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US 7,889,959 B2Granted
Composite material for cable floatation jacket
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorAlain T. Pellen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A composite material for a cable floatation jacket is provided. The composite material comprises a thermoplastic elastomer matrix, and a plurality of carbon constituents interspersed in the thermoplastic elastomer matrix. The carbon constituents comprise a plurality of carbon fibers, and a plurality of carbon microballoons attached to each of the carbon fibers. The composite material in heated liquid form can be extruded onto a cable core to produce the floatation jacket.
Claims6
A method of making a floatation jacket for a tether cable, the method comprising:
- coating a bonding agent on a continuous carbon fiber;
- depositing a plurality of carbon microballoons on the bonding agent coated continuous carbon fiber to form a microballoon coated continuous carbon fiber, wherein the bonding agent is cured to form a solid bond between the continuous carbon fiber and the carbon micro-balloons;
- chopping the cured microballoon coated continuous carbon fiber into discrete fiber chains;
- mixing the fiber chains with a heated liquid thermoplastic elastomer to produce a mixed composite material;
- and
- extruding the mixed composite material onto a cable core to produce the floatation jacket.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.