A system for locating a strand including fibers of a first woven preform material, the preform including, at the surface, strands of fibers of a second material and the strand including fibers of the first material forming a tracer. The system further includes a camera; a light source emitting a non-polarized incident beam configured to be directed towards the preform; a polarizer configured to polarize the non-polarized incident beam before interacting with the preform in order to obtain a polarized incident beam; and a crossed analyzer; the first material being chosen from among glass, aramid and aluminum oxide; the second material being chosen from among carbon and silicon carbide; the camera being configured to film a reflected beam originating from the interaction of the polarized incident beam with the preform, the reflected beam having previously crossed the crossed analyzer, so as to locate the tracer of the preform.

A method for decorative molding capable of reducing a preparation time at the time of replacing a mold and expecting improvement in positioning accuracy of a decorative pattern in a molded article includes supplying a film on which a decorative pattern is formed between a first mold and a second mold in a mold open state of a mold, imaging a mold-side alignment mark recorded in the mold and a film-side alignment mark recorded in the film by a camera, positioning the film with respect to the mold by moving the film so that the film-side alignment mark comes close to the mold-side alignment mark, injecting resin into the mold in a mold closed state in which the film is sandwiched between the first mold and the second mold and cooling the resin to form a molded article and opening the mold and taking out the molded article in which the decorative pattern of the film is transferred to the surface.

A method for decorative molding capable of reducing a preparation time at the time of replacing a mold and expecting improvement in positioning accuracy of a decorative pattern in a molded article includes supplying a film on which a decorative pattern is formed between a first mold and a second mold in a mold open state of a mold, imaging a mold-side alignment mark recorded in the mold and a film-side alignment mark recorded in the film by a camera, positioning the film with respect to the mold by moving the film so that the film-side alignment mark comes close to the mold-side alignment mark, injecting resin into the mold in a mold closed state in which the film is sandwiched between the first mold and the second mold and cooling the resin to form a molded article and opening the mold and taking out the molded article in which the decorative pattern of the film is transferred to the surface.

A system for locating a strand including fibers of a first woven preform material, the preform including, at the surface, strands of fibers of a second material and the strand including fibers of the first material forming a tracer. The system further includes a camera; a light source emitting a non-polarized incident beam configured to be directed towards the preform; a polarizer configured to polarize the non-polarized incident beam before interacting with the preform in order to obtain a polarized incident beam; and a crossed analyzer; the first material being chosen from among glass, aramid and aluminum oxide; the second material being chosen from among carbon and silicon carbide; the camera being configured to film a reflected beam originating from the interaction of the polarized incident beam with the preform, the reflected beam having previously crossed the crossed analyzer, so as to locate the tracer of the preform.