Robot-assisted large-scale fiber-reinforced heterogeneous multi-material in-situ additive manufacturing system
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of continuous fiber reinforced resin, in particular to a robot-assisted large-scale fiber reinforced heterogeneous multi-material in-situ additive manufacturing system.
Background
Carbon fibers have the advantages of high specific strength, high specific modulus, high temperature resistance and the like, and particularly, composite materials represented by continuous carbon fiber reinforced plastics are widely applied to the fields of aerospace, transportation, pressure vessels, sports goods and other high-end manufacturing. In the carbon fiber reinforced resin composite material, the surface precision of a sample piece printed by the short fiber reinforced composite material is higher, but the mechanical property of the sample piece is not obviously improved, but the difference is that the mechanical property of the continuous fiber reinforced composite material is better and is mainly determined by the volume fraction of fibers in the composite material.
However, many studies have been made on the compounding of a single resin and carbon fibers with continuous carbon fiber reinforced resin, and the plastics include thermoplastics (polylactic acid, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polycarbonate, polyetherimide, polyphenylene sulfone, polyether ether ketone resin, etc.) and thermosets (epoxy resin, etc.).
For example, chinese patent publication No. CN111791515A discloses a large-tow long carbon fiber thermoplastic composite material and a method for preparing the same, wherein large-tow carbon fibers are drawn by an upper press roll and a lower support roll, enter a mold from an entrance, and leave the mold from an exit, and a resin melt enters the mold from the upper part of the mold cavity, and the large-tow carbon fibers are immersed from top to bottom under the action of gravity, and the two can be in full contact, so that the thermoplastic resin melt and the large-tow carbon fibers can be well impregnated.
Chinese patent publication No. CN105348768A discloses a method for producing a carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin composite material, which comprises removing a sizing agent from the surface of carbon fibers, plating metal, washing with water, performing surface heat treatment, introducing the carbon fibers into an impregnation die containing molten thermoplastic resin in an opened state, so that the surface of the carbon fibers is coated with the molten thermoplastic resin, cooling, and granulating to obtain the carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin composite material.
However, in the prior art, a single resin and carbon fiber are mainly compounded, and the compounding of continuous carbon fiber and a plurality of resin materials is rarely occurred.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention provides a robot-assisted large-scale fiber-reinforced heterogeneous multi-material in-situ additive manufacturing system which can realize in-situ impregnation printing of large-scale continuous fibers and various resins.
A robot-assisted large-scale fiber-reinforced heterogeneous multi-material in-situ additive manufacturing system, comprising: the device comprises a multifunctional printing platform, a mechanical arm and a fiber-reinforced multi-material printing head fixed at the tail end of the mechanical arm, wherein a multi-path cooling system is arranged on the multi-material printing head; the mechanical arm is provided with a control panel at a position close to the tail end, and the multi-material printing head is controlled by the control panel to print on the multifunctional printing platform;
the multi-material printhead includes: the device comprises an upper connecting plate, a lower connecting plate connected with the upper connecting plate through a fixing column, four resin trays and a fiber tray which are arranged between the upper connecting plate and the lower connecting plate, a rotating mechanism fixed with the upper end face of the upper connecting plate, and a nozzle fixed with the lower end face of the lower connecting plate; the feed end of the nozzle is provided with five feed inlets corresponding to the four resin material trays and the fiber material tray respectively.
Furthermore, the feeding end of the nozzle is provided with a fiber feeding hole and four resin feeding holes; the fiber feeding holes are located in the center, the four resin feeding holes are uniformly arranged on the periphery of the fiber feeding holes, and the distance between the four resin feeding holes and the fiber feeding holes is 15-25 mm;
the nozzle is provided with a heating module and a temperature control module between the fiber feed port and the resin feed port;
the discharge end of nozzle is equipped with a fibre discharge gate and four resin discharge gates, and four resin discharge gates evenly arrange around the fibre discharge gate, and the interval with the fibre discharge gate is 0.2 ~ 2.5 mm.
Furthermore, four extrusion motors are fixed on the lower end face of the lower connecting plate, input ends of the four extrusion motors correspond to the four resin trays one by one respectively, and output ends of the four extrusion motors are connected with the four resin feed inlets of the nozzle respectively.
The rotary mechanism comprises:
the mechanical arm comprises a fixed flange fixed at the tail end of the mechanical arm, a rotating motor fixed at the lower end of the fixed flange and an axial connecting piece connected with the output end of the rotating motor, wherein the lower end of the axial connecting piece is fixed with an upper connecting plate, an electric brush is arranged outside the rotating motor, and the upper end of the electric brush is fixed with the fixed flange.
Through setting up rotary mechanism, can make many materials beat printer head and revolve infinitely around its own axis, and the winding problem of wire can not appear.
