Production method for prepreg, and production method for fiber-reinforced composite material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11208535-B2
Application number	US-201816494825-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2018
Priority date	Mar 22, 2017
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

The invention enhances the production efficiency in the production of prepreg by allowing the arrangement property and rectilinearity of reinforcing fibers to be well maintained, allowing the basis weight uniformity of an applied resin to be good, and further allowing a high line speed and suppression of contamination in the process to be achieved. The invention provides a method of producing a prepreg, which includes: discharging a molten resin from a discharge portion; introducing the discharged resin by an air flow; and capturing the discharged resin on a reinforcing fiber sheet conveyed continuously, wherein a key point is that the discharged resin is captured in a region in which the reinforcing fiber sheet is conveyed substantially in planar form.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of producing a prepreg, comprising: discharging a molten resin from a discharge portion; introducing the discharged resin by an air flow; and capturing said discharged resin on a reinforcing fiber sheet conveyed continuously, wherein said discharged resin is captured in a region in which said reinforcing fiber sheet is conveyed substantially in planar form and is supported so as not to curve in the longitudinal direction at the resin capture region.

2. The method of producing a prepreg according to claim 1 , wherein said discharged resin is formed into a fibrous form and then captured on said reinforcing fiber sheet.

3. The method of producing a prepreg according to claim 1 , wherein a coating height H from said reinforcing fiber sheet to said discharge portion is 1 to 100 mm.

4. The method of producing a prepreg according to claim 1 , wherein said discharged resin is captured on both faces of said reinforcing fiber sheet, using at least two heads for discharging the resin.

5. The method of producing a prepreg according to claim 1 , wherein two or more resins, differing in composition and/or viscosity, are discharged.

6. The method of producing a prepreg according to claim 4 , wherein said resin captured on one face of said reinforcing fiber sheet is a different resin, in terms of composition and/or viscosity, from said resin captured on the other face.

7. The method of producing a prepreg according to claim 1 , wherein said discharged resin is captured and then used for impregnation.

8. A method of producing a fiber reinforced composite material, comprising: obtaining a prepreg by the method of producing a prepreg according to claim 1 ; and then curing said prepreg.

Assignees

• Toray Industries

Inventors

• Ochi Takashi
• Aoki Junichi
• Yamashita Takaaki

Classifications

• B29C70/50

  for producing articles of indefinite length, e.g. prepregs, sheet moulding compounds [SMC] or cross moulding compounds [XMC] · CPC title

• B29C70/0035

  comprising two or more matrix materials · CPC title

• B29B15/105 Primary

  of reinforcement of definite length with a matrix in solid form, e.g. powder, fibre or sheet form (calendering B29C70/506) · CPC title

• C08J5/243 Primary

  using carbon fibres · CPC title

• C08J2381/06

  Polysulfones; Polyethersulfones · CPC title