Advantages of carbon fiber robotic arms over other materials

The annual World Industrial Expo was successfully concluded. There were eight exhibition areas in this event. Among them, the " Industrial Robot Exhibition" brought together the latest cutting-edge robot technologies at home abroad, becoming the most popular exhibition area with high market conversion rate in the entire Expo. the current situation, with the increase in labor costs the increasing problem of insufficient manpower, the demand for robots in various production occupations will also increase, industrial robots will become an increasingly important part of factory automation. The robotic arm is an automated mechanical equipment that is widely used in the field of robotics. Although their shapes are different, they all have a common feature, that is, by receiving instructions, they can accurately locate a certain point in three-dimensional ( two-dimensional) space to operate. The robotic arm generally has three kinds of movements: elasticity, rotation lifting. Among them, the rotation lifting movements are completed by the cross arm the production column. The basic function of the arm is to move the claw to the required position accept the large weight of the grasped workpiece the weight of the arm itself. In addition, pipelines, cooling equipment, travel positioning equipment automatic detection equipment are generally installed on the arm. Therefore, the structure, operating range, load-bearing capacity movement accuracy of the arm will directly affect the operating function of the entire machine. Alloy steel, heat-treated steel, aluminum alloy other light alloys are all raw materials for manufacturing robotic arms. However, judging the exhibition at this industrial expo, robotic arms made of carbon fiber composite materials will become a major trend in the production of robotic arms in the next few years. For example, there is a robotic arm that is 930mm long, 150mm wide, 5mm thick, weighs only 3kg.Carbon fiber robotic arms have certain difficulties in the molding process. However, based on a comprehensive comparison of factors such as specific gravity, strength, creep resistance cost price,carbon fiber robotic armsare becoming more more popular in replacing traditional metal robotic arms.

As a moving part, the robot arm generally has to complete various fixed future movements. The selection of materials determines the dynamic static functions of the robot arm. In particular, light materials are a good choice for manufacturing robot arms. Because the weight of the robot arm only affects its movement convenience, but also directly affects the energy consumption of driving the movement. The robot arm is moving needs to have good controllability, so it cannot be too bulky. The lighter the weight, the smaller the moment of inertia. this perspective, steel materials are heavy, more than 60% heavier than aluminum alloys. High-strength steel reaches 7.8g/cm3, aluminum also has 2.7g/cm3. Carbon fiber has a small specific gravity of only 1.75g/cm3, so the robot arm made of carbon fiber is the lightest of all materials at present, which can make the robot arm operation more flexible accurate.

Secondly, the robot arm cannot crack strain when receiving loads, which means that the materials used to make the robot arm must have sufficient strength, "high-strength materials" must be selected. In terms of absolute performance, aluminum is as good as steel. Even if it is very good aluminum, its absolute performance is still as good as steel in terms of modulus, strength toughness. The weight of aluminum alloy is between carbon fiber carbon steel. Its strength is lower than carbon fiber higher than carbon steel, but its toughness is lower lacks elasticity. The characteristics of carbon fiber are only light weight, but also higher strength. The current strength of carbon fiber composite materials is about 1400MPa, what about steel? Ordinary steel is only 600MPa. In terms of specific strength, carbon fiber is much higher than steel.

Furthermore, the working environment of the robot arm also puts forward corresponding requirements for the raw materials. For example, in a certain temperature difference, the metal will have a corresponding creep state. This creep seems to be negligible, but it still has a significant impact on the accuracy of the robot arm's operation. Carbon fiber is different ordinary steel aluminum alloys. It can maintain a small creep property between dozens of degrees below zero 200 degrees Celsius, so it can be used in different working environments.

In addition, an economic point of view, it seems that carbon fiber materials are much more expensive than aluminum alloys, but in actual use, raw materials to molding, the processing cost accounts for a larger proportion of the cost. According to recent market feedback, the cost price of the same type of aluminum alloy robot arm  carbon fiber robot arm is almost the same. Therefore, in terms of cost-effectiveness, carbon fiber robot arms will have a very broad application prospect.