Die and method for impregnating fiber rovings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9346222-B2
Application number	US-201114111025-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2011
Priority date	Apr 12, 2011
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A die and a method for impregnating fiber rovings ( 142 ) with a polymer resin ( 214 ) are disclosed. The die includes a manifold assembly ( 220 ), an impregnation zone, and a gate passage ( 270 ). The manifold assembly flows the resin ( 214 ) therethrough, and includes a plurality of branched runners ( 222 ). The impregnation zone is in fluid communication with the manifold assembly, and is configured to impregnate the roving with the resin. The gate passage ( 270 ) is between the manifold assembly and the impregnation zone ( 250 ), and flows the resin from the manifold assembly such that the resin coats the roving. The method includes flowing a polymer resin through a manifold assembly. The method further includes coating at least one fiber roving with the resin, and traversing the coated roving through an impregnation zone to impregnate the roving with the resin. The roving is under a tension of from about 5 Newtons to about 300 Newtons within the impregnation zone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A die for impregnating at least one fiber roving with a polymer resin, the die comprising:
a manifold assembly for flowing the resin therethrough, the manifold assembly comprising a plurality of branched runners;
an impregnation zone in fluid communication with the manifold assembly, the impregnation zone configured to impregnate the roving with the resin; and
a gate passage between the manifold assembly and the impregnation zone for flowing the resin from the manifold assembly such that the resin coats the roving, the entire gate passage extending vertically between the manifold assembly and the impregnation zone, the entire gate passage having a constantly decreasing cross-sectional profile in a flow direction of the resin.

2. The die of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of branched runners have a symmetrical orientation along a central axis.

3. The die of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of branched runners comprises a first branched runner group.

4. The die of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of branched runners further comprises a second branched runner group diverging from the first branched runner group.

5. The die of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of branched runners further comprises a third branched runner group diverging from the second branched runner group.

6. The die of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of branched runners is curvilinear.

7. The die of claim 1 , wherein the manifold assembly defines an outlet region, and wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of branched runners disposed in the outlet region has an increasing area in a flow direction of the resin.

8. The die of claim 1 , wherein the manifold assembly defines an outlet region, and wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of branched runners disposed in the outlet region has a curvilinear cross-sectional profile.

9. The die of claim 1 , wherein the manifold assembly defines an outlet region, and wherein each of the plurality of branched runners disposed in the outlet region is positioned such that resin flowing therefrom is discrete from resin flowing from others of the plurality of branched runners disposed in the outlet region.

10. The die of claim 1 , wherein the manifold assembly defines an outlet region, wherein each of the plurality of branched runners disposed in the outlet region is positioned such that resin flowing therefrom is combined with resin flowing from others of the plurality of branched runners disposed in the outlet region.

11. The die of claim 1 , wherein the impregnation zone comprises a plurality of contact surfaces.

12. The die of claim 11 , wherein the impregnation zone comprises between 2 and 50 contact surfaces.

13. The die of claim 11 , Wherein each of the plurality of contact surfaces comprises a curvilinear contact surface.

14. The die of claim 11 , wherein each of the plurality of contact surfaces is configured such that the roving traverses the contact surface at an angle in the range between 1 degree and 30 degrees.

15. The die of claim 1 , wherein the impregnation zone has a waveform cross-sectional profile.

16. The die of claim 1 , further comprising a land zone downstream of the impregnation zone in a run direction of the roving.

17. The die of claim 16 , wherein at least a portion of the land zone has an increasing cross-sectional profile in the run direction.

18. The die of claim 1 , further comprising a faceplate adjoining the impregnation zone, the faceplate configured to meter excess resin within the roving.

19. The die of claim 1 , wherein the resin is a thermoplastic resin.

20. The die of claim 1 , wherein the resin is a thermoset resin.

21. The die of claim 1 , wherein the manifold assembly is disposed above the impregnation zone along the vertical direction such that the flow direction of the resin through the gate passage is vertically downward.

22. A method for impregnating at least one fiber roving with a polymer resin, the method comprising:
flowing a polymer resin through a manifold assembly, the manifold assembly comprising a plurality of branched runners;
flowing the resin from the manifold assembly vertically through a gate passage, wherein the entire gate passage has a constantly decreasing cross-sectional profile in a flow direction of the resin;
coating at least one fiber roving with the resin; and
traversing the coated roving through an impregnation zone to impregnate the roving with the resin, wherein the roving is under a tension of from about 5 Newtons to about 300 Newtons within the impregnation zone.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of branched runners have a symmetrical orientation along a central axis.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein flowing the resin through the manifold assembly comprises flowing the resin through an outlet region of the manifold assembly, and wherein at least a portion of each of the plurality of branched runners disposed in the outlet region has an increasing area in a flow direction of the resin.

25. The method of claim 22 , wherein the roving traverses from the impregnation zone through a land zone, the land zone positioned downstream of the impregnation zone in a run direction of the roving.

26. The method of claim 22 , further comprising coating a plurality of rovings with the resin and traversing the coated rovings through the impregnation zone.

Assignees

• Tibor Timothy L
• Regan Timothy A
• Johnson Aaron H
• Ticona Llc

Inventors

• Tibor Timothy L
• Regan Timothy A
• Johnson Aaron H

Classifications

• B05D1/265

  Extrusion coatings · CPC title

• B29C48/305

  having a wide opening, e.g. for forming sheets · CPC title

• B29C70/526

  Pultrusion dies, e.g. dies with moving or rotating parts (B29C70/523 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29C70/523 Primary

  and impregnating the reinforcement in the die · CPC title

• B05C3/125

  the work being a web, band, strip or the like · CPC title