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US 2013/0153121 A1Published application
Methods, apparatus and systems for reducing warpage in polymers with continuous fibers
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorUmesh N. Gandhi
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Abstract
Apparatus, systems and/or methods are provided to substantially reduce warping of a reinforced polymer. For example, by pre-stressing a glass component proportional to the difference between coefficients of linear expansions of glass and polymers, warping may be reduced when the resulting glass-polymer compound is cooled.
Claims11
-10. (canceled)
A method for reducing the warping of a molded polymer-continuous fiber compound, the method comprising:
- pre-stressing a layer of continuous fiber;
- molding the layer of continuous fiber to a layer of polymer including a heating process;
- and
- cooling the layer of continuous fiber and the layer of polymer such that the resulting compound is substantially flat.
1 more element
A method of reducing the warping of a molded glass-reinforced polymer, the method comprising:
- pre-stressing a continuous glass fiber tape by stretching and holding the continuous glass fiber tape horizontally and/or vertically by means of a device;
- adding a heated polymer to the pre-stressed continuous glass fiber tape to form a fiber-reinforced-polymer (FRP) composite;
- molding the FRP composite;
- cooling the FRP composite;
- and
- releasing the continuous glass fiber tape from the pre-stress applied causing the FRP composite to be substantially unwarped.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.