Furthermore, at least two fixing columns are arranged between the upper connecting plate and the lower connecting plate, and at least one vertical rod is arranged on the lower connecting plate; the fixed column and the vertical rod are both provided with horizontal support rods, and the resin material disc and the fiber material disc are rotatably sleeved on the corresponding horizontal support rods.
Preferably, the fiber material tray is arranged in the middle of the four resin material trays. The fiber material tray is arranged at the position close to the middle, so that the resistance is smaller and the smoothness is higher when the fibers in the fiber material tray enter the fiber feeding hole at the center of the nozzle.
The multi-path cooling system comprises: the multi-path air distribution block, the air pump, the pressure reducing valve and the plurality of cooling pipes;
the multi-path air distribution block is fixed on the fixed column, the air inlet end of the multi-path air distribution block is connected with the air pump through an air pipe with a pressure reducing valve, the air outlet end of the multi-path air distribution block is fixedly connected with the plurality of cooling pipes, and the air outlet holes at the tail ends of the plurality of cooling pipes respectively correspond to the control board and the four extrusion motors.
Optionally, the four resin trays are filled with materials including, but not limited to, polylactic acid, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyurethane, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyetheretherketone, and polyphenylene sulfone resins;
optionally, the material filled in the fiber tray includes, but is not limited to, carbon fiber, glass fiber, kevlar fiber and basalt fiber.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:
1. the printing system can realize in-situ impregnation of large-range continuous fibers and various resins by designing and combining the printing platform, the fiber-reinforced multi-material printing head and the cooling system and combining the large-range motion space of the mechanical arm.
2. According to the invention, the multi-material printing head can infinitely rotate around the axis of the multi-material printing head by arranging the rotating mechanism, so that the problem of winding of a lead wire can be avoided; the nozzle is matched with four resin trays and one fiber tray, so that four inlets and four outlets of resin materials and inlet and outlet of continuous fibers can be realized simultaneously; the heating module and the temperature control module on the nozzle can heat the resin material to a specified temperature, so that the resin material is better compounded with the continuous fibers; the multi-path cooling system can simultaneously output compressed gas to cool the extrusion motor and the control panel.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a robot-assisted large-scale fiber-reinforced heterogeneous multi-material in-situ additive manufacturing system according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a robotic arm;
FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-material printhead;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of another orientation of a multi-material printhead;
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a nozzle structure in a multi-material printhead;
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the discharge end of a nozzle in a multi-material printhead;
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a multi-cooling system;
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a multi-channel cooling system mounted on a multi-material printhead;
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a printed continuous carbon fiber reinforced multi-material composite structure in an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the printing principle of the system of the present invention.
Detailed Description
The invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the drawings and examples, which are intended to facilitate the understanding of the invention without limiting it in any way.
As shown in fig. 1, a robot-assisted large-scale fiber-reinforced heterogeneous multi-material in-situ additive manufacturing system mainly comprises a multifunctional printing platform 1, a multi-path cooling system 2, a fiber-reinforced multi-material printing head 3, a control board 4 and a mechanical arm 5. The multi-material printing head 3 is fixed at the tail end of the mechanical arm 5, and the multi-material printing head 3 is provided with a multi-path cooling system 2; the mechanical arm 5 is provided with a control board 4 at a position close to the tail end, and the multi-material printing head 3 is controlled by the control board 4 to print on the multifunctional printing platform 1.
As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the robot arm 5 is fixed on a horizontal plane by a robot arm base 501. The flange 502 at the end of the robot arm 5 is fixedly connected to the mounting flange 303 of the multi-material print head 3.
As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the multi-material print head 3 mainly includes an upper connection plate 311, a lower connection plate 312, a resin tray 313, a fiber tray 314, a rotation motor 315, an axial connection member 301, a brush 302, a fixed flange 303, a fixed column 304, a first extrusion motor 305, a second extrusion motor 306, a nozzle 307, a third extrusion motor 308, a fourth extrusion motor 309, and a fan 310. The fan 310 is used to cool the nozzle 307.
The upper connecting plate 311 is connected with the lower connecting plate 312 through the fixing column 304, and four resin trays 313 and one fiber tray 314 are arranged between the upper connecting plate 311 and the lower connecting plate 312. Specifically, at least two fixing columns 304 are arranged between the upper connecting plate 311 and the lower connecting plate 312, and at least one vertical rod 316 is further arranged on the lower connecting plate 312. Horizontal support rods are arranged on the fixing column 304 and the vertical rod 316, and the resin material tray 313 and the fiber material tray 314 are rotatably sleeved on the corresponding horizontal support rods. In this embodiment, the fiber tray 314 is disposed at the middle of the four resin trays 313.
