Make · process

Filament winding & pultrusion

Resin-wet fibre wound on a mandrel, or pulled through a die

Two continuous processes for bodies of revolution and constant sections. Winding wraps resin-wet fibre onto a rotating mandrel — the way pressure vessels and pipes are made. Pultrusion pulls fibre through a resin bath and a heated die to make an endless profile.

Moderate–high
Volume
Moderate
Tooling
Minutes
Cycle
Moderate
Tolerance
How it works
  1. 1
    Feed continuous fibre through a resin bath.
  2. 2
    For winding: wrap it onto a rotating mandrel at set angles.
  3. 3
    For pultrusion: pull it through a heated die that cures the profile.
  4. 4
    Cure, then remove the mandrel or cut the profile to length.
Strengths & limits
Strengths
  • Excellent for tubes, tanks and pressure vessels
  • High, controllable fibre content
  • Continuous and automatable
  • Fibre angle tuned to the pressure load
Limits
  • Winding: bodies of revolution only
  • Pultrusion: constant cross-section only
  • Mandrel removal can be tricky
  • Not for complex 3D shapes
Typical parts & materials

Typical parts: Pressure vessels and hydrogen tanks (COPVs), pipes, drive shafts, GFRP rebar

Commonly run in — open one for its cited properties:

Carbon fibre (IM7)AS4E-glass/epoxyEpoxy

Part of the Make map of manufacturing processes. Browse the cited database, or see where these parts end up in the application domains.