JPH0362829A - Continuous prepreg differing in fiber orientation and production system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the title prepreg causing no mechanical strength drop-off due to air bubbles, ply separation and yarn bending at knitted or woven parts, improved in torque capability and enhanced in tensile strength, for use in automobiles, sporting goods. etc., having such fiber orientation that the fibers are mutually crossed within a ply. CONSTITUTION:Reinforcing fibers f delivered from creels are introduced, through an eyeboard 1a of a reinforcing fiber-feeding means 1 with circular fiber guide holes 1b, into a fiber guide means 2, put in order and formed into a fibrous ply F. Thence, this ply F is fed with matrix resin-coated papers A and B through a feed roller and made into a lamination. A plurality of this lamination are mutually pressed to produce the objective prepreg. Thus, the objective continuous prepreg differing in reinforcing fiber orientation can he obtained efficiently in a continuous manner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a long prepreg having reinforcing fibers with different orientations, and a manufacturing apparatus for continuously manufacturing the long prepreg.

4. In recent years, transportation fields such as aviation, space, and automobiles, construction fields,
In the mechanical field, sports and leisure fields, etc.
Various fiber-reinforced composite resin materials are used, and one of them is prepreg, which is manufactured by impregnating continuous reinforcing fibers into a matrix resin.

Conventionally, this type of prepreg has been manufactured by arranging continuous reinforcing fibers in parallel to the longitudinal axis of the prepreg sheet, and is known as UD (unidirectional) prepreg.

In fact, when making various molded products using such unidirectional prepreg, it is difficult to simply overlap multiple prepregs in order to satisfy the performance required for the molded product. Instead, the prepregs are stacked on top of each other at a predetermined angle so that the reinforcing fibers intersect at a predetermined angle.

For example, when manufacturing golf shafts, in order to improve the torque performance, ±30° to the axial direction of the shaft is required.
Wrapping reinforcing fibers at an angle of ±45° is widely practiced. Therefore, when manufacturing a golf shaft, unidirectional prepregs are laminated and wound in the +45° direction and the 145° direction.

However, in this method, the unidirectional prepreg must be cut at an angle of, for example, 45°, which is a complicated process, and the cut prepreg sheet pieces must be stacked at an angle of ±45°. There was a problem that it took a lot of time and effort.

Further, when a plurality of prepregs are laminated, voids (bubbles) are generated at the interface between the laminated layers, resulting in a significant decrease in strength, and the problem of delamination due to the bubbles occurs.

Currently, so-called cross prepregs made by knitting and weaving reinforcing fibers are on the market, but if such loss prepregs are used for the above applications, bending of the fibers cannot be avoided because the reinforcing fibers are knitted and woven. First, there was a problem in that the strength of the reinforcing fibers themselves could not be fully expressed.

Therefore, if a prepreg in which the reinforcing fibers are arranged in one layer in such a manner that they intersect with each other at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the longitudinal direction of the sheet can be obtained, such troublesome cutting and lamination can be avoided. The troublesomeness of fiber orientation can be greatly reduced, and furthermore, sufficient fiber strength can be developed, and the problem of glabellar peeling can also be solved.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to orient the reinforcing fibers to cross each other within one layer, thereby solving the hassle of cumbersome cutting and fiber orientation during lamination, and furthermore, It is possible to express the strength of
Prepreg, which can also solve the problem of delamination,
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prepreg manufacturing apparatus that can continuously and efficiently manufacture a long length of prepreg.

The above objects are achieved by the prepreg and the manufacturing apparatus thereof according to the present invention. In summary, the present invention is an elongated prepreg having a fiber orientation in which the fibers cross each other within one layer.

The above prepreg can also be produced by supplying reinforcing fibers from a reinforcing fiber supply means to a resin-coated paper whose surface is coated with a matrix resin, and impregnating the reinforcing fibers with a resin to produce a prepreg. In the apparatus, the reinforcing fibers supplied from the reinforcing fiber supplying means are supplied to the resin-coated paper through the fiber guide means that circulates and moves at a predetermined speed relative to the supplying speed of the resin-coated paper, and the reinforcing fibers are supplied to the resin-coated paper. It is suitably manufactured using a prepreg manufacturing apparatus characterized in that it manufactures a prepreg with fiber orientations that intersect with each other.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, one embodiment of the prepreg and its manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, the prepreg manufacturing apparatus has reinforcing fiber supply means 1 for supplying reinforcing fibers. Various types of fibers such as carbon fibers, glass fibers, and aramid fibers can be used as the reinforcing fibers.

The reinforcing fiber supplying means 1 has a plurality of crills (not shown), and the reinforcing fibers f drawn out from the crills are fed to the batten member 1a of the reinforcing fiber supplying means 1 in which the fiber guide holes 1b are formed in a circular shape. is introduced into the fiber guiding means 2, which will be described in detail below in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4.

