Curable prepregs with surface openings

A curable prepreg produced by a method comprising:

• providing a woven fabric having two opposing faces and a plain weave pattern in which a tow in a first weaving direction passes over another tow in a second weaving direction, then pass under an adjacent tow in the second weaving direction, and interstices are defined between adjacent tows, wherein the woven fabric has an areal weight of 100-600 gsm;
• partially impregnating the woven fabric with a curable, hot-melt resin such that a continuous resin film covers each face of the fabric and penetrates partially through the thickness of the fabric leaving an inner section of the fabric, in the thickness direction, substantially free of said resin, wherein each resin film has a film weight of 10-200 gsm:
• heating the partially impregnated fabric so that the resin film on each face of the fabric becomes flowable, and subsequently, portions of the resin film over the air pockets at the interstices break open, creating openings in the resin film that correspond to locations of the interstices, wherein the locations of the openings are dependent on the plain weave pattern, and
• each opening exposes a single interstice in the fabric and is configured to create a fluid flow path from the inner section of the fabric to at least one outer surface of the prepreg, from at least one outer surface of the prepreg to the inner section, from one outer surface of the prepreg to an opposite outer surface, or combination thereof.