Method and device for melt-impregnating fibres with thermoplastic matrix

Abstract

A method and a device for melt impregnation of fibers with a thermoplastic matrix. To provide a method and a device for impregnating dry fibers with a highly viscous thermoplastic matrix, the fibers are guided over a curved, perforated metal sheet as an impregnation line while applying a contact pressure, wherein the highly viscous thermoplastic matrix passes through the perforations of the metal sheet in order to subsequently impregnate the fibers. The metal sheet is not flat, but is integrated into the impregnation unit in a curved shape. By deflecting the fibers, which may be present as fiber bundles or as single fibers, around the curved metal sheet, the necessary contact pressure between the fibers and the plastic supply can be created. The fibers thus move under a longitudinal tensile stress over the perforated metal sheet, creating a sinusoidal contact pressure distribution between the fibers and the metal sheet.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.