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With the increased demand for high volume, cost-effective, fiber-reinforced thermoplastic parts, the lack of high throughput systems has become more pronounced. Thermoforming as a method to generate complex shapes from a flat preform is dependable and fast. In order to use readily available, standard unidirectional impregnated thermoplastic tape in this process, a flat perform must be created prior to the thermoforming step. Formerly, creating the preform by hand layup was a time consuming and therefore costly, step. Fiberforge�?s patented RELAY� technology overcomes the challenges of handling thermoplastic prepreg tape and provides a solution through the automated creation of a flat preform, referred to as a Tailored Blank?. Producing a part for thermoforming with accurate ply orientation and scrap minimization is now as simple as loading a material spool followed by a pressing a start button. Presenter Christina McClard, Fiberforge

Strain sensors embedded in or attached to structural components have to measure the real deformation of the structure over the whole period of use. The user must know how reliably installed sensors provide strain measurement results. For this purpose, test facilities or coupon tests are used. In order to characterize the strain transfer quality from the host structure into surface-applied strain sensors, a unique testing facility has been developed. This facility can be used both for fiber optic and resistance strain sensors. Originally developed for fiber Bragg grating based sensors, the KALFOS facility (= \bc\ba\blibration of \bfiber \boptic \bsensors) uses Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometer (ESPI) as unbiased referencing methods. It is possible to determine experimentally the strain transfer mechanism under combined thermal and mechanical loading conditions.