EP0056703B1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Fibre-reinforced compositions and methods for producing such compositions
Assignee: Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd
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Filing: 1982-01-12
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Granted: 1987-03-11
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Expires: 2002-01-12
Abstract
Abstract Fibre-reinforced thermoplastic moulded articles comprising at least 30% by weight of reinforcing filaments are formed by injection moulding pellets cut to a length of 2 to 100mm from a thermoformable fibre-reinforced structure. The fibre-reinforced structure comprises a thermoplastic polymer and the reinforcing filaments, the filaments being aligned and having been wetted by a melt of the thermoplastic in a melt pultrusion process, in which the extent of wetting is at least 70%. In the moulded articles, the reinforcing filaments are present in the form of individually dispersed filaments and at least 50% by weight of which have a length of at least 2mm.
Inventors
- 👤 Frederic Neil Cogswell
- 👤 David John Hezzell
- 👤 Peter John Williams
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 17:30
CPC Classifications
B; B29; B29C; B29C70/00; B29C70/04; B29C70/06; B29C70/10; B29C70/16; B29C70/20; B29B; B29B15/00; B29B15/08; B29B15/10; B29B15/12; B29B15/122; B29B15/125; B29B9/00; B29B9/12; B29B9/14; B29C45/00; B29C45/0005; B29C70/28; B29C70/40; B29C70/50; B29C70/52; B29C70/521; B29K; B29K2059/00; B29K2067/00; B29K2071/00; B29K2077/00; B29K2081/00; B29K2101/00; B29K2101/12; B29K2105/00; B29K2105/06; B29K2105/12; B29K2105/14
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
80 words
A thermoformable, fibre reinforced structure comprising a thermoplastic polymer and at least 30% by volume of parallel aligned reinforcing filaments, for example carbon filaments of 7 micron diameter or glass filaments of up to 24 micron diameter, characterised in that the filaments have been wetted by molten thermoplastic polymer in a melt pultrusion process, so as to give a continuous structure having a longitudinal flexural modulus determined by ASTM D790-80 of at least 70% of the theoretical attainable flexural modulus.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
80 words
A thermoformable, fibre reinforced structure comprising a thermoplastic polymer and at least 30% by volume of parallel aligned reinforcing filaments, for example carbon filaments of 7 micron diameter or glass filaments of up to 24 micron diameter, characterised in that the filaments have been wetted by molten thermoplastic polymer in a melt pultrusion process, so as to give a continuous structure having a longitudinal flexural modulus determined by ASTM D790-80 of at least 70% of the theoretical attainable flexural modulus.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
A thermoformable fibre reinforced structure according to Claim 1 characterised in that the continuous structure has a longitudinal flexural modulus at least 90% of the theoretical attainable flexural modulus.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
39 words
A thermoformable fibre reinforced structure according to either of Claims 1 or 2 characterised in that the thermoplastic polymer used to set the filaments has a melt viscosity at zero shear rate of less than 100 N s/m2 .
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
32 words
Products according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 in which the molecular weight of the thermoplastic polymer has been increased after the filaments have been wetted by the thermoplastic polymer.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
20 words
A structure according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 in the form of a fibre-reinforced sheet or tape.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
A tape according to Claim 5 which has a thickness of between 0.05 mm and 0.5 mm.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
A woven product formed of a tape according to either of Claims 5 or 6 and having a width to thickness ratio of at least 10 to 1.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
68 words
A process of producing a fibre reinforced structure according to Claim 1 comprising drawing a plurality of continuous filaments through a melt of a thermoplastics polymer having a melt viscosity of less than 100 Ns/m 2 to wet the filaments with molten polymer, the filaments being aligned along the direction of draw and being drawn under tension over at least one spreader surface situated in the molten polymer.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
A process according to Claim 8 wherein the melt viscosity of the thermoplastics polymer is less than 30 N s/m 2 .
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
33 words
A process according to either of Claims 8 and 9 in which the spreader surface is heated to a temperature above the melting point of the thermoplastic polymer by an external heat input.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
96 words
A process of producing a fibre-reinforced structure according to Claim 1 comprising tensioning and aligning a plurality of continuous filaments to provide a band of contiguous filaments urging the band against a heated spreader surface so as to form a nip between the band and the spreader surface, as the band is pulled over the surface maintaining a feed of a thermoplastics polymer at the nip, the temperature of the spreader surface being sufficient high to give a polymer melt of viscosity capable of wetting the continuous filaments as they are urged against the spreader surface.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
26 words
A process according to Claim 11 wherein the melt viscosity of the polymer used to wet the filaments is less than 100 Ns/ m 2 .
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
24 words
A process according to either of Claim 11 or 12 in which the spreader surface is a fixed or rotatable cylindrical rod or roller.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
39 words
A process according to Claim 13 in which the spreader surface is a rotatable cylindrical rod or roller and is rotated in the direction of passage of the band at a speed up to the speed of the band.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
40 words
A process according to any one of Claims 11 to 14 in which an at least partially polymer impregnated fibre band is passed over at least one further heated spreader surface at which a further feed of polymer is supplied.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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