Fiber-reinforced composite material and process for producing fiber-reinforced composite material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10072130-B2
Application number	US-201214356534-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2012
Priority date	Nov 16, 2011
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

A fiber-reinforced composite material which comprises carbon fibers and a resin, wherein the carbon fibers have crimps and have been entangled and the fiber volume content is 30 to 80%. The fiber-reinforced composite material combines quasi-isotropy with a high fiber volume content and has little unevenness in mechanical property.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material comprising the steps of:
entangling a nonwoven fabric of crimped precursor carbon fibers to form an entangled nonwoven fabric;
compressing the entangled nonwoven fabric to form a compressed nonwoven fabric;
burning the compressed nonwoven fabric to form a burnt nonwoven fabric having a porosity of less than or equal to 1.20 times and more than or equal to 0.80 times a target resin volume content; and
impregnating the burnt nonwoven fabric with a resin to produce a fiber-reinforced composite material having a fiber volume content set to 30 to 80%.

2. The method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of subjecting the burnt nonwoven fabric to a treatment liquid with ultrasonic agitation so as to finish the carbon fiber surfaces before impregnating the burnt nonwoven fabric with a resin.

3. The method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material according to claim 1 , wherein a ratio of the fiber-reinforced composite material thickness after being impregnated with a resin to the burnt nonwoven fabric thickness before being impregnated with a resin, (after impregnation/before impregnation), is set to 0.5 to 1.2.

4. The method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the step of entangling the nonwoven fabric is performed by a needle punch method and/or a water jet entangling method.

5. The method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material according to claim 2 , wherein a ratio of the fiber-reinforced composite material thickness after being impregnated with a resin to the burnt nonwoven fabric thickness before being impregnated with a resin, (after impregnation/before impregnation), is set to 0.5 to 1.2.

6. The method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material according to claim 2 , wherein the step of entangling the nonwoven fabric is performed by a needle punch method and/or a water jet entangling method.

7. The method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material according to claim 3 , wherein the step of entangling the nonwoven fabric is performed by a needle punch method and/or a water jet entangling method.

8. The method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the crimped precursor carbon fibers are mechanically crimped.

9. A fiber-reinforced composite material produced by the method according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Toray Industries

Inventors

• Kajiwara Kentaro
• Shimoyama Satoru
• Horiguchi Tomoyuki

Classifications

• C08J2367/00

  Characterised by the use of polyesters obtained by reactions forming a carboxylic ester link in the main chain; Derivatives of such polymers · CPC title

• C08J2300/24

  Thermosetting resins · CPC title

• C08J2300/22

  Thermoplastic resins · CPC title

• C08K3/04 Primary

  Carbon · CPC title

• C08J2371/00

  Characterised by the use of polyethers obtained by reactions forming an ether link in the main chain; Derivatives of such polymers · CPC title