Chopped-fibers with axial property gradient for molded parts
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsWilliam Hamburgen, Felix Jose Alvarez Rivera
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable computing device includes a processor, a memory, and a portable computing device case that encloses one or more integrated circuits, including at least the processor and the memory. The case includes a molded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) material that includes a polymer material and elongated fibers that adhere to the polymer material and that have a property that varies over a length of the fibers along an elongation axis of the fibers, wherein an adhesion strength between the fibers and the polymer is determined at least in part by a property of the fibers that varies over a length of the fibers along the elongation axis.
Claims4
A method of making glass fibers for use in a molded, fiber-reinforced polymer material, the method comprising:
- drawing a fiber from a glass preform;
- vibrating the drawn fiber as it is being drawn;
- varying a frequency and/or amplitude of the vibration, wherein the diameter of the drawn fiber is determined at least in part by the amplitude and/or frequency of the vibration;
- cutting the drawn fiber into subsections, wherein the subsections have a diameter that varies over a length along an elongation axis of the subsections.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.