Method for impregnating a fibrous material in an interpenetrated fluidized bed
AssigneeArkema France
InventorsGilles HOCHSTETTER, Arthur Pierre BABEAU, Axel SALINIER, Thibaut SAVART
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Manufacture of a pre-impregnated fibrous material which contains continuous fibers and a thermoplastic matrix, the material being made as a plurality of unidirectional parallel ribbons or sheets, and the method involving a step of pre-impregnating, in dry conditions, N parallel strands divided into X groups of Ni strands, by the thermoplastic matrix in powder form in a tank, ΣNi=N et X 3, one thereof from each series being immersed in the powder, each group of strands running on the same number Y of tensioning parts, and the parallel strands being separated by a spacing at least equal to the width of each strand.
Claims26
A method for manufacturing a pre-impregnated fibrous material comprising a fibrous material made of continuous fibers and at least one thermoplastic polymer matrix, wherein said pre-impregnated fibrous material is made as a plurality of unidirectional parallel ribbons or sheets and in that said method comprises a homogeneous pre-impregnation step of said fibrous material in the form of N parallel strands by said at least one thermoplastic polymer matrix in the form of a powder in a tank, said pre-impregnation step being carried out in a dry manner in said tank,
- said N parallel strands being divided into X groups consisting of Ni parallel strands in the direction of travel of the strands, ΣNi=N and X≤N, X ranging from 2 to 200, each group of parallel strands running separately by means of X series consisting of Y starting pieces in the tank, with Y≥3, and of which at least one of said Y starting pieces of each series is at least partially immersed in said powder, each group of strands running on the same number Y of starting pieces, the at least one thermoplastic polymer matrix is made from:
- the polymers and copolymers from the family of aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or semi-aromatic polyamides (PA) (also called polyphthalamides (PPA)),
- polyureas,
- polymers and copolymers from the family of acrylics,
- polymers and copolymers from the poly aryl ether ketone (PAEK) family like poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), or poly(aryl ether ketone ketones) (PAEKK) like poly(ether ketone ketone) (PEKK) or derivatives thereof,
- aromatic polyether-imides (PEI),
- polyarylsulfides,
- polyolefins,
- polylactic acid (PLA),
- polyvinyl alcohol (PVA),
- fluorinated polymers,
- and mixtures thereof.
- said parallel strands being separated from one another in said tank with a spacing at least equal to the width of each strand, at least at said at least partially immersed starting piece,
- said Y starting pieces of each series in the tank being offset in the direction of travel of the strands by a distance at least greater than the thickness of each strand,
- the control of the amount of said at least one thermoplastic polymer matrix in said fibrous material being carried out by controlling the residence time of said N strands in the powder,
- the residence time in the powder being the same for each of said strands,
- said N strands optionally being joined together out of the powder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.