Development of a Type 5 hydrogen pressure vessel at BTU. Source (All Images) | Mikrosam

Mikrosam (Prilep, Macedonia) has announced the delivery of its latest single-tape placement head to the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus - Senftenberg (BTU) in Germany, which is an upgrade to the existing robotic multi-tape automated fiber placement (AFP) work cell that Mikrosam delivered to the university 7 years ago. This equipment is specifically designed to meet the increasing demand for precision in automated composite layup processing of Type 5 hydrogen pressure vessels. Optimized for laboratory research and small-scale production, Mikrosam says it offers the flexibility required for producing complex, high-performance thermoplastic composite parts.

Mikrosam and BTU have a longstanding collaboration on R&D projects, consistently delivering proven results in the composite materials industry. In addition to the placement head, BTU uses a filament winding machine capable of wet and towpreg winding processes, and is equipped with in-house prepreg slitting and rewinding equipment, also manufactured by Mikrosam. This machine is designed to work with thermoset and thermoplastic prepregs to produce spools with various sizes and rewinding styles such as 300-millimeter-wide tape down to ¼-inch tapes used in the university’s existing AFP head, and now this new single-tape head. The solution enables on-demand use of prepreg slitting in different AFP processes.