Reinforcement member comprising a structural adhesive on a polyester carrier

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11787977-B2
Application number	US-202117477247-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2021
Priority date	Mar 25, 2015
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

The invention relates to a reinforcement member comprising a heatcurable structural adhesive on a carrier member, wherein the carrier member comprises a fiber-reinforced polyester material. The invention further relates to a method to produce such a reinforcement member and its use.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A reinforcement member comprising:
a foamable heat curable structural adhesive on an outer surface of a carrier member, the foamable heat curable structural adhesive foaming to not more than about 400% of its original unexpanded volume, wherein the carrier member has a cross-section that does not comprise a constant thickness over its entire extension;
wherein at least 90 wt.-% of the carrier member is composed of a fiber-reinforced polyester material having a degree of crystallinity of at least 60% and the content of fibers is within the range of about 20-70 wt.-% relative to the total weight of the fiber-reinforced polyester material; and
wherein the foamable heat curable structural adhesive forms a non-uniform coating along the carrier member having a thickness of from 0.1 mm to 3 mm so that an outer shape of the reinforcement member differs from an outer shape of the carrier member, whereby the foamable heat curable structural adhesive forms a seamless connection to the carrier member.

2. The reinforcement member of claim 1 , wherein the foamable heat curable structural adhesive is overmolded to the carrier member after formation of the carrier member.

3. The reinforcement member of claim 2 , wherein the reinforcement member has a hollow structure.

4. The reinforcement member of claim 3 , wherein the fibers are associated into bundles and the fibers have an average length in the range of about 100±50 μm.

5. The reinforcement member of claim 4 , wherein the foamable heat curable structural adhesive foams to not more than about 300% of its original unexpanded volume.

6. The reinforcement member of claim 5 , wherein the foamable heat curable structural adhesive foams to not more than about 200% of its original unexpanded volume.

7. The reinforcement member of claim 6 , wherein the content of the fibers in the fiber-reinforced polyester material is within the range of about 40-50 wt.-% relative to the total weight of the fiber-reinforced polyester material.

8. The reinforcement member of claim 7 , wherein the carrier member has an E-modulus of at least about 15 Gpa that is maintained independent of relative humidity of the ambient air.

9. The reinforcement member of claim 1 , wherein the fiber-reinforced polyester material includes a first polyester and a second polyester.

10. The reinforcement member of claim 9 , wherein the fibers are elongated carbon fibers.

11. The reinforcement member of claim 10 , wherein the first polyester is polybutylene terephthalate (PBT).

12. The reinforcement member of claim 11 , wherein the second polyester is polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

13. The reinforcement member of claim 1 , wherein the foamable heat curable structural adhesive is a coating of the fiber-reinforced polyester material.

14. The reinforcement member of claim 13 , wherein the foamable heat curable structure adhesive covers at least about 50% of the outer surface of the carrier member.

15. The reinforcement member of claim 9 , wherein the relative weight ratio of the first polyester to the second polyester is within the range of from about 1:10 to about 10:1.

16. The reinforcement member of claim 15 , wherein the first polyester, the second polyester, or both comprise recycled polyester.

17. The reinforcement member of claim 10 , wherein the fibers are substantially uniaxial particles.

18. The reinforcement member of claim 9 , wherein the fibers are glass fibers.

19. The reinforcement member of claim 8 , wherein the E-modulus is not moisture sensitive.

20. The reinforcement member of claim 1 , wherein at least 99 wt.-% of the carrier member is composed of the fiber-reinforced polyester material.

Assignees

• Zephyros Inc

Inventors

• Chopin Eric

Classifications

• C09J2301/122

  the adhesive layer being present only on one side of the carrier, e.g. single-sided adhesive tape · CPC title

• C09J7/255 Primary

  Polyesters · CPC title

• C09J2463/00

  Presence of epoxy resin · CPC title

• C08J2367/02

  Polyesters derived from dicarboxylic acids and dihydroxy compounds; (C08J2367/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C08L67/02

  Polyesters derived from dicarboxylic acids and dihydroxy compounds (C08L67/06 takes precedence) · CPC title