A method of forming a composite vehicle components (e.g. walls, floor, roof) having interleaved foam core members and pre-pultruded reinforcing pillars by pultruding the cores and pillars into a vehicle component (e.g. bus sidewall formed as integral component front to rear) and cutting apertures therein for insertion of vehicle accessories (e.g. windows). Also, vehicle components can be formed having interlocking profiled edges where a first component is inserted into a second component, and rotated to bring the two components into locking engagement. A plurality of components can be formed with the same geometry, and oriented 180 degrees offset from each other to bring their profiled edges adjacent to each other.

A 3D thermoplastic pultrusion system, comprises one or more sets of 3D thermoplastic forming machines; a CNC control system controlling the one or more sets of 3D thermoplastic forming machines to form a heated prepreg thermoplastic composite material into a 3D thermoplastic composite pultrusion, the one or more sets of 3D thermoplastic forming machines include a plurality of motion control CNC rotational motors and CNC actuators operatively coupled to the motion control CNC rotational motors, a flexible chilled band shapeable by the CNC actuators to form the heated prepreg thermoplastic composite material into the thermoplastic composite pultrusion, and bearings that the motion control CNC rotational motors pivot the actuators about and hold the actuators in position during a consolidation process.

Various embodiments related to three dimensional printers, and reinforced filaments, and their methods of use are described. In one embodiment, a void free reinforced filament is fed into an extrusion nozzle. The reinforced filament includes a core, which may be continuous or semi-continuous, and a matrix material surrounding the core. The reinforced filament is heated to a temperature greater than a melting temperature of the matrix material and less than a melting temperature of the core prior to extruding the filament from the extrusion nozzle.

A tank for containing a pressurized fluid, including at least one cylindrical element made of a pultruded fibrous material impregnated with a thermoplastic matrix, a first cap placed at one end of at least one cylindrical element closing it, a second cap placed at the other end of at least one cylindrical element, fitted with an orifice intended to make possible the entry and the exit of the fluid, and at least one additional fibrous reinforcement, partially or completely surrounding the cylindrical element(s) and optionally the caps, the fibers contained in the additional fibrous reinforcement being positioned along a different axis from the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical element, the total content of fibers of the tank being of between 40% and 70% by volume, with respect to the volume of the matrix and of the fibers contained in the tank.

An improved sucker rod and the method of making is set forth herein. The improved sucker rod is used in well drilling to connect a pump present at a well casing to a motor and drive for a pump present at a well head. The method of making the improved sucker includes coating strands of sucker rod material with a mixture of epoxy and graphene platelets, bonding them together, and then extruding them through a pultrusion machine. The resulting improved sucker rod has increased flexibility, durability, corrosion resistance, and strength.

A method and a system for making a rotor slot cell by pultrusion are presented. The slot cell is positioned in a rotor slot between a rotor winding and a rotor body for insulation. Reinforcement material is pulled from a roving and passes through a resin tank for impregnation with resin mixture in the resin tank. The impregnated reinforcement material is cured in a die having a shape of the rotor slot. The cured reinforcement material is pulled from the die and cut to a predefined dimension for making the slot cell. The method significantly reduces cycle time for manufacturing slot cells and increases product output.

An elongate element is formed from a composite material and a coil is formed by winding the elongate element around a master model. The master model provides the coil with the general shape of a continuous ring and with dimensions that allow the resulting coil to form an insert equipped with at least two parts that are intended to extend respectively through at least two separate opening panel zones to be reinforced.

A 3D thermoplastic pultrusion system, comprises one or more sets of 3D thermoplastic forming machines; a CNC control system controlling the one or more sets of 3D thermoplastic forming machines to form a heated prepreg thermoplastic composite material into a 3D thermoplastic composite pultrusion, the one or more sets of 3D thermoplastic forming machines include a plurality of motion control CNC rotational motors and CNC actuators operatively coupled to the motion control CNC rotational motors, a flexible chilled band shapeable by the CNC actuators to form the heated prepreg thermoplastic composite material into the thermoplastic composite pultrusion, and bearings that the motion control CNC rotational motors pivot the actuators about and hold the actuators in position during a consolidation process.

A method of manufacturing a fiber-reinforced thermoset composite includes pulling a first portion of a continuous material comprised of reinforcement fibers which are impregnated with a heat curable thermosetting resin through a die. The first portion in the die is subjected to a field of electromagnetic microwaves to heat the first portion to at least a curing temperature of the thermosetting resin. A second portion of the continuous material is pulled through the die. The field of electromagnetic microwaves is reduced in the die such that the second portion is not heated to the curing temperature.

A system for producing rebar includes a pultruding machine configured to receive a flexible rebar preform. The flexible rebar preform includes at least one reinforcement filament, and at least one thermoplastic filament. The at least one reinforcement filament, and the at least one thermoplastic filament are arranged in a selected distribution across a cross-section of the preform. The pultruding machine includes a pulling apparatus, a rebar cutting apparatus, and a bending apparatus. The pultruding machine is configured to heat the flexible rebar preform to a first temperature. The first temperature is greater than or equal to a melt temperature of the thermoplastic filaments. The pulling apparatus is configured to pull the flexible rebar preform through a pultrusion die to form the rebar. The rebar cutting apparatus is configured to cut the rebar at a prespecified length. The bending apparatus is configured to bend the cut rebar to a prespecified bend geometry.