A fiber layer F consisting of a plurality of reinforcing fibers f arranged in a predetermined manner by the fiber guide means 2 is passed between supply rollers 4a and 4b. At this time, the reinforcing fibers f may be of the same type, or if desired, different types of fibers may be mixed and supplied in an appropriate ratio, while the reinforcing fibers f may be of the same type. Resin-coated paper A and resin-coated paper B, the surfaces of which are coated with a matrix resin, are supplied from resin-coated paper winders 5 and 6 with the fiber layer F sandwiched between them.

As the matrix resin, various resins such as epoxy resins are selected and used depending on the prepreg to be manufactured.

The layered body consisting of resin-coated paper A, fiber layer F, and resin-coated paper B is then supplied to hot press means 7, and the matrix resin provided on resin-coated papers A and B is applied to fiber layer F. impregnated with and form a prepreg.

Next, the prepreg formed in this way is cooled to a predetermined temperature by a cooling means (not shown) as needed, and then removed from the base material of the resin-coated paper A by a peeling roller 8. The paper pattern A' is peeled off, and instead, the cover film C pulled out from the cover film winder 9 is superimposed on the prepreg surface via the supply roller 10.

The prepreg thus formed is wound into a roll around the winding shaft 11 as a product.

Next, the fiber guide means 2 in the manufacturing apparatus having the above configuration according to the present invention will be explained.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the fiber guide means 2 moves an endless band 2a having an oval movement path that circulates through a section corresponding to the width of the prepreg by driving wheels 2b,
It has a structure wound around 2C. Moreover, in the endless belt 2a,
Cylindrical yarn guide elements 3 are provided at a predetermined pitch, and reinforcing fibers f supplied from the fiber supply means 1 are inserted through the yarn guide elements 3.

In this configuration, for example, when the endless belt 2a is driven at a linear velocity corresponding to the supply speed of the resin-coated papers A and H, the endless belt 2a
The thread guided from the thread guide element 3 located above the
The threads guided from the thread guide element 3 located below the endless band 2a are guided so as to cross each other at an inclination of ±45° in the longitudinal direction of the sheet, and in this state, the threads are guided between the coated papers A and B. Get caught. Of course, when the endless band 2a is driven, the reinforcing fiber supply means 1 will also be rotated synchronously.

In addition, when the linear speed of the endless band 2a is made faster than the speed of the resin-coated papers A and B, the inclination angle of the reinforcing fibers in the longitudinal direction of the resin-coated papers becomes ±45° or more, and when it is slower than that, Then, the angle becomes ±45° or less. That is, by changing the speed of the endless band 2a relative to the resin-coated paper, the reinforcing fibers can be oriented with respect to the resin-coated paper at a desired inclination angle.

In the above embodiments, either resin-coated paper A or B may be simply used as a release paper.

The prepreg produced in this way has a weight of 50 to 300
With a thickness of .mu.m, the fiber orientation is changed from one direction, and therefore oblique cutting is not required. In addition, since each layer has fibers that cross each other, there is no problem of significant strength loss and delamination due to voids (bubbles) at the interface that occur when multiple sheets of prepreg are laminated. This does not occur, and even if a plurality of prepregs of the present invention are laminated, the risk can be halved. Furthermore, in the present invention, since reinforcing fibers are not knitted or woven, there is no problem of yarn bending in the knitted part which cross prepregs had, and the strength of the fibers can be fully expressed.

According to the above embodiment, the reinforcing fibers were arranged at a predetermined angle, but as shown in FIG. 5, the reinforcing fibers were further arranged along the longitudinal direction of the resin-coated paper. It can also have fibers at the same time. Such reinforcing fibers can be arranged between the angled fibers or can be placed on either or both sides of the angled fibers. The prepreg according to this example has the advantage that not only the torque property is improved but also the tensile strength is increased.

Mensho Natsumi 1 As described above, in the prepreg according to the present invention, the reinforcing fibers are oriented so as to cross each other within one layer, thereby eliminating troublesome cutting and troublesome adjustment of the fiber direction during lamination. In addition, sufficient fiber strength can be developed, and the problem of delamination can also be solved. Further, according to the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, a long prepreg having a fiber orientation in which the fibers intersect with each other in one layer can be manufactured very efficiently and continuously.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a prepreg manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the reinforcing fiber supply means. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the relationship between reinforcing fibers and fiber guide means. FIG. 4 is a front view of the fiber guide means. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the prepreg according to the present invention. Two reinforcing fiber supply means: Fiber guide means a: Endless strap, 2c: Drive wheel yarn guide element5. 6: Resin coated paper winder hot press means

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A long prepreg having a fiber orientation in which fibers cross each other within one layer. 2) In a prepreg production apparatus that supplies reinforcing fibers from a reinforcing fiber supply means to a resin-coated paper whose surface is coated with a matrix resin, and impregnates the reinforcing fibers with resin to produce a prepreg, the reinforcing fibers are The reinforcing fibers supplied from the supplying means are supplied to the resin-coated paper through a fiber guide means that circulates and moves at a predetermined speed relative to the supplying speed of the resin-coated paper, so that the fibers cross each other. A prepreg manufacturing device characterized by continuously manufacturing oriented prepreg.