International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology E-ISSN 2277 – 4106, P-ISSN 2347 – 5161

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Review Article

A Review on Design and Development of Filament Winding Machine

for Composite Materials
Dattatray Tele†*, Nikhil Wakhare†, Ram Bhosale†, Pankaj Bharde†, Shital Nerkar†
†Department of Mechanical Engineering, Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s Institute of Technology, Pune 47, India

Accepted 01 Oct 2016, Available online 05 Oct 2016, Special Issue-6 (Oct 2016)

Abstract

Filament winding is a process of loading high degree of fibres to take advantage of high tensile in manufacturing of
hollow, generally cylindrical products. The process affords the high strength to weight ratio laminates and provides a
high degree of control over uniformity and fibre orientation. Filament wound structures can be accurately machined,
and labour factor for filament winding is lower than other open molding processes. The filament wound composite
pipes are fabricated using high strength fiber and resin matrix by hand lay-up using 2-axis filament winding machine.
The present work, the low cost filament winding machine is designed and developed for the fabrication of FRP pipes
and cylindrical specimens. The concepts of engine lathe supported by a wet winding method were being used in the
development of filament winding machine.

Keywords: Composite Material, Filament Winding, PVC, Strength

1. Introduction composite. Fibers are classified into groups according

1 Filament
to their chemical composition. These are a glass C-
winding is an automated process for
glass, S-glass and E-glass fibers. This fiber mostly used
manufacturing advanced reinforced composite
in aerospace design. It was found to have excellent
structural components. It creates the winding of resin
fiber forming capacity and is now used almost as the
impregnated fibers around a mandrel and then
reinforcing phase in the material known as glass fiber.
hardening them so that the wound fiber can take the
Epoxy resin: It is basically the glue that keeps the
shape of the mandrel. The fibers are placed on the
composite together. A resin has good mechanical
rotating mandrel by a horizontal carrier. The fiber
properties, good adhesive properties, good toughness
position is controlled by controlling the speed of the
properties and good environmental properties. Epoxy
horizontal carrier. Subsequently hardening is done for
has a number of applications, including metal coatings,
an appropriate time and temperature. After hardening,
used in electronics / electrical components, high
the wound composite is removed from the mandrel if
tension electrical insulators, fiber-reinforced plastic
the mandrel is not sacrificial; but, sometimes the
materials, and structural adhesives.
mandrel can be a part of the design. It is used to
Filament winding-process technology: The process
manufacture pipes, tanks, gas cylinders, etc. the major
of filament winding is basically used for hollow,
advantages of the winding process are that it is highly
circular or oval sectioned products. Fibers can be use
automated, and capable of producing accurate
dry and be pulled through a resin bath before being
repetitive fiber orientation. It does have some
wound around the mandrel.
limitations however, which include difficulty in placing
The winding angle ‘Ø’ is controlled by the fiber
fibers parallel to the axis of the mandrel, high mandrel
feeding mechanism and the rotational speed of
cost, and special treatment on the external mandrel mandrel. Fig.1 shows filament after winding, the
surface needed to ensure evenness. filament wound mandrel is subjected to curing and
post curing operation during which the mandrel is
2. Winding Material continuously rotated to maintain homogeneity of resin
Farhan Manasiya et. al. (2016), present that filament content around the circumference. After curing,
winding material type, properties and process product is removed from mandrel either by hydraulic
technology. or mechanical ejector.
Fiber: The mechanical properties of fibers improve Dr. S. C. Srivastava et. al.(2016) explained the
the overall mechanical properties of the fiber/resin importance of filament winding, where weight is an
issue which shows decrease of weight or increase of
*Corresponding author: Dattatray Tele performance. Therefore this fabrication technique
74| MMIT, Lohgaon, Pune, Maharashtra, India, NCPSM- 2016, INPRESSCO IJCET Special Issue-6 (Oct 2016)
Dattatray Tele et al A Review On Design And Development of Filament Winding Machine

allows production of strong, lightweight parts, 3.1 Mandrel

especially for components of aerospace hydrospace 3.2 Job holder
and military applications and structures of commercial 3.3 Delivering eye
and industrial usefulness. 3.4 Control system
3.1 Mandrel: Mandrel having two types- water soluble
mandrels and spider/plaster mandrels. Advantage of
mandrel is low cost for small production quantities and
excellent dimensional reproducibility. The
disadvantage is high initial tooling cost.
3.2 Job holder: The job holder is used for the operation
of holding male mandrel on which the reinforced
matrix is to be laid during the process running. At the
same time job holder resembles one of the axis. The job
holder can also be the mirror as head and tailstocks
similar to a lathe machine.
Fig. 1 Representation of filament winding process
Manasiya et. al. (2016)

