Development of a benchtop prepreg manufacturing platform with integrated tension control of short-travel-path carbon fiber tow

초록

Benchtop wet filament-winding systems suffer from large tension fluctuations due to short fiber travel paths, low system inertia, and resin drag, leading to unstable tow deposition and poor reproducibility during prepreg fabrication. In this work, a benchtop wet filament-winding prepregging platform integrating a magnetic particle brake, a pneumatically loaded dancer roller, and load-cell-based proportional–integral (PI) feedback control is developed and experimentally validated to stabilize fiber tension in short-path systems. The hybrid control architecture maintains tow tension within ± 5% of the target load and effectively suppresses transient disturbances arising from bobbin-edge interactions. The influence of tension regulation on tow deposition, resin uptake, and mechanical performance is evaluated. Improved tension stability produces smoother prepreg surfaces, reduced tow waviness, and more uniform compaction, resulting in higher laminate tensile strength and reduced specimen-to-specimen variability. The findings demonstrate that stabilizing tension fluctuations, rather than increasing absolute winding load, is critical for achieving reproducible prepreg quality in compact wet-winding systems. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd.

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