A thermoplastic prepreg includes a mat, web, or fabric of fibers and hollow glass microspheres that are positioned atop the mat, web, or fabric of fibers or dispersed therein. The thermoplastic prepreg also includes a thermoplastic polymer that is fully impregnated through the mat, web, or fabric of fibers and the hollow glass microspheres so that the thermoplastic prepreg has a void content of less than 3% by volume of the thermoplastic prepreg. The thermoplastic material is polymerized monomers and oligomers in which greater than 90% by weight of the monomers or oligomers react to form the thermoplastic material.

According to one embodiment, a system for manufacturing a fully impregnated thermoplastic prepreg includes a mechanism for moving a fabric or mat and a drying mechanism that removes residual moisture from at least one surface of the fabric or mat. The system also includes a resin application mechanism that applies a reactive resin to the fabric or mat and a press mechanism that presses the coated fabric or mat to ensure that the resin fully saturates the fabric or mat. The system further includes a curing oven through which the coated fabric or mat is moved to polymerize the resin and thereby form a thermoplastic polymer so that upon exiting the oven, the fabric or mat is fully impregnated with the thermoplastic polymer. During at least a portion of the process, humidity in the vicinity of the coated fabric or mat is maintained at substantially zero.

A manufacturing process of a fibrous preform for a composite material includes creating a fibrous texture by three-dimensional or multilayer weaving between a plurality of weft layers and warp layers, the fibrous texture including an extra-thick portion having a sacrificial portion and a useful portion adjacent to the sacrificial portion in the warp direction, the sacrificial portion, placing the fibrous texture in a forming toolset, shaping the fibrous texture so as to obtain a fibrous preform having a sacrificial portion and an adjacent useful portion, removing the sacrificial portion from the fibrous preform. When weaving the fibrous blank, one or more expansion elements are inserted into the weft layers located at the core of the sacrificial portion of the fibrous texture. Each expansion element has a cross-section greater than the cross-section or count of the weft threads or strands present in the useful portion.

Disclosed herein are carbon-fiber reinforced polymeric composite and methods related thereto.

A thermoplastic prepreg includes a mat, web, or fabric of fibers and hollow glass microspheres that are positioned atop the mat, web, or fabric of fibers or dispersed therein. The thermoplastic prepreg also includes a thermoplastic polymer that is fully impregnated through the mat, web, or fabric of fibers and the hollow glass microspheres so that the thermoplastic prepreg has a void content of less than 3% by volume of the thermoplastic prepreg. The thermoplastic material is polymerized monomers and oligomers in which greater than 90% by weight of the monomers or oligomers react to form the thermoplastic material.

Embodiments are directed to systems and methods for creating a tubular composite structure. In one embodiment, a device comprises multiple layers of cured composite fabric bonded together to form a tubular composite structure, wherein alternating groups of the multiple layers comprise on-axis fabric and off-axis fabric. The tubular composite structure may form a spar for an aerodynamic component. The composite fabric may comprise one or more of carbon, fiberglass, or other composite materials, or a combination of materials. One or more stacks of the fabric wrap completely around the tubular composite structure, and other stacks of fabric may not wrap completely around the tubular composite structure.

A method of manufacturing a spar for a propeller blade comprises forming a hollow inner core from a composite material, and then braiding carbon fibres around the inner core to form an outer spar structure. The hollow inner core may be formed using an inflatable bladder and a mould defining an outer shape of the spar. This construction avoids the need for a foam core to be provided within the spar.

A method for forming a crownplate of a golf club head includes the steps of providing a first plurality of composite pre-preg plies, aligning the first plurality of pre-preg plies within a mold cavity in a first configuration in the shape of the crownplate, and heating the plurality of composite pre-preg plies to form the crownplate. The first configuration includes a first thickness area and a second thickness area. The second thickness area is thicker than the first thickness area.

A thermosetting resin composition (C) of which curing can be started at a relatively low temperature in a short time and a cured product exhibits high heat resistance, the thermosetting resin composition (C) comprising an epoxy resin; an epoxy resin curing agent; and an epoxy resin curing accelerator, wherein the epoxy resin curing agent contains an imidazole-based curing agent 1 which is not encapsulated in a microcapsule and a curing agent 2 which is encapsulated in a microcapsule, and the epoxy resin curing accelerator comprises a urea derivative.

Provided is a thermosetting resin composition (C) of which curing can be started at a relatively low temperature in a short time and a cured product exhibits high heat resistance, the thermosetting resin composition (C) comprising an epoxy resin; an epoxy resin curing agent; and an epoxy resin curing accelerator, wherein the epoxy resin curing agent contains an imidazole-based curing agent 1 which is not encapsulated in a microcapsule and a curing agent 2 which is encapsulated in a microcapsule, and the epoxy resin curing accelerator comprises a urea derivative.