Continuous fiber reinforcement provides the structural

performance required of the final part. The fiber is the
primary contributor to the stiffness and strength of the
composite and the resin matrix that holds everything
together, provides the load transfer mechanism
between the fibers that are wound onto the structure,
the resin matrix also to provide the corrosion
resistance, protects the fibers from external damage, Fig. 2 filament winding process (S. C. Srivastava et.
and contribute to the overall composite toughness al., 2016)
from surface impacts, cuts, abrasion, and rough
handling. The strength-to-weight advantages and low 4. Winding Parameters
cost of manufacturing, the parts obtained from the
process have better corrosion and electrical resistance 4. 1 Winding methods: In this there are two types of
properties. As mentioned before that winding process. winding method, wet winding and prepreg winding. In
Filament winding is referred to traditional filament wet winding the fibre is passed through a resin bath
winding process. Mechanical strength of filament and wound onto a rotating mandrel simultaneously
wound part depends on process parameter like and in prepreg winding pre-impregnated fibre tows
winding pattern and winding methods. These two are placed on the rotating mandrel.
parameters is use for winding process to take place
4. 2 Winding patterns: Winding patterns is denoted by
from linear two till six axes process. This gives us
winded part of conical or one side enclosed geometry. α. The first type of winding pattern is hoop or
The properties of the finished composite can be varied circumferential where Ø is 90°, the second type is
with the different type of winding pattern selected. helical winding the value of α lies in the range of 0° to
Firstly, the hoop winding pattern which is a less than 90°. The third type is the polar winding
circumferential winding that provided an angle of 90°, where the value of α is no long fixed and varies over
secondly is the helical winding in which the fibers are the length of mandrel.
winded at helical angles, thirdly is the polar winding,
fibres are wrapped from pole to pole, as the mandrel 5. Composites materials
arm rotates about the longitudinal axis. Further
parameter is first account for wet winding in which the Samy J. Ebeid et. al.(2016) explained that composite
fibers are passed through a resin bath and wound on a materials offer light weight at high strength, high
rotating mandrel. The second method is the prepreg stiffness, good fatigue resistance and good corrosion
winding which the pre-impregnated fiber tows are resistance .Composite pipes can thus combine
placed on the rotating mandrel. Among the two directional(anisotropic) properties to meet specific
winding methods, wet winding is more commonly used
application needs. Filament winding is a process used
for manufacturing fibre reinforced matrix composite
to produce such composite pipes. Design and analysis
cylinders. It having the main following advantages: low
material cost, short winding time. The resin can be of composites should consider many aspects not
easily varied to meet specific requirement. limited to material properties, examination of
production parameters, investigations of geometries
3. Components of Filament Winding Machine and loading conditions. Burst pressure is an important
parameter that must be well studied in case of pipes.
The main components of filament winding machine are This, and other properties will change by altering
defined as below: filament type, roving size, number of layers and
75| MMIT, Lohgaon, Pune, Maharashtra, India, NCPSM- 2016, INPRESSCO IJCET Special Issue-6 (Oct 2016)
Dattatray Tele et al A Review On Design And Development of Filament Winding Machine

winding angle (Ø), to mention a few of the affecting up. Polymeric matrix composite materials are being
parameters. The winding angle is measured between increasingly used in different industrial and
the rotating axe and wrapped fiber, as indicated in Fig. commercial applications, especialy in the automotive,
3. The process, as schematically illustrates in Fig. 4, is aerospace and military markets. The important
used to wrap resin-impregnated continuous fibers advantages which included increases toughness,
around a rotating mandrel that has the internal shape damage tolerance, increases durability, possibility of
of the desired product. reprocessing and recycling. Production of PVC/GF
composite pipes: The homopolymer of PVC was used to
impregnate the glass fibers in the production of
composite pipes by filament winding.
The piping production process starts by the
impregnating of the glass fibres by the PVC plastisol,
followed by its winding around a circular mandrel
using filament winding equipment with numerical
control. The polymer reticulation and consolidation
were done with a hot-air heater. Reticulation of the
plastisol during piping production was controlled by
Fig. 3 Winding angle (Samy J. Ebeid et. al.,2016) measuring its surface hardness, according to the
manufacturer information, must be above 80 Shore A.
The important objective is building a Finite Element
This process has the advantage of being automatic and
model to find the burst pressure of different composite
capable to be easily implemented in an industrial scale.
pipes, at high accuracy. This model can be further used
Mousa Tabatabai Gargari, (2006), explains the types of
as a design tool to select the best parameters for
pipe as following.
optimum design prior to production
6.1 Fiberglass pipes
Fiberglass pipe is made from glass-fiber
reinforcements embedded in, or surrounded by cured
thermosetting resins. Other ingredients are frequently
included to increases various properties or
characteristics. These pipes do not corrode, they are
resistant to chemical attacks and are light-weight.
These pipes also have smooth walls that reduce the
head loss, and thus require less pumping power.
6.2 Polyvinylchloride pipes

