The machine head


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Advances in tailored fi bre placement technology are making carbon fi bre a more viable mainstream option. Cheaper, stronger and far more adaptable, the manufacturing possibilities are vast, as Richard Harrington explains


Composites have been a fashionable go-to for achieving lightweighting results, but recent refi nements to the tailored fi bre placement (TFP) process further broaden the traditional benefi ts brought through using carbon fi bre, including increased strength. Modern


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dding ‘lightness’ is an eff ective method for increasing effi ciency and enhancing performance.


TFP also reduces the costs and makes the composite suitable for wider application. “Beyond a handful of low-volume applications, the automotive industry has found that the relatively low productivity, high costs, material wastage and labour-intensive manufacturing processes have been prohibitive for wider-scale adoption of carbon fi bre as a material for large


or complex components,” explains Julius Sobizack, managing director at ZSK, the German embroidery machine manufacturer responsible for the innovative refi nements made to the TFP process. “TFP has been around since the 1990s, but its benefi ts are only now being extracted through advancements in the way materials are laid and understanding of their complex properties.”


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