Flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand, flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand sheet, and method of manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10144184-B2
Application number	US-201414904247-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2014
Priority date	Jul 12, 2013
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

Provided is a flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand which is produced by curing a twisted resin-impregnated strand and has no disturbed fiber orientation, and a flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand sheet which is produced by using said flat fiber-reinforced plastic strands. According to a method of manufacturing the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand 2 , (a) a twisted resin-impregnated strand f 2 in an uncured state, the strand including a plurality of reinforcing fibers f, is fed in a state of tension between a pair of heated steel belts 41 A and 41 B facing each other and making rotation movements; and (b) the resin-impregnated strand f 2 is sandwiched and heated by the steel belts 41 A and 41 B, and pressurized from both sides of the strand f 2 to form a cross section of the strand into a flat shape, and, with the shape being kept, a resin is cured and cooled.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand by a forming and curing device comprising an upper belt device and a lower belt device which are symmetrically arranged in a vertical direction, wherein each of said upper belt device and said lower belt device comprises:
a heating and pressurizing roller having an electric heater inside said heating and pressurizing roller for heating thereof,
a cooling and pressurizing roller having cooling water piping inside said cooling and pressurizing roller for cooling thereof,
a steel belt wound around said heating and pressurizing roller and said cooling and pressurizing roller to make a rotation movement, and
a pressurizing roller arranged so as to be situated inside said steel belt rotatably moved and between said heating and pressurizing roller and said cooling roller,
the method comprising:
(a) feeding a twisted resin-impregnated strand in an uncured state, the strand including a plurality of reinforcing fibers, in a state of tension between the steel belts of the upper and lower belt devices and making rotation movements, the steel belts of the upper and lower belt devices facing each other and each steel belt being heated to a temperature in the range of 130° C. to 180° C. by the heating and pressurizing roller;
(b) sandwiching and heating the resin-impregnated strand by the heated steel belts, and pressurizing the resin-impregnated strand by the heated steel belts from both sides of the strand to form a cross section of the strand into a flat shape, a gap between the heated steel belts being set by hoisting-and-lowering devices to obtain said flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand having a thickness in the range of 0.2 to 5.0 mm; and
(c) with the shape of the strand being kept, curing and cooling the resin of the resin-impregnated strand by the steel belts, each steel belt being cooled to a temperature in the range of 5° C. to 20° C. by the cooling and pressurizing roller.

2. The method of manufacturing the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand according to claim 1 , wherein the number of twists of the resin-impregnated strand is from 5 twists/m to 30 twists/m.

3. The method of manufacturing the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand according to claim 1 , wherein the resin-impregnated strand is tensioned with a force of 500 g/piece to 10 kg/piece.

4. The method of manufacturing the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand according to claim 1 , wherein a release agent is continuously or periodically applied to the steel belts which make rotation movements, and the steel belts are further heated to bake said release agent onto the steel belts.

5. The method of manufacturing the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand according to claim 4 , wherein a surface of the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand produced in the step (b) is separated and sent out from the steel belts, said separated flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand is ground or washed with a solvent to remove a release agent which adheres to the surface.

6. A method of manufacturing a flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand, the method comprising:
(a) feeding a twisted resin-impregnated strand in an uncured state, the strand including a plurality of reinforcing fibers, in a state of tension between a pair of heated steel belts facing each other and making rotation movements; and
(b) sandwiching and heating the resin-impregnated strand by the steel belts, and pressurizing the resin-impregnated strand from both sides of the strand to form a cross section of the strand into a flat shape, and, with the shape being kept, curing and cooling the resin,
wherein a release agent is continuously or periodically applied to the steel belts which make rotation movements, and wherein the steel belts are further heated to bake said release agent onto the steel belts.

7. The method of manufacturing the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand according to claim 6 , wherein a surface of the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand produced in the step (b) is separated and sent out from the steel belts, said separated flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand is ground or washed with a solvent to remove a release agent which adheres to the surface.

Assignees

• Nippon Steel & Sumikin Mat Co

Inventors

• Miyao Makiji
• Kobayashi Akira
• Arazoe Masaki
• TATEISHI Akihiro

Classifications

• D10B2101/12

  Carbon; Pitch · CPC title

• B29K2995/0097

  Thickness · CPC title

• B29C70/504 Primary

  using rollers or pressure bands (for corrugating B29C53/22) · CPC title

• B29C71/0009

  using liquids, e.g. solvents, swelling agents (spectacle cases, e.g. for cleaning contact lenses A45C11/04; disinfecting or sterilising contact lenses A61L12/00, using liquid substances A61L2/20; cleaning involving the use of liquid in general B08B3/00; for hydrating contact lenses B29D11/00067) · CPC title

• B29C70/56

  Tensioning reinforcements before or during shaping · CPC title