Fig. 4 Common form of Filament winding process Polyvinylchloride (PVC) gets its properties from
(Samy J. Ebeid et. al.,2016) combinations of additives and modifiers which
plasticizers, providing varying degrees of flexibility and
Analytical analysis for pipes subjected to pure internal resistance to Ultra Violet (UV) light degradation; and
pressure satisfy a hoop to axial stress ratio of 2:1, and pigments, used selectively to provide color. Once the
the optimum burst pressure was found to occur at a additives and modifiers have been combined with the
winding angle of 54.7°. resin, the resulting material is called PVC compound
This study was done to simulate the structural and is in granular form. In the next stage of
behavior of composite pipes subjected to internal manufacturing, these granules are melted down,
pressure. FEA prediction of the burst pressure for a blended thoroughly and extruded into pipe. PVC pipes
four layered filament wound composite pipes made of are corrosion resistant, light-weight, they have smooth
E-glass/epoxy, carbon/epoxy and aramid/epoxy surface, and nontoxic qualities. Some grades are used
composites using LPF concept.Then it is concluded that in food and chemical processes due to the inert nature
the optimum winding angle is 55°. The lowest burst of PVC. Because of limitations in extrusion technology
pressure was recorded to be at 0° winding angle. The that is used for production of these pipes,
burst pressure at the optimum winding angle [±55°] manufacturing large diameter pipe such as the one in
for the three materials E-glass/epoxy, aramid/epoxy this project was not feasible. In most of the
and carbon/epoxy is predicted to be 10.9, 25.5 and manufactures’ catalogs the maximum size was 36 in.
29.4 MPa respectively. (914 mm).

6. Production of PVC/GF composite pipes 6.3 Welded steel pipes

J. F. Silva et. al. (2010) presented that two processing One type of steel pipe is spirally welded pipe is
techniques commonly used with thermosetting manufactured by continuous welding. The procedure is
matrices were studied: filament winding and hand lay- briefly explained as:
76| MMIT, Lohgaon, Pune, Maharashtra, India, NCPSM- 2016, INPRESSCO IJCET Special Issue-6 (Oct 2016)
Dattatray Tele et al A Review On Design And Development of Filament Winding Machine

Coils are loaded on the decoiler of the Spiral Pipe It is expected that experimental results will show the
machine. The strip is straightened and edges are milled optimization of filament winding angle for the different
to desired joint geometry. The strip is guided into a diameters of the work piece. The development machine
forming station, where it is formed to produce a
will be capable of changing the different winding angle
cylindrical hollow body at a predetermined forming
angle, ensuring proper welding gap between the to improve the tensile strength of the fibre.
abutting edges. Inside, and later, outside welding is
performed by an automatic submerged arc process. References
Pipes are cut to a predetermined length by an
automatic plasma arc cutting device. After Mahendiali Khorajiya, Mohammadhasan Agharia, Farhan
accomplishment of inside and outside welding, while Manasiya, Mahedihasan Madania .Prof. Mukund Kavekar,
on the production machine the full length of pipe is (2016)., Design & Fe Analysis of Composite Pressure Vessel,
examined by automatic ultrasonic unit for checking International Journal of Research in Advent Technology,4, (3),
welding defects. Flux and slag from inside the pipes is pp. 123-130.
cleaned. Pipes are inspected for any visual defects. S. C. Srivastava, Shariqul Hoda, (2016), A Brief Theory on
Each pipe is hydrostatically tested to a given pressure Latest Trend of Filament Winding Machine, Journal of
as desired standard. The spirally welded steel pipe is Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS), 3 (4),
coated for corrosion and erosion resistance on the pp. 33-38
inside and on the outside. Another type of steel pipe; Ahmed W. Abdel-Ghany, Iman Taha, Samy J. Ebeid,
longitudinally welded steel pipe is manufactured by (2016), Failure Prediction Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Pipes
electric resistance welding and electric fusion welding using FEA, International Journal of Engineering and Technical
to convert flat rolled steel bars, plates, sheets and Research , 4 (2), pp. 115-120.
strips to tubular products. The welding seem in this L. M. Torres, J. F. Silva, A. T. Marques, (2010),
pipe is a straight line. Glass/Polyvinyl Chloride composites, Materials Science
Forum, 636-637, pp. 214-219.
Conclusions Mousa Tabatabai Gargari, (2006), Selection of Pipe for
a Drinking Water Project: a case study, Proceedings of IJME-
A low cost machine was modified for filament winding
INTERTECH Conference, Session IT 302-044.
and it is design and fabricated, to improve the tensile
strength of the composite material.

77| MMIT, Lohgaon, Pune, Maharashtra, India, NCPSM- 2016, INPRESSCO IJCET Special Issue-6 (Oct 2016)