Abstract:In order to meet the requirement of high efficiency heating in automated fiber placement (AFP) of thermoplastic composites, a method of high efficiency heating by using the Ohmic characteristic of PEEK prepreg was studied. Through the mathematical analysis of Ohmic heating convection and radiation heat dissipation, and ABAQUS electrothermal simulation, the basic laws of Ohmic heating of PEEK composite were obtained. The Ohmic heating effect of PEEK composite was experimentally studied by using the designed double-roller electrodes experimental device. The results show that the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of the composite by Ohmic heating increases first and then decreases with the increase of heating electric power, and reaching a maximum of 35.6MPa when the electric parameters are DC voltage 30V and current 3.3A. With the increase of the compacting force, the ILSS also increases first and then decreases, and reaching a maximum of 29.5MPa when the compacting force is about 322N. In addition, the crystallinity of prepreg decreases with the increase of temperature, and the effect of compacting force on crystallinity of the prepreg is not obvious.