GB2259666A - Pultruding at locations sequentially across the article width - Google Patents

Pultruding at locations sequentially across the article width Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2259666A
GB2259666A GB9120007A GB9120007A GB2259666A GB 2259666 A GB2259666 A GB 2259666A GB 9120007 A GB9120007 A GB 9120007A GB 9120007 A GB9120007 A GB 9120007A GB 2259666 A GB2259666 A GB 2259666A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
die
article
pultruding
width
final form
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB9120007A
Other versions
GB9120007D0 (en
Inventor
Joseph Fray
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
BAE Systems PLC
Original Assignee
British Aerospace PLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by British Aerospace PLC filed Critical British Aerospace PLC
Priority to GB9120007A priority Critical patent/GB2259666A/en
Publication of GB9120007D0 publication Critical patent/GB9120007D0/en
Publication of GB2259666A publication Critical patent/GB2259666A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C70/00—Shaping composites, i.e. plastics material comprising reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts
    • B29C70/04—Shaping composites, i.e. plastics material comprising reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts comprising reinforcements only, e.g. self-reinforcing plastics
    • B29C70/28—Shaping operations therefor
    • B29C70/40—Shaping or impregnating by compression not applied
    • B29C70/50—Shaping or impregnating by compression not applied for producing articles of indefinite length, e.g. prepregs, sheet moulding compounds [SMC] or cross moulding compounds [XMC]
    • B29C70/52—Pultrusion, i.e. forming and compressing by continuously pulling through a die
    • B29C70/525—Component parts, details or accessories; Auxiliary operations
    • B29C70/526—Pultrusion dies, e.g. dies with moving or rotating parts

Abstract

The die (1) comprises a pair of opposed die halves (2, 3) spaced at a pre-determined gap from one another to allow an article (7) being formed to pass therebetween in a longitudinal direction whilst extending laterally outside the die (1) through the said gap, with means to open and close the die halves (2, 3) and means to draw the article (7) through the die (1). The method includes the steps of engaging a transverse portion of the width of the article (7) with the die (1), pultruding to final form this portion and sequentially engaging further adjacent transverse portions of the article with the die and pultruding them in turn to final form. The dies have entry tapers (18, 19) for compressing the material. <IMAGE>

Description

PULTRUSION OF FIBRE REINFORCED PLASTICS MATERIALS This invention relates to pultrusion of fibre reinforced plastics materials and in particular, although not exclusively, to pultrusion of partly formed lengths of fibre reinforced plastics material.
It is known to finish-form lengths of pre-impregnated fibre reinforced plastics material by pultrusion using a final forming die. Such material, known as 'pre-preg', often comprises reinforcing fibres extending longitudinally of the article, or formed in a woven or unwoven mat and covered with plastics material. The reinforcing fibrous material is usually glass, aramid or carbon fibres. The plastics material covering the fibre reinforcement is usually a thermoplastic or a resinous material such as a thermosetting resin. The fibre may be impregnated with the plastics material, or the plastics material may be in a fibrous or other form intermingled with the reinforcing fibre.
The finish-forming technique described above can only be used for articles having a relatively narrow lateral width in order to allow the die to fully surround the article during pultrusion. This limitation has meant to date that in the production of aircraft structural members for example only relatively narrow members such as floor beams or stringer sections have been manufactured in this way.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method to allow pultrusion finishforming of part formed lengths of fibre-reinforced plastics material of considerably increased width over those formed in this manner to date.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a die for pultruding part-formed lengths of fibre reinforced plastics material, the die having a pair of opposed forming surfaces spaced at a pre-determined gap from one another to allow an article being formed to pass therebetween in a longitudinal direction whilst extending laterally beyond the die through the said gap.
The die according to the invention thus allows pultrusion of lengths of material which may be considerably wider than the die.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of step pultruding to final form a part formed fibre reinforced plastics article of width greater than that of a die through which the article passes, the method including the steps of engaging a portion of the width of the article with the die, pultruding to final form said portion and moving the article laterally across the die to engage a second portion of the width of the article with the die and pultruding same to final form.
An article of width greater than the die may thus be pultruded to final form in a series of pultrusion steps moving across the width of the article step by step until the whole article has been pultruded to final form.
According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided step pultrusion apparatus comprising the die according to the first aspect of the invention, means to allow separation and bringing together of the opposed forming surfaces of the die and means to pull the article being formed through the die.
The die may be heated to enable the article being pultruded to be simultaneously cured during pultrusion.
At least one surface of the die may comprise at least two features which may be substantially identical laterally spaced from one another. These features, when engaging the part formed article to be pultruded will thus create a series of corresponding features on the article across the width thereof after the carrying out of step by step pultrusion across the article.
The die may comprise a leading taper to at least one said forming surface to allow compression of the plastics material of the article without separation of the surface of the article as it is drawn into the die.
The die may comprise a pair of die halves, each having a said forming surface, said die halves being movable apart from their operative position to allow the lateral movement between pultrusion steps of the article being pultruded. In this way the article may be repositioned for successive passes through the die in the step pultrusion method.
The apparatus according to the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing which is an end elevation of a die according to the invention in use.
Referring to the drawing, a die 1 is shown having an upper half 2 and a lower half 3. Each half of the die 1 comprises a forming surface 16, 17 and is spaced at a predetermined gap "h" from the other.
The gap represents the desired thickness of material of an article to be pultruded through the die. The die also has a pair of leading inward tapers 18, 19 to compress the article being formed as it enters the die. The die 1 has two repeating features in the lower half 3 thereof in the form of channels 5 and 6 designed to form ribs in the article being pultruded.
The drawing shows a reinforced plastics article 7 entrapped in the die 1 and in the process of being pultruded through the die. The article 7 comprises a pultruded portion 8, a processing portion 9 and a part formed portion 10. The article 7 also comprises a series of ribs 11, 12, 13 and 14 which extend from a base portion 15 of substantially planar form.
In use the two halves 1, 2 of the die are separated and one end of the reinforced plastics article 7 is placed between the die halves at one side of the article. Sufficient length of article is left protruding beyond the die to be gripped by a pulling mechanism (not shown) to allow the article to be pulled through the die. The two halves 2, 3 of the die are then brought together to the required gap thus compressing that part of the article within the die to the required section. Pultrusion is then commenced and the article is drawn through the die until the whole length, to the width of the die 1 is finish formed to the required section and surface finish.
The die halves 2, 3 are then moved apart, the article 7 is moved back to the end of the article where pultrusion commenced and is at the same time moved laterally sideways to engage the next partformed portion of the width thereof which is to be pultruded to the required section. The die halves are then closed again to the correct gap and the next step of the pultrusion operation is carried out.
These steps can be repeated as many times as necessary until the whole width of the article 7 has been pultruded to the form required.
The die 1 in the drawing is shown having two channels 5, 6 for forming longitudinal ribs on the article. Any number of such features may be provided in the die which may be of the maximum width to achieve the minimum number of pultrusion passes of the article through the die in order to pultrude the whole width of the article.

