A method for spreading a tow of textile non-braided filaments, preferably chemical or inorganic fibres comprises providing a tow of textile non-braided filaments extending along its own main direction and having a section transverse to the main direction with a predetermined thickness and a predetermined width, feeding the tow along a travel path and spreading the tow in order to increase its width and reduce its thickness, defining a spread tow. The step of spreading the tow includes immersing the tow in a bath and generating in the bath a sequence of transverse waves crossing the tow transversely to the main direction in order to separate and place the individual filaments side by side, thereby spreading the tow, wherein the tow entering the bath and/or the spread tow extracted from the bath is/are unsized.

Systems include a creel assembly supporting a plurality of spools containing at least one cord having an indeterminate length such that a plurality of cords are supported on the creel assembly. A tensioner assembly operative to tension approximately equal predetermined lengths of the plurality of cords received from the creel assembly. A building mandrel supported for rotation and translation. A head assembly supported in fixed relation to the building mandrel. The head assembly is positioned co-axially such that the building mandrel can pass through an opening in the head assembly during translation. Methods of manufacture are included, as are flexible spring members and gas spring assemblies.

The present invention generally relates to manufacturing of a composite armature, more particularly, to apparatuses for helically winding of a winding roving about a rod when manufacturing a composite armature. There is provided is a helically winding apparatus allowing use of internally unwound roving bobbins instead of sheaves. The helically winding apparatus for a composite armature production line, the apparatus comprising: a disk-shaped creel (1) rotatable about its axis, wherein at least two drums (2) designed to have internally unwound direct roving bobbins mounted therein are mounted on a base of the disk-shaped creel, and each drum is configured to rotate about its axis and to unwind direct roving threads from a bobbin inner side, wherein each drum for placing bobbins of the direct roving is provided with a thread tensioner (3) placed thereon to provide twisting of the direct roving thread relative to its axis when the drum is rotated about its axis to form a twisted roving, wherein the helically winding apparatus further comprises: a cylindrical sleeve (4) positioned in a center of the disk-shaped creel and configured to pass a reinforcement rod through a center of the cylindrical sleeve, wherein the cylindrical sleeve has holes (5) for passing the twisted roving therethrough and helically winding of the twisted roving about the reinforcement rod when the disk-shaped creel is rotated about its axis. A technical effect provided by the claimed invention is an increased produceability of the helically winding apparatus, increased productivity, and a reduced rejection rate.

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a fiber reinforced resin material, the method including an opening step of opening an elongated fiber bundle to be widened in a width direction thereof to be put into a flat state; and a heat setting step of heat-setting the opened fiber bundle in the flat state by heating. In addition, the present invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a fiber reinforced resin material containing a plurality of fiber bundles and a resin, the apparatus including an opening section that opens an elongated fiber bundle to be widened in a width direction thereof to be put into a flat state; and a heat setting section that heat-sets the opened fiber bundle in the flat state by heating.

A method of producing a partially separated fiber bundle wherein, while a fiber bundle includes a plurality of single fibers travels along a lengthwise direction of the fiber bundle, a separator provided with a plurality of projected parts is penetrated into the fiber bundle to create a separation-processed part, and entangled parts, where the single fibers are interlaced, are formed at contact parts with the projected parts in at least one separation-processed part, thereafter the separator is removed from the fiber bundle, and after passing through an entanglement accumulation part including the entangled parts, the separator is penetrated again into the fiber bundle, characterized in that a separation processing time t1 during being penetrated with the separator and a time t2 from being removed with the separator to being penetrated again into the fiber bundle satisfy Equation (1): 0.03≤t2/(t1+t2)≤0.5.

A carbon fiber manufacturing method includes joining first and second target fiber bundles with a joining fiber bundle, and carbonizing the joined bundles by feeding them through one or more carbonization furnaces. The joining includes forming an overlap between a first end of the joining fiber bundle and a second end of the first target fiber bundle and jetting a fluid to the overlap to form a first entangled portion, and forming an overlap between a second end of the joining fiber bundle and a first end of the second target fiber bundle and jetting a fluid to the overlap to form a second entangled portion. When the first and second entangled portions each have two or more entangling points with a tensile strength not less than 400 N, the relationship defined by the inequality is satisfied: 40>{L2/(L2−A)}×(S+13), where L2 is a length (mm) of an elongation section inside a first carbonization furnace upstream in a feeding direction of the fiber bundles, A is a maximum distance (mm) between an entangling point in the first entangled portion and an entangling point in the second entangled portion, and S is an elongation (%) of the joined fiber bundles fed through the carbonization furnace.

A method of separating carbon fiber tows. The method includes separating two or more first carbon fiber tows from a first tow band onto a second elevation to form two or more second carbon fiber tows from a second tow band. The two or more second carbon fiber tows from the second tow band leave gaps next to first adjacent tows of the two or more first carbon fiber tows remaining from the first tow band after the separating step. The first adjacent tows from the first tow band leave gaps next to second adjacent tows of the two or more second carbon fiber tows from the second tow band.

A partially separated fiber bundle includes a separated fiber section and an unseparated fiber section, being configured to give a ratio A.sub.max/A.sub.min of 1.1 or larger and 3 or smaller, when the number of fiber bundles contained in the width direction of the partially separated fiber bundle (fiber separating number: N.sub.n) measured at a freely selected point P.sub.n (where, n represents an integer of 1 to 100, and freely selected points P.sub.n and P.sub.n+1, excluding n=100, being 50 cm or more away from each other), is divided by a full width of W.sub.n of the partially separated fiber bundle, to calculate the fiber separating number per unit width A.sub.n, and assuming its maximum value as A.sub.max and its minimum value as A.sub.min.

A method of spreading fibres, the method comprises providing a continuous fibre bundle having an initial width W.sub.a and causing the fibre bundle to run, in a running direction, through tensioning means and past or through fluid flow means, the tensioning means intermittently varying the tension in the fibre bundle and the fluid flow means producing a fluid flow through the fibre bundle as the tension varies in the fibre bundle, whereby the width of the fibre bundle increases to a spread width W.sub.b. Apparatus (1) is also disclosed, which apparatus (1) comprises a tensioning means (3) to intermittently vary the tension in the fibre bundle (2) and a fluid flow means (4) for producing a flow of fluid through the bundle (2).

A method of separating carbon fiber tows. The method includes separating two or more first carbon fiber tows from a first tow band onto a second elevation to form two or more second carbon fiber tows from a second tow band. The two or more second carbon fiber tows from the second tow band leave gaps next to first adjacent tows of the two or more first carbon fiber tows remaining from the first tow band after the separating step. The first adjacent tows from the first tow band leave gaps next to second adjacent tows of the two or more second carbon fiber tows from the second tow band.