The present invention relates to a catheter system having a reinforced guidewire shaft and a method of manufacturing a reinforced catheter shaft. In particular, the present invention relates to a catheter shaft having two or more polymer layers and a reinforcement layer that is comprised of braids or a coil or combination thereof. The braided reinforcement layer may have a constant picks per inch (PPI) between braids or a variable PPI between braids. Similarly, the coiled reinforcement layer may have a constant pitch space between coils or a variable pitch space between coils. The reinforced catheter shaft may be manufactured by a continuous reel-to-reel process using liquid polymers that are heat-hardened or by a discrete process using extruded tube that is shrunk with heat.

A method of manufacturing a sealed circuit card assembly includes disposing a circuit card assembly within a volume defined by a housing and at least partially filling the volume with a curable liquid such that the curable liquid encapsulates at least a circuit card. The method may also include curing the curable liquid to form a potted circuit card assembly and, after at least partially filling the volume with the curable liquid and after curing the curable liquid, vacuum impregnating the potted circuit card assembly with a sealant to seal any exposed interfaces or cracks to form the sealed circuit card assembly. Accordingly, the sealed circuit card assembly may include a first cured material encapsulating the circuit card of the circuit card assembly and a second cured material disposed within, for example, a porosity of the first cured material.

A method for bonding composite structures which includes providing a first and second composite substrate and coupling a co-cure prepreg tape having chemically protected polymerizable functional groups onto a surface of both the first and second composite substrates. The first and second composite substrates are then cured to the co-cure prepreg tape at a first temperature to form a co-cure prepreg tape portion where the first and second composite substrates are fully cured and the co-cure prepreg tape is partially cured. The co-cure prepreg tape portion of the first composite substrate is then coupled to the co-cure prepreg tape portion of the second composite substrate and a deprotection initiator is applied to facilitate deprotection of the chemically protected polymerizable functional groups and cure the co-cure prepreg tape portion of the first and second composite substrates to form a single covalently bonded composite structure.

The invention relates to a method for treating fibres, to an installation for treating fibres and thus obtained tape made of treated fibres. The treatment method comprises the steps of continuously supplying a bundle of fibres (1), applying a first resin (51) to the bundle of fibres (1) by electrostatic deposition of particles of the first resin (51), bonding the particles of the first resin (51) to the bundle of fibres (1) by heating, and applying a surface coating to at least one side of the bundle of fibres (1) by depositing filaments of a second resin (91), such that the thus obtained tape made of fibres has a minimum resin load in relation to the fibre used.

A module for an additive manufacturing system includes a frame configured to be removably mounted on a movable support, a dispenser configured to deliver a layer of particles on a platen that is separate from the frame or an underlying layer on the platen, a heat source configured to heat the layer of particles to a temperature below a temperature at which the particles fuse, and an energy source configured to fuse the particles. The dispenser, heat source and energy source are positioned on the frame in order along a first axis, and the dispenser, heat source and energy source are fixed to the frame such that the frame, dispenser, heat source and energy source can be mounted and dismounted as a single unit from the support.

A molding method is provided for manufacturing a composite material having a base layer formed of at least one first prepreg sheet and a second prepreg sheet stacked on at least a portion of the first prepreg sheet. The first prepreg sheet and the second prepreg sheet are stacked, and then heated and cured. The second prepreg sheet constitutes a front surface layer that is integrally formed on the surface of the base layer. Here, the amount of second resin in the second prepreg sheet is larger than the amount of first resin in the first prepreg sheet on a per unit volume basis in an interface between the first prepreg sheet and the second prepreg sheet when the second prepreg sheet is stacked on the first prepreg sheet.

A shaped product of a fiber-reinforced composite material includes a well-shaped part and a surface-shaped part, in which the well-shaped part includes a fiber-reinforced composite material C including both discontinuous reinforcing fibers and a thermoplastic resin, and the surface-shaped part includes a thermoplastic-resin-based material, and the shaped product includes no irregular-shape portion in the well-shaped part and no weld at a boundary edge between the well-shaped part and the surface-shaped part.

The present invention provides a fiber-reinforced composite material including a first fiber-reinforced sheet in which first prepregs including reinforcing fibers arranged in one direction and a first thermoplastic resin are woven to cross each other, a second fiber-reinforced sheet in which the first prepreg, and a second prepreg including reinforcing fibers arranged in one direction and a second thermoplastic resin are woven to cross each other, and a third fiber-reinforced sheet in which the second prepregs are woven to cross each other, wherein the second fiber-reinforced sheet is disposed between the first fiber-reinforced sheet and the third fiber-reinforced sheet.

A fiber composite laminate having one or more fiber layers, comprising a first laminate region and a second laminate region. In the first laminate region, the fiber layers of the fiber composite laminate are impregnated with a thermoplastic elastomer material. In the second laminate region, fiber layers of a first lamina of the fiber composite laminate are impregnated with the thermoplastic elastomer matrix, and fiber layers of at least one second lamina of the fiber composite laminate that is positioned on top of the first lamina are impregnated with a thermosetting polymer matrix.

A method for manufacturing an outer skin of a rotor blade includes forming an outer skin layer of the outer skin from a first combination of at least one of one or more resins or fiber materials. The method also includes forming an inner skin layer of the outer skin from a second combination of at least one of one or more resins or fiber materials. More specifically, the first and second combinations are different. Further, the method includes arranging the outer and inner skin layers together in a stacked configuration. In addition, the method includes joining the outer and inner skin layers together to form the outer skin.