Three dimensional nonwoven materials and methods of manufacturing such materials are disclosed. In one embodiment, a nonwoven material may comprise a plurality of fibers, a first surface, and an apertured zone comprising: a plurality of nodes extending away from a base plane on the first surface, a plurality of connecting ligaments interconnecting the plurality of nodes, wherein a majority of the plurality of nodes include at least three connecting ligaments connecting to adjacent nodes, and a plurality of openings. The apertured zone may further comprise a lane of nodes which extends substantially in the longitudinal direction, and wherein the lane of nodes extending substantially in the longitudinal direction is formed of longitudinally adjacent nodes which are aligned such that lines drawn between centers of longitudinally adjacent nodes within the lane of nodes each form an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of less than about 20 degrees.

A laminate preform is disclosed, having a top side and a back side extending between respective edge portions, the laminate preform comprising a plurality of layers of fiber tows extending in a length direction of the laminate pre-form, the fiber tows being at least partly fixed by resin. The laminate pre-form is in between a first and a second prepreg or semi-preg layer including fibers extending in an oblique direction with respect to the length direction, and at least one distribution channel is provided at the back side extending in the length direction. Also disclosed is a method for manufacturing such a laminate pre-form.

Bags, such as L-sewn bags and multi-substrate bags, are formed at least in part from an open mesh material that includes filaments that intersect one another. At least some of the filaments are composite filaments having a carrier portion of a relatively high melting point and a bonding portion of a relatively low melting point, the bonding portion of each composite filament being thermally bonded to other filaments at points of intersection. The material may be a non-woven fabric that contains at least two layers of weft filaments that may be bordered on one or both sides by a layer of warp filaments. When compared to other open mesh materials, the open mesh material disclosed herein has a superior combination of some or all of high strength, light weight, high dimensional stability, and openness. Also disclosed herein are methods of making and using such bags.

A process for making a material adapted for the production of composite parts by a process in which a thermoplastic or thermosetting matrix is diffused within said material. The material includes at least one sheet of unidirectional carbon fibres associated on at least one of its faces with at least one conductive component associated or integrated with a permeable layer in a thermoplastic material or in a mixture of thermoplastic or thermosetting materials.

Tapered layers of pre-cured composite material are integrated into a tapered, highly stressed laminate structure in order to provide improved compressive strength. The pre-cured composite material can advantageously be cured under tension as pultruded material, to further augment compressive strength. The thickness of composite layers can be tapered on their termination edges by mechanically abrading, chemical abrading, or other methods. Especially preferred embodiments include aircraft structural components such as wings, wing spars, wing skins, fuselage skins, rotor blades, propellers, and propeller blades. Preferred laminates can be constructed to have at least 6, 10, 30, 50, or 100 layers of material, and can have a maximum thickness of at least 0.15, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, or 5.0 inches.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a lightweight composite material structure while suppressing a drop in strength. In a composite material structure, which is configured as a fiber-reinforced plastic composite material extending in one direction and having a plurality of holes (5) formed at intervals in a row in the one direction and which is subjected to a tensile load and/or a compressive load in the one direction, a peripheral region (3a) around the holes (5) comprises a first area (10) obtained by bending composite material, which is reinforced using continuous fibers that have been made even in the longitudinal direction, so that the center line of the width (W) of the composite material weaves between adjacent holes (5) and zigzags in the one direction. The tensile rigidity and/or compressive rigidity in the one direction of the peripheral region (3a) around the holes (5) is lower than the tensile rigidity and/or the compressive rigidity in the one direction of the other regions (3b) that surround the peripheral regions (3a).

The present invention relates to an EMF-screened plastic-organic sheet hybrid structural component, preferably a battery housing, and to its use in motor vehicles, preferably in electrically powered motor vehicles or hybrid motor vehicles, the abbreviation EMF meaning electromagnetic field(s).

Three dimensional nonwoven materials and methods of manufacturing such materials are disclosed. In one embodiment, a nonwoven material may comprise a plurality of fibers and may further comprise an opposing first surface and a second surface, an apertured zone comprising a plurality of nodes extending away from a base plane on the first surface, a plurality of connecting ligaments interconnecting the plurality of nodes, and a plurality of openings providing a percent open area for the apertured zone that is greater than about 15%, as determined by the Material Sample Analysis Test Method. The material may further comprise a first and second side zones with the nonwoven material having a material width and the first and second side zones having first and second side zone widths, and wherein each of the first and second side zone widths are between about 5% and about 25% of the nonwoven material width.

The invention relates to a multifilament yarn containing n filaments, wherein the filaments are obtained by spinning an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), said yarn having a tenacity (Ten) as expressed in cN/dtex of Ten(cN/dtex)=fn.sup.0.05dpf.sup.0.15, wherein Ten is at least 39 cN/dtex, n is at least 25, f is a factor of at least 58 and dpf is the dtex per filament.

Process for spinning multifilament yarn containing n filaments are provided, wherein an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) solution containing UHMWPE polymer and a solvent for the UHMWPE polymer are spun through n spin-holes of a spin plate and drawn before, during or after removal of the solvent to thereby obtain the multifilament yarn containing n filaments, the yarn having a tenacity (Ten) as expressed in cN/dtex of Ten(cN/dtex)=fn.sup.0.05dpf.sup.0.15, wherein Ten is at least 39 cN/dtex, n is at least 25, f is a factor of at least 62.0 and dpf is the dtex per filament.