During the SAMPE Benelux Student competition last week, Mauryn de Graaf won with his research on Hot Gas Welding of Thermoplastic Composite T-Joint.
The idea of Mauryn’s PDEng research is to automate the process of welding a thermoplastic composite T-joint using hot air, filament extrusion and a consolidation step. The resulting prototype machine will demonstrate the welding technique in a simultaneous, double-sided and automated way, to in the future apply the weld head on a serial robot for large scale welding of stiffeners to wing panels.