At the Fraunhofer pilot plant center, UD tapes (unidirectional, continuous-fiber-reinforced films) in widths of 50 mm and 100 mm are manufactured and tested for development purposes. These tapes are used in winding processes as well as in 2D/3D lay-up methods for reinforcement and load distribution of a wide variety of components.
For these applications, it is necessary to convert the UD tapes into widths of 3 mm, 9 mm, ½", as well as 50 mm and 100 mm. This functionality shall be provided by the rewinding and slitting machine.
Glass, carbon, and basalt fibers are used as reinforcement materials. The matrix materials consist of various thermoplastics.