Method of making a reinforcing mat for a pultruded part
AssigneePella Corporation
InventorsLaurence W. Davies, Peter J. Fritz, Kenneth D. Beer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of preparing a reinforcing structure for use in manufacture a pultruded part where the reinforcing structure is pulled through a pultrusion die in a continuous longitudinal pull direction. The method includes arranging a plurality of first reinforcing fibers in a transverse direction and attaching a permeable transport web of staple fibers to the first reinforcing fibers such that the portion of the first reinforcing fibers oriented in the direction transverse comprises at least 30% of a volume of materials comprising the reinforcing structure.
Claims18
A mat for use as reinforcement for a resin composition to be used in forming an elongated, pultruded part of constant transverse cross-section using a pultrusion die, said mat comprising:
- a pull layer of continuous, generally longitudinally-arranged pulling fibers to provide a strength to the mat longitudinally thereof in the pull direction of the mat during pultrusion of the part;
- a reinforcement layer of angular mat fibers in association with the pulling fiber layer and oriented in a direction at an angle with respect to the longitudinal pull direction of the mat to provide stiffness to the mat during pultrusion of the part, wherein the reinforcement layer provides a strength in a direction transverse to the pull direction that is substantially greater than the strength of the mat in the pull direction;
- lines of stitching interconnecting the pull layer and the reinforcement layer to provide the mat;
- and
- relatively short entangling fibers, at least a portion of which extend through a thickness of the mat layers and interconnect the fibers of the layers and at least a portion of which are spread transversely over exterior-facing surfaces of the mat layers to increase the integrity of the mat during pultrusion of the part and curing of the resin composition.
A method for creating a mat for use as reinforcement for a resin composition to be used in forming an elongated, pultruded part of constant transverse cross-section using a pultrusion die, said method comprising:
- forming a precursor web by placing at least one reinforcement layer of angular mat fibers adjacent at least one pull layer of continuous, generally longitudinally-arranged pulling fibers to provide strength to the mat in a longitudinal pull direction of the mat during pultrusion of the part, the at least one reinforcement layer of angular mat fibers being oriented in a direction at an angle with respect to the longitudinal pull direction of the mat to provide stiffness to the mat during pultrusion of the part and to provide a transverse tensile strength in a direction transverse to the longitudinal pull direction that is substantially greater than the strength of the mat in the longitudinal pull direction;
- placing a layer of relatively short entangling fibers onto a surface of the precursor web;
- and
- using hydro-entanglement to force certain of the relatively short entangling fibers into locations extending throughout the precursor web to and interconnect the fibers of the at least one pull layer and the at least one reinforcement layer, with some of the relatively short entangling fibers being spread transversely over exterior-facing surfaces of the precursor web to increase the integrity of the mat during pultrusion of the part and curing of the resin composition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.