A pre-stressed pultruded glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic lumber suitable for demanding construction environments, particularly marine and outdoor applications, features a solid core composed of a thermoplastic, such as PVC, blended with 15% to 40% by weight of pelletized chopped strand glass fibers. Pre-tensioned elongated continuous fiber reinforcements are embedded within and coextensive with this core via pultrusion. The presence of pelletized and fragmented glass fibers within the core enhances the mechanical coupling between the core and the continuous reinforcements, facilitating the transfer of tensile stress to the core as compressive pre-stress. An outer co-extruded cap stock provides protection against UV and IR radiation and enhances impact resistance. The resulting lumber exhibits a high modulus of elasticity (exceeding 800,000 psi), at least 60% fiber length retention, improved durability, and resistance to common wood degradation factors without the use of toxic chemicals.

Composite material protection from UV degradation is disclosed by providing a co-cured composite material substrate co-cured with a UV/visible light-resistant fiberglass layer to form co-cured composite materials for exclusively imparting UV/visible light-resistant properties to co-cured composite material substrates for use in UV/visible light-resistant vehicle fuel tank assemblies.

The present invention addressed the problem of providing a molded body which has a high performance of reducing energy caused by the application of a load, and which is obtained from a fiber-reinforced resin containing reinforcing fibers arranged while aligned in one direction. To solve the problem, the present invention relates to a molded body, including a reinforced layer formed by layering fiber-reinforced resin layers containing a plurality of reinforcing fibers arranged while aligned in one direction and a matrix resin impregnated with the reinforcing fibers. In the molded body, the reinforced layer has a plurality of alignment shifted layers, which are fiber-reinforced resin layers in which the shift angle, i.e., the angle formed by the reinforcing fibers with respect to the longitudinal direction of the reinforced layer, is 25 to 65 or 65 to 25.

An apparatus and method for making molded products for marine, automotive, recreational, and other applications. The apparatus and method for making the molded products generally includes a closed mold and an inline mixer for adding a catalyst to a filled resin. The method may include adding a fiber material to a resin to create the filled resin, adding a catalyst to the filled resin, and mixing the catalyst and the filled resin to create an uncured catalyzed, filled resin. The method may also include adding the uncured catalyzed, filled resin to a mold and allowing the uncured catalyzed, filled resin to harden in the mold.

A printer head for three-dimensional printing of a continuous fiber-reinforced thermoset composite may include a deposition syringe, a fiber housing, and a feeding tube. The deposition syringe may define a resin reservoir, an air chamber, and a first inlet port configured to deliver a first flow of air to the air chamber. The deposition syringe may include a syringe body and a piston. The syringe body may include an inlet section, a needle section, and a converging section disposed between the inlet section and the needle section. The fiber housing may define a fiber chamber and a second inlet port configured to deliver a second flow of air to the fiber chamber. The feeding tube may extend from the fiber chamber to the needle section and may be configured to receive the second flow of air therein and to guide a fiber from the fiber chamber to the needle section.

An underride protection device for a battery-electric vehicle, having a sandwich arrangement with a core layer arranged between an upper cover layer and a lower cover layer made of a fiber-reinforced plastic material. In order to functionally improve the underride protection device, ribs are arranged on the upper cover layer, which are materially connected to the upper cover layer, wherein the ribs arranged on the upper cover layer are surrounded by a respective top layer, which is materially connected to the upper cover layer at two retaining sections.

A method for analyzing semifinished products including reinforcing fibers having an essentially unidirectional orientation and a thermoplastic resin, including a first and a second test for measuring the thickness of a stack of semifinished products over time during the compression thereof and for determining the equivalent homogeneous viscosity of the stack; determining the total thickness reduction of the stack of semifinished products during the first test; determining the ratio of the equivalent homogeneous viscosity of the stack from the second test to the equivalent homogeneous viscosity of the stack from the first test; and determining the ratio of the thickness of the stack from the first test after a reference time starting from the moment of the onset of melting of the stack of semifinished products, to the thickness of the stack from the first test at the moment of the onset of melting of the stack of semifinished products.

Pressure moulding process, and related device (100), for manufacturing an article, the process comprising: providing a substrate (70) made of a composite material comprising a first polymeric material and fibres impregnated with said first polymeric material; providing a coating sheet (71); heating said substrate (70) to a temperature of the substrate (70) greater than 160 C.; subsequently, during a first compression step, compressing under pressure the substrate (70) and the coating sheet (71) between a first conformation surface (1) and a second conformation surface (2) for conforming the substrate (70) and the coating sheet (71) and for firmly fixing the substrate (70) and the coating sheet (71) to each other; during a second compression step subsequent to the first compression step, compressing under pressure the substrate (70) and the coating sheet (71) between the first (1) and second conformation surface (2) and injecting a second polymeric material in an injection cavity (3) having an outlet mouth (4) onto the first conformation surface (1), wherein a first face of the substrate (70) opposite to the coating sheet (71) is in contact with the first conformation surface (1); cooling the second polymeric material for firmly fixing the second polymeric material to the first face of the substrate (70), wherein, during the first compression step, a temperature of the first (1) and second conformation surface (2) is less than 120 C.

Provided is a glass multiple-ply roving that is excellent in impregnation quality of a thermoplastic resin for a random mat and workability in production of a random mat, and can impart excellent strength to a thermoplastic composite material. The glass multiple-ply roving includes a plurality of glass strands, wherein the weight of the glass strands, S, is in the range of 64 to 210 tex, the fiber diameter of the glass strands, D, is in the range of 9.0 to 18.0 m, the ignition loss of the glass multiple-ply roving, L, is in the range of 0.55 to 0.94%, and the S, D, and L satisfy the following formula (1):
4.101000S.sup.1/2/(D.sup.3L.sup.3)7.10(1).