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US 11,766,838 B2Granted
Thermoplastic composite master sheets and tapes and method
AssigneeWeb Industries, Inc.
InventorsGrand Hou, Manish Baldevbhai Patel, Charouny Chansipaeng-Lee, Mark L. Richardson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for the production of thermoplastic composite sheets whose fibers are other than perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sheet and which are capable of being slit into sheets, strips and/or tapes of custom widths.
Claims34
method of making a continuous master sheet material, said method comprising:
- a) providing a continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material comprising at least one oriented thermoplastic composite sheet, wherein the at least one oriented thermoplastic composite sheet comprises fibers and a thermoplastic polymer matrix;
- b) forming the continuous master sheet material by aligning and mating along their longitudinal axes i) the continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material with ii) a continuous, removable carrier sheet material, the carrier sheet material having upper and lower surfaces, at least one of which is a mating surface having an adhesive or tacky material applied thereto and to which the continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material is mated;
- wherein the at least one oriented thermoplastic composite sheet:
- (A) comprises a preformed oriented thermoplastic composite sheet consisting essentially of segments of a conventional thermoplastic composite sheet fused or welded to one another with a slight overlap such that the fibers of the segments are at a non-zero angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the continuous oriented thermoplastic sheet material, or
- (B) is formed in a preliminary step, prior to step (b), by (I) cutting a conventional thermoplastic composite sheet into a plurality of segments of a desired length, the resulting segments having cut ends and side edges, the cuts being at a non-zero angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the conventional thermoplastic composite sheet, (II) aligning the segments side-edge to side-edge with a slight overlap and (III) fusing or welding the overlap to form a continuous sheet of the thermoplastic composite segments having an upper and a lower surface;
- and
- wherein the carrier sheet material is a polymer film, paper or a cellulosic sheet material, and is configured to be removable from the continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material.
4 more elements
A method of making a continuous master sheet material, said method comprising:
- a) providing a continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material comprising at least one oriented thermoplastic composite sheet, wherein the at least one oriented thermoplastic composite sheet comprises fibers and a thermoplastic polymer matrix;
- b) forming the continuous master sheet material by aligning and mating along their longitudinal axes i) the continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material with ii) a continuous, removable carrier sheet material, the carrier sheet material having upper and lower surfaces, at least one of which is a mating surface having an adhesive or tacky material applied thereto and to which the continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material is mated;
- wherein the at least one oriented thermoplastic composite sheet:
- (A) comprises a preformed oriented thermoplastic composite sheet consisting essentially of segments of a conventional thermoplastic composite sheet fused or welded to one another with a slight overlap such that the fibers are at a non-zero angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the continuous oriented thermoplastic sheet material, or
- (B) is formed in a preliminary step, prior to step (b), by (I) cutting a conventional thermoplastic composite sheet into a plurality of segments of a desired length, the resulting segments having cut ends and side edges, the cuts being at a non-zero angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the conventional thermoplastic composite sheet, (II) aligning the segments side-edge to side-edge with a slight overlap and (III) fusing or welding the overlap to form a continuous sheet of the thermoplastic composite segments having an upper and a lower surface;
- and
- wherein the carrier sheet material is a polymeric non-woven and is configured to be removable from the continuous oriented thermoplastic composite sheet material.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.