Manufacturing method and inspection method of tow prepreg

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10633500-B2
Application number	US-201715817361-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2017
Priority date	Dec 14, 2016
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

A manufacturing method of a tow prepreg, comprising: an impregnation process of impregnating a reinforcement fiber with an anhydrous epoxy resin to obtain a tow prepreg; and a process of irradiating a specific surface of the tow prepreg with laser beam to cure the epoxy resin on the specific surface.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A manufacturing method of a tow prepreg, comprising:
an impregnation process of impregnating a reinforcement fiber with an anhydrous epoxy resin to obtain a tow prepreg having a first surface on a front side and a second surface on a back side;
a process of irradiating only the first surface of the tow prepreg with a laser beam to cure the epoxy resin on the first surface to obtain a preliminarily cured tow prepreg in which the preliminarily cured tow prepreg retains flexibility to be wound, whereby denaturation of the anhydrous epoxy resin is suppressed, and
winding the preliminarily cured tow prepreg.

2. The manufacturing method of the tow prepreg according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a process of determining whether an impregnation rate of the epoxy resin in the tow prepreg obtained by the impregnation process is lower than a predetermined lower limit value, based on a spectrum of reflected light of the laser beam; and
a process of applying the epoxy resin on the second surface of the tow prepreg, when the impregnation rate of the epoxy resin is lower than the lower limit value.

3. The manufacturing method of the tow prepreg according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a process of determining whether an impregnation rate of the epoxy resin is higher than a predetermined upper limit value, based on a spectrum of reflected light of the laser beam, wherein
when the impregnation rate of the epoxy resin is higher than the upper limit value, the impregnation process decreases an amount of impregnation with the epoxy resin.

4. An inspection method of a tow prepreg, comprising:
an impregnation process of impregnating a reinforcement fiber with an epoxy resin to obtain a tow prepreg;
a process of irradiating a specific surface of the tow prepreg with laser beam; and
a process of determining whether an impregnation rate of the epoxy resin is within a predetermined range, based on an intensity ratio J 1 /J 0 ,
wherein a spectrum of reflected light of the laser beam includes wavelength W 0 and W 1 ,
wherein the intensity J 1 for wavelength W 1 is correlated to the mass of the epoxy resin included in the tow prepreg, and
the intensity of J 0 for wavelength W 0 is correlated to the mass of the reinforcement fibers of the tow prepreg.

5. The inspection method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a process of applying the epoxy resin on a rear face of the specific surface of the tow prepreg, when the impregnation rate of the epoxy resin is lower than a lower limit value of the range.

6. The inspection method according to claim 4 ,
wherein when the impregnation rate of the epoxy resin is higher than an upper limit value of the range, the impregnation process decreases an amount of impregnation with the epoxy resin.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Okamoto Yohei

Classifications

• B29C35/0266

  Local curing (for repairing B29C73/34) · CPC title

• B29C35/10

  for articles of indefinite length · CPC title

• B29C2035/0838

  using laser · CPC title

• C08J2363/00

  Characterised by the use of epoxy resins; Derivatives of epoxy resins · CPC title

• C08J3/24

  Crosslinking, e.g. vulcanising, of macromolecules (mechanical aspects B29C35/00; crosslinking agents C08K) · CPC title