New Fraunhofer Tape Placement Machine successfully installed at Maru Hachi, Japan | NewsLIGHT #15 | Maru Hachi

In the framework of the German-Japanese “Co-Funding Program” for International Joint R&D Projects „IntelliPipe“ by NEDO & AIF , MaruHachi, developer and manufacturer of composite materials in form of tapes, sheets and near-net shaped preforms, is happy to have installed a new machine by Fraunhofer ipt for thermoplastic tape placement in their production halls in Fukui, Japan.

© Maru Hachi

With this new machine, Maru Hachi develops a single-tow-tape production. Classic tape production lines are designed for the highest possible throughput and produce so-called “mother coils” of a tape with a width of up to 1,000 mm. For processing, these “mother coils” must be divided lengthwise to the final dimension in a separate process step, usually by an external service provider, and wound onto a supply coil. Conventional production processes enable tape reels with a length of up to 3 km. With the single-tow-tape production, a tape with the correct final size can be produced directly. In consideration of a continuous tube production, such a production can be directly connected to the processing to enable an uninterrupted production. In order to be able to record process parameters, the tape production is equipped with appropriate sensors.

Maru Hachi as a manufacturer of tapes and FRP products, such as type IV pressure vessels (with which they had JEC AWARDS 2014)  and FRP pipes, has fundamentally optimized its tape production for the pipe production and created a basis for the analysis of process and quality data. Maru Hachi is happy to introduce a new production technology and to optimize their own tapes. With the help of the partners Fraunhofer IPT and Conbility, Maru Hachi has acquired new process knowledge to operate a production system for the tape processing. This production system is now also marketed to Maru Hachi customers worldwide.

© Maru Hachi