JPH0647825A - Composite material manufacture device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To fibrillate sufficiently a reinforced fiber bundle, impregnate a matrix material in the most uniformized state and provide superior physical properties by attaching a fibrillating section for bringing the reinforced fiber bundle into contact with fluorine resin prior to the process of impregnating the reinforced fiber bundle with the matrix material. CONSTITUTION:A fibrillating section 5 constituted of a plurality of rollers 3 and 4 for fibrillating fiber while a reinforced fiber bundle 6 is provided between a bundling agent cleaning tank 1 and an aluminum hot melt tank 2 of a composite material manufacturing device 10 for manufacturing, for example, fiber reinforced metal(FRM). Respective rollers 3 and 4 are constituted by mounting shrinkable Teflon tubes of fluorine resin on respective metal rollers. The reinforced fiber bundle 6 is brought into contact with fluorine resin in the process prior to impregnating the reinforced fiber bundle 6 with a matrix material. The reinforced fiber bundle 6 is fibrillated sufficiently by the arrangement, and the matrix material is applied for impregnation in the uniformized state. Thus a composite material of superior physical properties can be manufactured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a composite material using glass fiber. In the composite material manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the rovings used as the reinforcing fibers of the composite material are sufficiently opened.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Glass fibers are fiber reinforced plastics containing a thermosetting resin or a plastic resin as a matrix.
(FRP), fiber reinforced metal (FRM), etc. are used as reinforcing fibers for various composite materials. By compounding fibers in a matrix, such a composite material realizes excellent physical properties such as high tensile strength, high rigidity, and low coefficient of thermal expansion that cannot be achieved by the matrix material alone. In recent years, glass fibers, especially oxynitride glass fibers, have attracted attention as reinforcing fibers for composite materials due to their high heat resistance.

In such a composite material using glass fibers, the dispersion state of the fibers in the matrix material has a great influence on the properties of the composite material, and the fibers are well dispersed in order to obtain excellent mechanical properties. There is a need. In order to obtain a homogeneous composite material in which such fibers are well dispersed, a reinforcing fiber roving composed of a large number of fibers is sufficiently opened,
There must be a gap between the fibers to impregnate the matrix material. For example, in the case of continuously producing a unidirectional reinforcing material, a prepreg (precursor) is generally produced. Need to be impregnated. Such fiber opening is necessary not only when manufacturing FRP but also when compounding with a metal material such as aluminum.

Conventionally, as a method for performing such opening, a method of simply applying a constant tension, a method of blowing an air jet, and the like are known. However, it is not possible to sufficiently open the fibers by any of the methods, and the dispersed state of the fibers in the matrix material is not satisfactory.

An object of the present invention is to provide a composite material manufacturing apparatus capable of sufficiently opening glass fibers for reinforcement and impregnating a matrix material in a homogeneous state.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The inventors of the present invention have conducted various studies on the above problems. As a result, by contacting the glass fibers with a fluororesin before the impregnation of the matrix material, it is possible to obtain a good opening of the glass fibers. The present invention has been completed based on the knowledge that the state can be obtained.

According to the present invention, in an apparatus for producing a composite material by impregnating a reinforcing fiber bundle with a matrix material, an opening portion for contacting the fiber bundle with a fluororesin is provided before the step of impregnating the fiber bundle with the matrix material. The present invention provides a composite material manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above.

[0008]

The fluororesin is apt to be negatively charged, and when the glass fiber is brought into contact with the fluororesin, the glass fiber has a large amount of positive charge on its surface and exhibits a good open state by electric repulsion.

[0009]

EXAMPLES Next, the present invention will be described more specifically based on examples.

FIG. 1 shows a composite material of the present invention having an opening portion.
It is a schematic diagram showing an example of a (FRM) manufacturing device. Figure 1
In the above, the FRM manufacturing apparatus 10 is provided with a sizing agent cleaning tank 1, an aluminum molten metal tank 2 and a roller 3 for performing fiber opening while conveying the reinforcing fiber bundle 6 between them.
And an opening section 5 composed of a roller 4. In the opening / weaving rollers 3 and 4, shrinkable Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene) tubes made of fluororesin are mounted on metal rollers. As the fluororesin, in addition to Teflon, a polymer or copolymer of polytrifluorochloroethylene, vinyl fluoride, vinylidene fluoride, dichlorodifluoroethylene, or the like can be used. As the fiber-spreading roller, the roller material itself may be a fluororesin such as Teflon, or the surface of another material may be coated with a fluororesin spray or the like.

In order to produce FRM using the apparatus of the present invention, the reinforcing fiber bundle 6 is passed through the sizing agent washing tank 1 as in the conventional production method, and the sizing agent (polyethylene glycol, etc.) applied during spinning is sufficient. Wash out. The reinforcing fiber bundle 6 is preferably an oxynitride glass fiber having an appropriate number of filaments coated with a binder to form roving. Then, the washed fiber bundle is brought into contact with the fiber-spreading section 5 including the fiber-spreading rollers 3 and 4 equipped with Teflon. The glass fiber bundle 6 is sufficiently opened before it reaches the rear roller 4 from the front roller 3.
Then, this fiber bundle was introduced into the molten aluminum 6 melted at 850 ° C. and then pulled up (fiber volume content V
f = 30%). When the obtained FRM was cut and the inside was examined, the reinforcing fiber was sufficiently opened. When this strength was measured, it was 75 kg / mm ² . The cross section of the obtained FRM is shown in FIG.

[Comparative Example 1] In FIGS.
F was made using the same equipment except that it was made of brass.
When the RM was manufactured, the fiber opening of the reinforcing fiber bundle was not sufficient, the fibers locally adhered to each other, and defects remained as voids in that part. The strength is also 34 kg / mm ² (Vf =
30%) was not enough. A cross-sectional view of this FRM is shown in FIG.

[0013]

When the apparatus of the present invention is used, self-opening property is exhibited by the repulsive force due to the charging of the fiber itself, and a large opening effect can be obtained as compared with the conventional opening techniques such as tension application and air jet type. Therefore, the matrix material is sufficiently impregnated between the fibers, and a composite material having excellent physical properties can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a specific example of a composite material manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

2 is a micrograph showing a metal structure of a cross section of the FRM obtained in Example 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a micrograph showing a metal structure of a cross section of an FRM obtained in Comparative Example 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 sizing agent washing tank 2 aluminum bath 3 roller 4 roller 5 opening part 6 reinforcing fiber bundle 10 FRM manufacturing device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for producing a composite material by impregnating a reinforcing fiber bundle with a matrix material, wherein an opening portion for contacting the fiber bundle with a fluororesin is provided before the step of impregnating the fiber bundle with the matrix material. A composite material manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above.