There is no report on the process analysis of high-performance thermoplastic composites heated by a pulse xenon lamp. In view of this problem

the effects of prepreg surface roughness

voltage

pulse width and heat source moving speed on the surface heating temperature of thermoplastic prepreg were studied by single factor test and response surface method. The results show that the smaller the surface roughness is

the more stable the heating temperature is

and the greater the surface roughness is

the greater the heating temperature fluctuations are. The heating temperature increases with the increase of voltage but decreases with the increase of pulse width and speed. For CF/PEEK prepregs

the optimal process parameters are obtained by the response surface method. The voltage

pulse width

speed

frequency

and the distance between lamp and prepreg are 221 V

2 ms

125 mm/s

60 Hz and 10 mm

respectively. In such conditions

the heating temperature is 381 ℃ and the resin melted sufficiently.