As shown in FIG. 5, the feed end of the nozzle 307 is provided with one fiber feed port 41 and four resin feed ports 42; the fiber feeding holes 41 are located in the center, the four resin feeding holes 42 are uniformly arranged on the periphery of the fiber feeding holes 41, the edge of the feeding end of the nozzle is close to, and the distance between the four resin feeding holes and the fiber feeding holes is 15-25 mm. The nozzle 307 is provided with three heating module mounting holes 43 and one temperature control module mounting hole 44 at a position between the fiber feed port 41 and the resin feed port 42 for mounting the heating module and the temperature control module.
As shown in fig. 6, the discharge end of the nozzle 307 is provided with a fiber discharge port 45 and four resin discharge ports 46, the four resin discharge ports 46 are uniformly arranged around the fiber discharge port 45, and the distance between the four resin discharge ports 46 and the fiber discharge port 45 is 0.2-2.5 mm.
The first extruding motor 305, the second extruding motor 306, the third extruding motor 308 and the fourth extruding motor 309 are fixed on the lower end face of the lower connecting plate 312, the input ends of the four extruding motors are respectively in one-to-one correspondence with the four resin trays 313, and the output ends of the four extruding motors are respectively connected with the four resin feed ports 42 of the nozzle 307.
The rotating motor 315 is fixed at the lower end of the fixed flange 303, the output end of the rotating motor 315 is connected with the upper end of the axial connecting piece 301, the lower end of the axial connecting piece 301 is fixed with the upper connecting plate 311, the outer part of the rotating motor 315 is provided with a brush 302, and the upper end of the brush 302 is fixed with the fixed flange 303.
As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the multi-path cooling system 2 mainly includes a multi-path air-dividing block 205, a first cooling pipe 201, a second cooling pipe 202, a third cooling pipe 203, a fourth cooling pipe 204, a fifth cooling pipe 206, a sixth cooling pipe 207, an air pipe joint 208, a first air pipe 209, a pressure reducing valve 210, a second air pipe 211, and an air pump 212.
The air pump 212 is fixedly connected with the second air pipe 211, the second air pipe 211 is fixedly connected with the pressure reducing valve 210, the pressure reducing valve 210 is fixedly connected with the first air pipe 209, the first air pipe 209 is fixedly connected with the air pipe connecting piece 208, and the first cooling pipe 201, the second cooling pipe 202, the third cooling pipe 203, the fourth cooling pipe 204, the fifth cooling pipe 206 and the sixth cooling pipe 207 are respectively and fixedly connected with the multi-path cooling block 205.
The cooling principle of the multi-path cooling system 2 is as follows: the air pump 212 generates compressed air, the compressed air reaches the pressure reducing valve 210 through the second air pipe 211, the air pressure is adjusted through the pressure reducing valve 210, then the compressed air reaches the multi-path air distribution block 205 through the first air pipe 209, and the compressed air respectively flows out of the first cooling pipe 201, the second cooling pipe 202, the third cooling pipe 203, the fourth cooling pipe 204, the fifth cooling pipe 206 and the sixth cooling pipe 207 in the multi-path air distribution block 205. The first cooling pipe 201, the fourth cooling pipe 204, the second cooling pipe 202 and the third cooling pipe 203 respectively dissipate heat of the fourth extrusion motor 309, the third extrusion motor 308, the second extrusion motor 306 and the first extrusion motor 305. The fifth cooling pipe 206 and the sixth cooling pipe 207 dissipate heat from the control board 4. Wherein the fan 310 cools the nozzle 307.
As shown in fig. 9, which is a cross-sectional view of the continuous carbon fiber reinforced multi-material composite structure in the embodiment of the present invention, four resin feed ports 42 respectively correspond to three resin materials, i.e., material one 11, material two 12, material three 13, and material two 12, i.e., material one 11 and material three 13 are directly opposite, material two 12 is directly opposite, and continuous carbon fibers 15 enter from the fiber feed port 41.
During printing, the first material 11 and the second material 12, and the second material 12 and the third material 13 are cooled and solidified together after being heated, and the second material 12 is impregnated and wrapped with the continuous carbon fibers 15.
Fig. 10 illustrates the printing principle of the system of the present invention. The continuous carbon fiber reinforced multi-material composite structure in the single layer printing path is required to be perpendicular to the printing path. The nozzle 307 extrudes the continuous carbon fiber reinforced multi-material composite structure, and the nozzle 037 moves along the printing path and rotates around the axis of the nozzle by a certain angle, so that the printed continuous carbon fiber reinforced multi-material composite structure is perpendicular to the printing path on the printing path.
The embodiments described above are intended to illustrate the technical solutions and advantages of the present invention, and it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only specific embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention, and any modifications, additions and equivalents made within the scope of the principles of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.