The effect of machine path on tow tension fluctuations during filament winding of a pressure vessel

The study's main focus was the search for a machine path that would not require a mechanism to rewind the tow over the packages during the filament winding process of a pressure vessel with elliptic domes, making the filament winding equipment less expensive. Consequently, the tow tension fluctuations were measured for various machine paths of a lathe-type winder. Analytical equations were derived for the fiber and the machine paths to make the experimental results reproducible. At least four machine paths were considered, including the trajectory with a constant free-hanging fiber length. For one of the tested machine paths, the tow tension was near zero for a moment, enough to provoke a slippage of the tow from the surface of the mandrel. The machine path given by a combination of several trajectories demonstrated more effective behavior than the one with a constant free-hanging fiber length.