Method of forming a multi-component reinforced composite

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10065377-B2
Application number	US-201514844573-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2015
Priority date	Dec 22, 2011
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

Methods of forming multi-component reinforced composites are described. The methods may include forming a particle-reinforced component and a polymer-containing component where the particle-reinforced component and the polymer-containing component are in contact with one another. The particle reinforced component may be formed by a process that includes providing reactive particles that have a reactive polymerization promoter chemically bonded or coated on the surface of the reactive particles and contacting the reactive particles with a resin solution that includes monomers of a polymer. The polymerization promoter chemically bonded or coated on the surface of the reactive particles may promote the polymerization of the monomers. The resin solution may subsequently be polymerized forming a polymer matrix around the reactive particles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a multi-component reinforced composite, the method comprising:
forming a particle-reinforced component in a mold, wherein the particle-reinforced component is formed by a first process comprising:
contacting reactive particles in the mold with a first resin comprising first monomers of a first polymer, wherein:
the reactive particles have a reactive polymerization promoter chemically bonded or coated on a surface of the reactive particles, and
the reactive polymerization promoter promotes polymerization of the first monomers; and

polymerizing the first resin to form a thermoplastic polymer matrix around the reactive particles and form the particle-reinforced component; and

forming a layer of a polymer-containing component in contact with the particle-reinforced component, wherein the layer of the polymer-containing component in contact with the particle-reinforced component is formed by a second process comprising:
contacting the particle-reinforced component with a second resin comprising second monomers of a second polymer; and
polymerizing the second resin in the mold to form the polymer-containing component, wherein:
the polymer-containing component comprises a thermoset polymer,
polymerizing the second resin occurs during contact with the particle-reinforced component, and
the layer of the polymer-containing component surrounds a core comprising the particle-reinforced component.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive polymerization promoter comprises a polymerization initiator that initiates polymerization of caprolactam monomers, and wherein the first resin comprises caprolactam monomers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first resin further comprises a polymerization catalyst.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive polymerization promoter comprises a polymerization catalyst that catalyzes polymerization of cyclic 1,4-butylene terephthalate (CBT) into polybutylene terephthalate (PBT).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive particles comprise glass fibers or glass flakes sized with a sizing composition comprising the reactive polymerization promoter.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises activating the reactive polymerization promoter on the surface of the reactive particles.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first process is a thermoset process selected from the group consisting of reactive injection molding, structural reactive injection molding, resin transfer molding, vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding, reactive long fiber injection molding, reactive sheet molding compound, and reactive bulk molding compound.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particle-reinforced component comprises a polyamide.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the particle-reinforced component further comprises injecting a foam into the mold.

10. A method of making a glass reinforced composite, the method comprising:
forming a glass-reinforced component, wherein the glass-reinforced component is formed by a first process comprising:
contacting glass fibers with a thermoplastic resin comprising first monomers of a first polymer, wherein:
the glass fibers have a reactive polymerization promoter chemically bonded or coated on a surface of the glass fibers, and
the reactive polymerization promoter promotes polymerization of the first monomers; and

polymerizing the thermoplastic resin to form a polymer matrix around the glass fibers and form the glass-reinforced component; and

forming a polymer-containing component in contact with the glass-reinforced component, wherein the polymer-containing component is formed by a second process comprising:
contacting the glass-reinforced component with a thermoset resin comprising second monomers of a second polymer;
polymerizing the thermoset resin to form the polymer-containing component, wherein:
polymerizing the thermoset resin occurs during contact with the glass-reinforced component, and
the polymer-containing component surrounds the glass-reinforced component.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein forming the glass-reinforced component further comprises injecting a foam into a mold.

Assignees

• Johns Manville

Inventors

• Tadepalli Rajappa
• Gleich Klaus Friedrich
• Asrar Jawed
• Alavi Kiarash

Classifications

• B29K2105/0002

  monomers or prepolymers · CPC title

• B29C70/48

  and impregnating the reinforcements in the closed mould, e.g. resin transfer moulding [RTM] {, e.g. by vacuum} · CPC title

• C08G69/08

  derived from amino-carboxylic acids · CPC title

• B29C70/04

  comprising reinforcements only, e.g. self-reinforcing plastics · CPC title

• B29C44/02

  for articles of definite length, i.e. discrete articles · CPC title