FILAMENT WOUND TUBES

Additional Details

Filament winding is a fabrication technique for creating composite material structures. The process involves winding filaments under varying amounts of tension over a male mould or mandrel. The mandrel rotates while a carriage moves horizontally, laying down fibers in the desired pattern. The most common filaments are carbon or glass fiber and are coated with synthetic resin as they are wound. Once the mandrel is completely covered to the desired thickness, the mandrel is placed in an oven to solidify (set) the resin. Once the resin has cured, the mandrel is removed, leaving the hollow final product.

Filament winding is well suited to automation, where the tension on the filaments can be carefully controlled. Filaments that are applied with high tension results in a final product with higher rigidity and strength; lower tension results in more flexibility. The orientation of the filaments can also be carefully controlled so that successive layers are plied or oriented differently from the previous layer. The angle at which the fiber is laid down will determine the properties of the final product. A high angle "hoop" will provide crush strength, while a lower angle pattern (known as a closed or helical) will provide greater tensile strength.