Fence assemblies are assembled from T-posts and crossmembers which may comprise rails formed from C-channels. The T-posts and rails are formed from pultruded fiberglass and can be connected together using bolts and nuts or push rivets. Cross members comprising wires or pultruded, fiberglass tubes may also be used.

A composite material for use as a deposition material in an additive manufacturing system comprises a polymer component, a filler component, and an extrudability component. The extrudability component is present in the composite material is an amount of from 0.05 wt % to 10 wt % based on the weight of the composite material, and can comprise polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS). The polymer component comprises a high temperature polymer such as an engineering polymer or a high performance polymer. The filler component comprises at least one of a conductive component and a strengthening component. In some cases, the conductive component is present in an amount such that the composite material is formed as one of an electrostatic discharge (ESD) material and an EMI/EMC shielding material. The composite material can be deposited in a liquid state on a substrate using an additive manufacturing system, to produce a three-dimensional object.

Interlaminar features of a composite structure are laid up by placing and steering individual chopped fiber pre-preg segments onto a substrate.

Certain configurations are described herein of a thermoplastic sheet or article comprising a plurality of porous layers coupled to each other. In one configuration, the thermoplastic article may comprise a core layer, a first layer disposed on one surface of the core layer and a second layer disposed on another surface of the core layer. In some instances, each of the core layer, the first layer and the second layer may comprises a web of open celled structures formed by a plurality of reinforcing materials bonded together with a thermoplastic material and optionally may also include a lofting agent. The lofting capacity in different layers can be selected or tuned to provide desired properties.

Certain configurations are described herein of a thermoplastic sheet or article comprising a plurality of porous layers coupled to each other. In one configuration, the thermoplastic article may comprise a core layer, a first layer disposed on one surface of the core layer and a second layer disposed on another surface of the core layer. In some instances, each of the core layer, the first layer and the second layer may comprises a web of open celled structures formed by a plurality of reinforcing materials bonded together with a thermoplastic material and optionally may also include a lofting agent. The lofting capacity in different layers can be selected or tuned to provide desired properties.

A method produces a fiber-reinforced body component for a motor vehicle. The body component has at least one opening, in particular one door opening or one window opening. The method includes at least the following steps: providing the body component; applying a reinforcing element made of fiber composite material having reinforcing fibers embedded in a matrix, in order to stiffen the body component, the matrix being in an uncured state, and the reinforcing element being applied to an opening frame of the opening, which opening frame is formed by the body component.

A composite article including fiber tows and a network including material drawn or pulled between the fiber tows. The network forms a physical barrier reducing propagation of cracks in the composite article. Exemplary structures described herein are the first to use a novel cellular architecture to toughen resin infused composites and create a continuous through thickness reinforcement that does not induce fiber breakage.

Radiation-shielding composite materials and their methods of manufacture. Such methods may include adding a metal hydride to a hardenable matrix precursor, adding a reinforcing material to the hardenable matrix precursor, and hardening the matrix precursor to form a composite material that incorporates the reinforcing material and the metal hydride in a solid matrix. The resulting radiation-shielding composite materials are configured to attenuate incident radiation, and may be used in the construction of panels, laminate structures, buildings, and aerospace vehicles, among others.

Methods for forming vascular components include providing a composite sacrificial body comprising a first sacrificial material having an outer surface and a second sacrificial material applied to at least a portion of the outer surface, molding a solid substrate around the composite sacrificial body, removing the first sacrificial material by deflagration such that at least a portion of the second sacrificial material remains in the same orientation relative to the substrate as originally molded, and subsequently removing the second sacrificial material by a non-deflagration process to form a vascular component. The second sacrificial material can include a phase change material, a syntactic foam including hollow beads bound together with a polymeric binder or a sintered aggregation of hollow beads, a polymeric foam, a water-soluble resin, or an aerogel. The non-deflagration process can include mechanical pulverization, contacting the second sacrificial material with a solvent or chemical etching agent.

A process is provided for thermal molding an article with at least one layer of thermoplastic fibers that are non-woven and uni-directionally oriented in combination with at least one layer of reinforcing fibers. The reinforcing fibers including glass, carbon, nature based, and combinations thereof; alone or mixed with chopped thermoplastic fibers. Upon subjecting the layers to sufficient heat to thermally bond in the presence of non-oriented filler fibers, thermoplastic fiber fusion encapsulates the filler fibers. The filler fibers impart physical properties to the resulting article and the residual unidirectional orientation of the thermoplastic melt imparts physical properties in the fiber direction to the article. By combining layers with varying orientations of uni-directional fibers relative to one another, the physical properties of the resulting article may be controlled and extended relative to conventional thermoplastic moldings. The uni-directional fibers may have discontinuities along the length of individual fibers.