Article of thermosetting epoxy resin composition and carbon fibre fabric, and reinforced structural component made therewith

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11161950-B2
Application number	US-201715847348-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2016
Publication date	Nov 2, 2021
Grant date	Nov 2, 2021

Abstract

The present invention relates to a self-adhesive article comprising a non-random fabric of bundles of carbon fibres and a thermosetting epoxy resin composition. The self-adhesive article exhibits high surface adhesion and excellent dimensional stability at room temperature. The self-adhesive article is ideally suited to reinforce structural components, particularly vehicles or ancillary vehicle components. The structural components reinforced by the self-adhesive article exhibit improved impact and torsional strength.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Article consisting of:
a first layer made of a non-random fabric of bundles of carbon fibres; and
a second layer consisting of a thermosetting epoxy resin composition, the thermosetting epoxy resin composition consisting of:
10-30 weight % of at least one epoxy resin having on average more than one epoxide group per molecule;
1-6 weight % of at least one hardener for the at least one epoxy resins which is activated by elevated temperature;
0-3 weight % of at least one accelerator;
10-50 weight % of at least one impact modifier; based on the total weight of the thermosetting epoxy resin composition, and the thermosetting epoxy resin composition is tacky at room temperature, and the second layer has a thickness of 0.4-2.5 mm; and
optionally at least one physical or chemical blowing agent.

2. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one physical or chemical blowing agent is present in the thermosetting epoxy resin composition.

3. The article according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one physical or chemical blowing agent is present in an amount of 0.01-3 weight % based on the total weight of the epoxy resin composition.

4. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the each bundle of the non-random fabric of bundles of carbon fibres is made of a plurality of continuous carbon fibres.

5. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the non-random fabric of bundles of carbon fibres is selected from the list of woven fabric, knitted fabric, braid fabric, unidirectional sheet and fabric of multi-axial sheet.

6. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the non-random fabric of bundles of carbon fibres is in unidirectional arrangement.

7. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the thermosetting epoxy resin composition has a viscosity at 80° C. of between 50-6000 Pa·s, the viscosity being determined by oscillographic methods by means of a rheometer with heatable plate under the following conditions: 1000 μm gap, measurement plate diameter: 25 mm plate/plate, deformation 0.01 at 5 Hz, and temperature: 80° C.

8. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the accelerator is selected from substituted ureas.

9. The article according to claim 8 , wherein the substituted ureas are selected from the group consisting of 3-(3-chloro-4-methylphenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (chlortoluron), p-chlorophenyl-N,N-dimethylurea (monuron), 3-phenyl-1,1-dimethylurea (fenuron), 3,4-dichlorophenyl-N,N-dimethylurea (diuron), N,N-dimethylurea, N-isobutyl-N′,N′-dimethylurea and 1,1′-(hexane-1,6-diyl)bis(3,3′-dimethylurea).

10. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer has a thickness of 0.10 to 0.80 mm.

11. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer is in direct contact with the second layer.

12. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer is at least partially embedded in the second layer.

13. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer is embedded in the second layer to less than 50% of the thickness of the first layer.

14. Method for reinforcing outer surfaces or hollow cavities of structural components, comprising the steps of
i) placing the article according to claim 1 onto the outer surfaces or into the hollow cavities of the structural components; and
ii) heating the article to a temperature of 140-220° C.

15. A reinforced article obtained from the method according to claim 14 .

16. The reinforced article according to claim 15 , wherein the reinforced article is a vehicle or an ancillary vehicle component.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the structural components being reinforced have thickness of 0.2-1.2 mm.

18. The article according to claim 1 , wherein the article is a strip, a sheet or a patch.

19. The article according to claim 1 , wherein after a surface of the thermosetting epoxy resin composition has been pressed with a thumb, exerting a pressure of 5 kg for 1 second, the thermosetting epoxy resin composition, which has an intrinsic weight of 50 g, can be lifted up for at least 5 seconds.

20. The article according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one epoxy resin having on average more than one epoxide group per molecule has a structure of formula (I):

where
R′″ and R″″ independently of one another are either H or CH 3 , and
r is from 0 to 1.

Assignees

• Sika Tech Ag

Inventors

• Hanley John
• Nix Beth
• Heidtman Patricia

Classifications

• C09J147/00 Primary

  Adhesives based on homopolymers or copolymers of compounds having one or more unsaturated aliphatic radicals, at least one having two or more carbon-to-carbon double bonds; Adhesives based on derivatives of such polymers (C09J145/00 takes precedence; based on conjugated diene rubbers C09J109/00 - C09J121/00) · CPC title

• C08J5/249

  characterised by the additives used in the prepolymer mixture · CPC title

• C08J5/243

  using carbon fibres · CPC title

• C08J5/042 Primary

  with carbon fibres · CPC title

• C08J5/10

  characterised by the additives used in the polymer mixture · CPC title