System for producing a lightweight thermoplastic composite sheet
AssigneeJohns Manville
InventorsMingfu Zhang, Jawed Asrar
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Abstract
A thermoplastic composite sheet may be composed of a polymer material matrix and a lightweight material that is disposed throughout the polymer material matrix. The polymer material matrix may extend continuously throughout a length, width, and thickness of the thermoplastic composite sheet. The polymer material matrix may be a fully polymerized thermoplastic material. The lightweight material may be fully saturated by the thermoplastic material of the polymer material matrix. The thermoplastic composite sheet may include between 50 and 99 weight percent of the thermoplastic material and between 1 and 50 weight percent of the lightweight material. The thermoplastic composite sheet may be free of reinforcing fibers.
Claims19
A method of forming a thermoplastic composite sheet comprising:
- dispersing a lightweight material atop a lower belt of a double belt press mechanism to form a layer of the lightweight material atop the lower belt;
- applying a resin to the layer of lightweight material;
- passing the layer of lightweight material and the resin through an oven that is configured to heat the resin as the lightweight material and the resin are moved through the oven;
- and
- passing the layer of lightweight material and the resin between the lower belt and an upper belt of the double belt press mechanism to press the resin and the lightweight material, and thereby disperse the resin through the layer of lightweight material and fully saturate the lightweight material with the resin;
- and
- cooling the resin and the lightweight material to form the thermoplastic composite sheet;
- wherein:
- the lightweight material has a density of between 0.1 and 1.0 g/cm3;
- and
- the thermoplastic composite sheet is substantially free of reinforcing fibers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.