of the process chain as a whole enable a targeted optimization of the process parameters, the guarantee of the transferability of the results to other components with different geometries and the industrial implementation.