The purpose of the present invention is to obtain a fiber-reinforced plastic that is capable of controlling anisotropy, has excellent mechanical characteristics, has little variation, has excellent heat resistance, and has good fluidity during forming. A production method for fiber-reinforced plastic, having: a step in which a material (A) (100) including a prepreg base material is obtained, said prepreg base material having cuts therein and having a thermoplastic resin impregnated in reinforcing fibers (110) arranged in parallel in one direction; a step in which a pressurizing device is used that applies a substantially uniform pressure in a direction (X) orthogonal to the travel direction of the material (A) (100) and the material (A) (100) is caused to travel in the one direction and is pressurized while being heated to a prescribed temperature (T), an angle (.theta.) of 20-20 .degree. being formed between the orthogonal direction (X) and a fiber axial direction (Y) for the reinforcing fibers (110) of the prepreg base material; and a step in which the material (A) (100) pressurized by the pressurizing device is cooled and the fiber-reinforced plastic is obtained.

A hybrid wheel for vehicles that includes a unitary lug structure, with a mount face and a dish section of the lug structure extending therefrom. The lug structure is usually a cast aluminum alloy. A wheel structure including a high strength polymer encapsulates a portion of the lug structure dish section. Rim ring(s) are included in the wheel structure and are preferably made of a fiber reinforced high strength polymer.

A method for forming a structural component for an airframe of an aircraft or spacecraft, includes: providing a prefabricated shell element comprising a thermoplastic substrate; and applying a stiffening structure to the shell element by additive manufacturing, wherein a plurality of continuous thermoplastic filaments filled with reinforcing fibers are continuously heated and three dimensionally formed such that the filaments are crossing and bonded to each other at a plurality of crossing points to form a three dimensional grid truss integrally formed on the shell element. A corresponding structural component and an aircraft or spacecraft including such a structural component are also described.

The reinforcing material comprises a unidirectional reinforcing web (2) formed of one or a plurality of carbon yarns (3), associated on at least one of its faces, preferably on each of its faces, with a porous polymeric layer (4, 5), the polymeric portion of the reinforcing material representing from 0.5% to 10% of its total weight and preferably from 2% to 6% of its total weight, characterized in that said carbon yarns (3) are individually twisted having a twist from 3 turns/m to 15 turns/m, preferably from 6 turns/m to 12 turns/m, and comprise at least one S-twist yarn and at least one Z-twist yarn, from a selection according to claim 1.

Method of manufacturing an anti-ballistic plate (100), comprising: providing a stack (4) of fiber layers (3) of polymer fibers (1), with voids (5) between the fibers, wherein the volume of the voids constitutes at least 6% of the volume of the provided fiber layers, and the average thickness of said fiber layers (3) corresponds to a thickness resulting from at least two rows (2) of fibers. Heating the stack (4). Compressing the stack to permanently deforming the fibers, thereby reducing the volume of said voids to less than 3% of the volume of said fiber layers, as step a) comprises providing the voids with a sufficient volume of a compressible gas or vacuum to enable said reduction of volume. Cooling the stack (4) while under compression. The compression step comprises compressing the stack using a pressure of at least 200 bar.

A process is provided for thermal molding an article with at least one layer of thermoplastic fibers that are non-woven and uni-directionally oriented in combination with at least one layer of reinforcing fibers. The reinforcing fibers including glass, carbon, nature based, and combinations thereof; alone or mixed with chopped thermoplastic fibers. Upon subjecting the layers to sufficient heat to thermally bond in the presence of non-oriented filler fibers, thermoplastic fiber fusion encapsulates the filler fibers. The filler fibers impart physical properties to the resulting article and the residual unidirectional orientation of the thermoplastic melt imparts physical properties in the fiber direction to the article. By combining layers with varying orientations of uni-directional fibers relative to one another, the physical properties of the resulting article may be controlled and extended relative to conventional thermoplastic moldings. The uni-directional fibers may have discontinuities along the length of individual fibers.

A fibrous material or composite including a plurality of layers joined to one another, for example, by needlepunching, is disclosed. The fibrous composite generally has an asymmetrical stretch profile, such that the fibrous composite is more extensible in the cross-machine direction than in the machine direction. The fibrous composite may find particular use in forming a cure-in-place pipe liner.

The invention relates to a reinforcing material (1) consisting of a unidirectional reinforcing web (2) formed of one or more carbon reinforcing yarns (3), associated on each of its faces with a veil of polymeric fibers (4, 5) chosen from among nonwoven materials, the polymeric portion of the reinforcing material representing from 0.5% to 10% of the total weight of the reinforcing material (1), and preferably from 2% to 6% of its total weight, said unidirectional reinforcing web (2) comprising one or a series of reinforcing yarns (3) individually twisted having a twist of 3 turns/m to 15 turns/m, preferably from 6 turns/m to 12 turns/m.

A process is provided for thermal molding an article with at least one layer of thermoplastic fibers that are non-woven and uni-directionally oriented in combination with at least one layer of reinforcing fibers. The reinforcing fibers including glass, carbon, nature based, and combinations thereof; alone or mixed with chopped thermoplastic fibers. Upon subjecting the layers to sufficient heat to thermally bond in the presence of non-oriented filler fibers, thermoplastic fiber fusion encapsulates the filler fibers. The filler fibers impart physical properties to the resulting article and the residual unidirectional orientation of the thermoplastic melt imparts physical properties in the fiber direction to the article. By combining layers with varying orientations of uni-directional fibers relative to one another, the physical properties of the resulting article may be controlled and extended relative to conventional thermoplastic moldings. The uni-directional fibers may have discontinuities along the length of individual fibers.

A supporting pole for supporting objects at an elevated position, such as a supporting pole for supporting cables, wires and/or electrical components. The supporting pole is formed of one or more fiber reinforced plastic resin laminates, wherein the one or more laminates comprise: a first ply, the first ply comprising unidirectional fibers, the unidirectional fibers having a first Young's modulus, and a second ply, the second ply comprising chopped fibers, the chopped fibers having a second Young's modulus; wherein the first Young's modulus is greater than the second Young's modulus, and wherein the unidirectional fibers in the laminate are at least 70 wt % of the fibers in the laminate.