Claims (6)

1. A die for pultruding part-formed lengths of fibre reinforced plastics material, the die having a pair of opposed forming surfaces spaced at a pre-determined gap from one another to allow an article being formed to pass therebetween in a longitudinal direction whilst extending laterally beyond the die through the said gap.
2. A method of step pultruding to final form a part formed fibre reinforced plastics article of width greater than that of a die through which the article passes, the method including the steps of engaging a portion of the width of the article with the die, pultruding to final form said portion and moving the article laterally across the die to engage a second portion of the width of the article with the die and pultruding same to final form.
3. Step pultrusion apparatus comprising the die according to claim 1, means to allow separation and bringing together of the opposed forming surfaces of the die and means to pull the article being formed through the die.
4. A die for pultruding part formed lengths of fibre reinforced plastics material substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
5. A method of step pultruding to final form a part formed fibre reinforced plastics article substantially as herein described.
6. Step pultrusion apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
GB9120007A 1991-09-19 1991-09-19 Pultruding at locations sequentially across the article width Withdrawn GB2259666A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9120007A GB2259666A (en) 1991-09-19 1991-09-19 Pultruding at locations sequentially across the article width

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9120007A GB2259666A (en) 1991-09-19 1991-09-19 Pultruding at locations sequentially across the article width

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB9120007D0 GB9120007D0 (en) 1991-11-06
GB2259666A true GB2259666A (en) 1993-03-24

Family

ID=10701654

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB9120007A Withdrawn GB2259666A (en) 1991-09-19 1991-09-19 Pultruding at locations sequentially across the article width

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2259666A (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2275947A (en) * 1993-03-08 1994-09-14 Redman Fisher Eng Ltd Improvements relating to floor panels
WO1996016792A1 (en) * 1994-12-01 1996-06-06 Applied Research Of Australia Pty. Ltd. Inhibiting resin expulsion during molding of elongate fiber reinforced products

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB825392A (en) * 1957-04-05 1959-12-16 Lavorazione Mat Plastiche Sas Method and apparatus for manufacturing corrugated thermoplastic sheets
GB1146276A (en) * 1965-09-08 1969-03-26 Johns Manville Method and apparatus for forming and curing fibrous materials
GB1216259A (en) * 1967-11-03 1970-12-16 Muanyagipari Ki Process and an apparatus for the continuous production of flat or longitudinally profiled sheets from synthetic resin
GB1338536A (en) * 1972-05-30 1973-11-28 Shell Int Research Method of producing an article of thermosetting resin
GB1408039A (en) * 1972-09-26 1975-10-15 Takiron Co Process and apparatus for continuously producing a sheet of a thermoplastic synthetic resin
GB1549097A (en) * 1976-04-14 1979-08-01 Johns Manville Method and apparatus for making a fibrous board-like product

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB825392A (en) * 1957-04-05 1959-12-16 Lavorazione Mat Plastiche Sas Method and apparatus for manufacturing corrugated thermoplastic sheets
GB1146276A (en) * 1965-09-08 1969-03-26 Johns Manville Method and apparatus for forming and curing fibrous materials
GB1216259A (en) * 1967-11-03 1970-12-16 Muanyagipari Ki Process and an apparatus for the continuous production of flat or longitudinally profiled sheets from synthetic resin
GB1338536A (en) * 1972-05-30 1973-11-28 Shell Int Research Method of producing an article of thermosetting resin
GB1408039A (en) * 1972-09-26 1975-10-15 Takiron Co Process and apparatus for continuously producing a sheet of a thermoplastic synthetic resin
GB1549097A (en) * 1976-04-14 1979-08-01 Johns Manville Method and apparatus for making a fibrous board-like product

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2275947A (en) * 1993-03-08 1994-09-14 Redman Fisher Eng Ltd Improvements relating to floor panels
GB2275947B (en) * 1993-03-08 1997-05-28 Redman Fisher Eng Ltd Improvements relating to floor panels
WO1996016792A1 (en) * 1994-12-01 1996-06-06 Applied Research Of Australia Pty. Ltd. Inhibiting resin expulsion during molding of elongate fiber reinforced products

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB9120007D0 (en) 1991-11-06

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WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)