Methods of coating fiber containing materials and coated fiber containing materials

A method for coating a material in the form of a mat, the mat comprising a plurality of woven or nonwoven carbon fibers, the method comprising:

• (a) applying a liquid solution over at least a portion of the fibers of the material, wherein the liquid solution comprises a polymer dispersed in a liquid medium, and wherein the polymer comprises polymeric core-shell particles comprising:
• (i) a polymeric shell comprising urethane linkages and urea linkages that at least partially encapsulates (ii) a polymeric core comprising an addition polymer obtained from ethylenically unsaturated monomers;
• (b) drying at least a portion of the liquid solution applied over the fibers of the material to obtain a dried, non-crosslinked polymeric material that forms a network of discontinuous dried polymeric particles over the fibers;
• (c) applying to at least a portion of the fibers a first coating composition comprising a film-forming resin that interacts with the dried polymeric material via vander Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, and/or chemical bonding by reaction between at least one functional group on the dried, non-crosslinked polymeric material and at least one functional group on the film-forming resin;
• and
• (d) drying the first coating composition to form a first coating layer over at least a portion of the fibers.