Van Wees has made a Carbon PEEK crossply tape with an extra ordinary lay-up and thickness. The ply book is 90–0–90 orientation. The total thickness is 200 µm. and the single plies are therefore only 70 µm thick. It was the first impregnation trial with PEEK polymer and the results are encouraging. The tape will be used for the production of tubes. By the orientation of the tape, the resulting lay-up in the tube, after hoop winding, will be 0 degree dominated. Hoop winding is a fast production process. This opens opportunities for large volume production of thermoplastic tubes.
The orientation of the plies can be optimized for the tube thickness and the width of the tape in order to have a 0 degree orientation in the tube. For example a tube thickness of 200 millimeter and a tape width of 20 millimeter will need an angle of 88 and 102 degree for the two oriented plies.