Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08J—WORKING-UP; GENERAL PROCESSES OF COMPOUNDING; AFTER-TREATMENT NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C08B, C08C, C08F, C08G or C08H
  • C08J5/00—Manufacture of articles or shaped materials containing macromolecular substances
  • C08J5/04—Reinforcing macromolecular compounds with loose or coherent fibrous material

Definitions

• the invention concerns the impregnation of fibres reinforcement with polymer material.
• fibres reinfor ⁇ cement encompasses filaments, fibres or tows of filaments 01 fibres, mats of filaments or fibres or cloths prepared by weaving, knitting, laying-up or the like such filaments, fibres or tows, for use as reinforcement of a polymer mate ⁇ rial.
• thermosetting polymer material with fibres reinforcement to form articles is more extensive than the use of fibres reinforced thermoplastics materials despite the fact that the advantages of using a thermoplastics material are well known.
• the known precursors tend to be inflexible and difficult to handle in moulding processes - the stiffness of the impregnated fibres reinforcement making them difficult to drape - that is to say difficult to conform to the shape of any mould in which they are placed.
• One aspect of the invention provides a method of impregnating fibres reinforcement with polymer material 25 including the steps of: mixing the polymer material in • particle form with a liquid in which the polymer material does not dissolve to form a dispersion; and impregnating the fibres reinforcement with the dispersion.
• the polymer material is a thermoplastics material and the dispersent therfor has a boiling point below the glass transition temperature of the thermoplastics material.
• the polymer material may be an aromatic polymer material selected from the group comprising: polysulphone, polyethersulphone, polyetheretherketone, polyetherketone, polyetherimide, polystyrene, polyphenelene sulphide and a polyamide.
• the dispersent is water.
• the oarti ⁇ le size of the polymer material is
• a second aspect of the invention provides a reinforced polymer material made in accordance with of any of the methods noted above.
• a third aspect of the invention provides an article and/or structure made from a fibres reinforced polymer material as noted above.
• the impregnation of the fibres reinforcement in the liquid dispersent may be by immersion of the fibres rein ⁇ forcement therein with together, if necessary, mechanical agitation, kneading or the like.
• Drying of the fibres reinforcement after impregnation may be effected by evaporarion at room temperature, median- ical drying or by heating to a temperature below the glass transition temperature of the polymer material.
• the impregnated fibres reinfor- cement may be dried rapidly in an oven at a temperature below the glass transition temperature of the polymer o material - say 75 to 150 C if the polymer material is polyethersulphone.
• the impregnated fibres reinforcement (either taken dir- ectly from the dispersion or after partial drying) may read ⁇ ily be laid up in a mould.
• the liquid dispersent is not a solvent for the particular polymer material ⁇ the particles of polymer material in the fibre's reinforcement remain relatively mobile enabling the fibres reinforcement to be easily “draped” in a mould.
• the impregnated fibres reinforcement be completely dry (that is to say with all the liquid dispersant driven off) it is possible for the impregnated fibres reinforcement to be re-wetted, e.g. by spraying with the dispersent, should it be necessary to enable it to be readily "draped”.
• Pultrusion, filament winding spraying and impreg ⁇ nation of knitted or woven shapes may also readily be accom ⁇ plished with the present invention.
• the dispersion of the polymer material may contain any thermosetting or thermoplastics material; however, we have found that the process is of particular advantage with polymer materials such as polysulphone, polyethersulphone, polyetheretherketone, polyetherketone, polyetherimide, poly ⁇ styrene, polyphenelene sulphide, polyamides or other thermo ⁇ plastics material obtainable in fine powder form.
• polymer materials such as polysulphone, polyethersulphone, polyetheretherketone, polyetherketone, polyetherimide, poly ⁇ styrene, polyphenelene sulphide, polyamides or other thermo ⁇ plastics material obtainable in fine powder form.
• water is described as the preferred dispersent it will be appreciated that any other liquid which is not a solvent for the polymer material may be used, for example, various different forms of Freeon may be used either alone or in combination.
• the invention is of particular advantage when used with the particular polymer materials recited it will be appreciated that the methods described herein are utilisable with any polymer material having a particle size enabling it to form a dispersion and in that form be impregnated into fibres reinforcement.
• the maximum particle size will, it will be appreciated, vary in accordance with the polymer used and the physical size of essential requirement is that the size of the majority of the particles be sufficiently small to permit the particles of the polymer to fully pass into the interstices of the fibres reinforcement.
• all the polymer material be of a size enabling it to percolate between the fibres of the reinforcement, that is to say that all the particles in the dispersion be below the (critical) maximum • size for the fibres reinforcement being used - typically 5 Microns for commercially available glass, carbon or quartz fibres - however, in some appli ⁇ atons it is possible that a proportion of the polymer particles in the dispersion may be above that critical size - providing always that there are sufficient particles in the dispersion below that critical size to enable the fibres reinforcement to be impregnated to the level deired in the particular application under consideration.
• the fibre's to be impregnated by the methods disclosed in this specification must not have been heavily pre-treated (e.g. sized) to an extent preventing the dispersion entering the interstices of the fibres. If in fact the fibres reinforcement have been so pre-treated it is necessary for them to be cleaned before they are impregnated by the methods disclosed herein.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Medicinal Chemistry (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Reinforced Plastic Materials (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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• 1984
  • 1984-12-07 GB GB848430949A patent/GB8430949D0/en active Pending
• 1985
  • 1985-12-06 GB GB08530124A patent/GB2168361A/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1985-12-06 WO PCT/GB1985/000558 patent/WO1986003449A1/en unknown
  • 1985-12-06 EP EP19860900182 patent/EP0203985A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1985-12-06 AU AU52356/86A patent/AU5235686A/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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