Fibers treated with polymerization compounds and fiber reinforced composites made therefrom

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10669402-B2
Application number	US-201816132637-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2018
Priority date	Jan 8, 2008
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

Methods of making fiber reinforced composite articles are described. The methods may include treating fibers with a sizing composition that includes a polymerization compound, and introducing the treated fibers to a pre-polymerized composition. The combination of the treated fibers and pre-polymerized composition may then undergo a temperature adjustment to a polymerization temperature at which the pre-polymerized composition polymerizes into a plastic around the fibers to form the fiber-reinforced composite article. Techniques for introducing the treated fibers to the pre-polymerized composition may include pultrusion, filament winding, reactive injection molding (RIM), structural reactive injection molding (SRIM), resin transfer molding (RTM), vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM), long fiber injection (LFI), sheet molding compound (SMC) molding, bulk molding compound (BMC) molding, a spray-up application, and/or a hand lay-up application, among other techniques.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A treated fiber for a fiber-reinforced composite article, the treated fiber comprising a fiber surface having a first polymerization compound non-covalently contacting the fiber surface, and a second polymerization compound covalently bonded to the fiber surface,
wherein the first polymerization compound has the formula:
R—X—(I) n

wherein n is an integer with a value of 1 to 5;
R comprises a terminal moiety selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen and a hydrocarbyl group,
X comprises a linking moiety that links the R moiety with one or more I moieties; and
(I) n comprises one or more polymerization initiator moieties, wherein each of the initiator moieties is capable of initiating a polymerization of one or more lactam monomers, and wherein each of the initiator moieties is the same or different, and

wherein the second polymerization compound has the formula:
S—X—(I) n

wherein S comprises a coupling moiety with one or more silicon-containing groups, and
n, X, and (I) n have the same definition as in the formula for the first polymerization compound, and n, X, and (I) n may be the same or different than those in the first polymerization compound.

2. The treated fiber of claim 1 , wherein the first polymerization compound on the fiber surface is exposed to a pre-polymerized composition that polymerizes to form a polymer matrix of the fiber-reinforced composite article.

3. The treated fiber of claim 2 , wherein the pre-polymerized composition comprises a lactam monomer.

4. The treated fiber of claim 2 , wherein the polymer matrix is a thermoplastic polymer matrix.

5. The treated fiber of claim 2 , wherein the treated fiber comprises glass fiber.

6. The treated fiber of claim 1 , wherein the X moiety is selected from the group consisting of an alkyl group, an aryl group, an alkene group, and an amine group.

7. The treated fiber of claim 1 , wherein the (I) n moieties are the same or different species of the polymerization initiator moiety having the formula:

where R represents a C 3 to C 12 substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon chain.

8. The treated fiber of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the (I) n moieties has the formula:

9. The treated fiber of claim 1 , wherein the first initiator-precursor comprises ethyl benzoate.

10. The treated fiber of claim 1 , wherein the second initiator-precursor comprises sodium caprolactam.

Assignees

• Johns Manville

Inventors

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

Classifications

• Y02P70/523

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• C08J5/08

  glass fibres · CPC title

• B29L2031/085

  Wind turbine blades · CPC title

• C07F7/1804

  Compounds having Si-O-C linkages (Si-O-acyl linkages C07F7/1896) · CPC title

• C03C13/00

  Fibre or filament compositions (manufacture of fibres or filaments C03B37/00) · CPC title