The invention enhances the production efficiency in the production of prepreg by allowing the arrangement property and rectilinearity of reinforcing fibers to be well maintained, allowing the basis weight uniformity of an applied resin to be good, and further allowing a high line speed and suppression of contamination in the process to be achieved. The invention provides a method of producing a prepreg, which includes: discharging a molten resin from a discharge portion; introducing the discharged resin by an air flow; and capturing the discharged resin on a reinforcing fiber sheet conveyed continuously, wherein a key point is that the discharged resin is captured in a region in which the reinforcing fiber sheet is conveyed substantially in planar form.

The invention provides a powder pre-preg comprising as sole resin a vinyl ester resin having a Tg in the range of 5 to +30 C. and a melt viscosity @100 C. in the range of 2 to 75 dPa.Math.s, which can be used in making a composite at a temperature as low as 80 C.

An apparatus and method for the automated manufacturing of three-dimensional (3D) composite-based objects is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a material feeder, a printer, a powder system, a transfer system, and optionally a fuser. The method comprises inserting a stack of substrate sheets into a material feeder, transferring a sheet of the stack from the material feeder to a printer, depositing fluid on the single sheet while the sheet rests on a printer platen, transferring the sheet from the printer to a powder system, depositing powder onto the single sheet such that the powder adheres to the areas of the sheet onto which the printer has deposited fluid, removing any powder that did not adhere to the sheet, optionally melting the powder on the substrate, and repeating the steps for as many additional sheets as required for making a specified 3D object.

To provide a polyarylene sulfide (PAS) resin composition and a PAS resin molded article that are excellent in mechanical strengths such as impact resistance while maintaining excellent heat resistance of the PAS resin, and methods for producing the PAS resin composition and the PAS resin molded article. Specifically, provided are a method for producing a long fiber-reinforced PAS resin molded article, the method including obtaining a long fiber-reinforced PAS resin composition containing a PAS resin and a fiber reinforcing material having a fiber length of more than 5 mm, subsequently subjecting the resin composition and a PAS resin to dry blending, and subsequently subjecting the dry-blended substance to melting and subsequently to melt-molding; the long fiber-reinforced PAS resin composition; and a method for producing the long fiber-reinforced PAS resin composition.

Methods of making prepregs are described. The methods include the steps of forming a fiber-containing substrate, and contacting the fiber-containing substrate with a resin mixture. The resin mixture may include polymer particles mixed in a liquid medium, and the polymer particles may be coated on the fiber-containing substrate to form a coated substrate. The liquid medium may be removed from the coated substrate to form the prepreg. The prepregs may be used to make fiber-reinforced articles.

The method for producing a unidirectional carbon fiber tape, the method comprising: passing a first portion of a strand of fiber through an oven to carbonize the first portion, thereby converting carbon fiber precursor fiber of the first portion to carbon fiber, wherein the first portion comprises carbon fiber precursor fiber; and impregnating the carbon fiber of the first portion with thermoplastic matrix material to form impregnated fiber, while a second portion of the strand of fiber that is upstream of the first portion is passing through the oven to convert carbon fiber precursor fiber of the second portion to additional carbon fiber.

A semifinished product for making a composite fiber molded part is made by first spinning from a row of orifices of a spinning nozzle low-melting fibers of a thermoplastic. These low-melting fibers are then combined into a laminated semifinished product with high-melting reinforcement fibers of the same thermoplastic but having a melting temperature higher than the melting temperature of the low-melting fibers.

The present invention provides a fiber-reinforced resin intermediate material, including not only a thermoplastic resin but also a thermosetting resin, in which defects such as voids are difficult to be generated and which is excellent in shaping ability; and a method for manufacturing the same. The fiber-reinforced resin intermediate material according to the present invention is a fiber-reinforced resin intermediate material formed by attaching a resin to an outer surface part of a reinforcing fiber substrate formed of reinforcing fibers subjected to opening and heating the resin to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the resin to impregnate the reinforcing fiber substrate with the resin, wherein the reinforcing fiber substrate has void space that is opened on an outer surface thereof and the resin is in a semi-impregnated state.

The prepreg sheet, which is an intermediate of molded articles, has a nonwoven fabric having carbon fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers, wherein the prepreg sheet has a thickness expansion rate of 250% or less after being heated for 90 seconds at a temperature of the melting point of the thermoplastic resin fiber to the melting point+100 C.

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.