THREE-DIMENSIONAL THERMOPLASTIC SANDWICH PANEL COMPOSITE

Abstract

A composite structure for interior lining includes a honeycomb structure having a first main surface and a second main surface, a first nonwoven layer of fibers bonded to the honeycomb structure at the first main surface or the second main surface. The honeycomb structure and the first nonwoven layer of fibers include thermoplastic polymeric materials. The honeycomb structure is provided from an uncut flat body and includes a plurality of honeycomb cells, and the honeycomb cells are delimited by walls. A film, including a thermoplastic polymeric material, is located in the composite structure between the first nonwoven layer of fibers and the honeycomb structure and/or bonded to the honeycomb structure at the main surface opposite to the main surface at which the first nonwoven layer of fibers is bonded to the honeycomb structure.

Claims

1. A composite structure for interior lining comprising a honeycomb structure having a first main surface and a second main surface, a first nonwoven layer of fibers bonded to the honeycomb structure at the first main surface or the second main surface, wherein the honeycomb structure and the first nonwoven layer of fibers comprise thermoplastic polymeric materials, wherein the honeycomb structure is provided from an uncut flat body and comprises a plurality of honeycomb cells, and the honeycomb cells are delimited by walls, wherein a film, comprising a thermoplastic polymeric material, is located in the composite structure between the first nonwoven layer of fibers and the honeycomb structure and/or bonded to the honeycomb structure at the main surface opposite to the main surface at which the first nonwoven layer of fibers is bonded to the honeycomb structure.

2. The composite structure according to claim 1, wherein a second nonwoven layer of fibers, which comprises thermoplastic material, is bonded to the honeycomb structure at the main surface opposite to the main surface at which the first nonwoven layer of fibers is bonded to the honeycomb structure.

3. The composite structure according to claim 1, wherein the film has a thickness of 10 μm to 250 μm measured according to ISO 4593.

4. The composite structure according to claim 2, wherein the first nonwoven layer of fibers and/or the second nonwoven layer of fibers comprise pores having a pore diameter of 0.1 μm to 400 μm, as determined by microflow porometry, using a PMI capillary Flow Porometer with a test size of 0.5 cm.sup.2 using Galwick (surface tension of 15.9 mN/m).

5. The composite structure according to claim 2, wherein the first nonwoven layer of fibers and/or the second nonwoven layer of fibers comprise one or more plies of fibers.

6. The composite structure according to claim 5, wherein the fibers of the one or more plies are the same fibers or are different fibers.

7. The composite structure according to claim 2, wherein the first nonwoven layer of fibers and/or the second nonwoven layer of fibers has a breaking strength of at least 15 N/5 cm measured according to ISO 9073-3.

8. The composite structure according to claim 2, wherein the first nonwoven layer of fibers and/or the second nonwoven layer of fibers comprises mono-component fibers, two types of mono-component fibers and/or bicomponent fibers.

9. The composite structure according to claim 8, wherein the bicomponent fibers are core/sheath bicomponent fibers, wherein the core and the sheath and the mono-component fibers of the two types of mono-component fibers comprise the same class of thermoplastic polymeric material or comprise chemically different thermoplastic polymeric materials.

10. The composite structure according to claim 8, wherein the different thermoplastic polymeric materials comprised in the two mono component fibers and/or in the bicomponent fibers have a different melting temperature of at least 10° C.

11. The composite structure according to claim 1, wherein the honeycomb structure has a thickness of 2.0 mm to 20 mm.

12. The composite structure according to claim 1, wherein the honeycomb cells of the honeycomb structure have a diameter of 3.0 mm to 30 mm, which is measured as a perpendicular distance between two walls which are located opposite to each other in the honeycomb cell.

13. The composite structure according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic polymeric material is selected from a group comprising polyolefin like polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), and recycled polypropylene polyester like polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), recycled polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate glycol modified (PET-G) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyether ketones like polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and polyether ketone ketones (PEKK), higher technical polymers such as polycarbonate (PC), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and polyvinyl butyral (PVB), and polyamides like polyamide 6,6 (PA6,6) and polyamide 6 (PA6) and copolymers of blends thereof.

14. The composite structure according to claim 2, wherein the honeycomb structure, the film, the first nonwoven layers of fibers and the second are nonwoven layers of fibers comprise different thermoplastic polymeric materials, the same class of thermoplastic polymeric material or the same thermoplastic polymeric material.

15. The composite structure according to claim 1, wherein a half of the honeycomb cells are closed on the side of the first main surface of the honeycomb structure and a half of the honeycomb cells are closed on the side of the second main surface, wherein every honeycomb cell is open at one side.

16. The composite structure according to claim 1, wherein the honey comb cells are filled with a material selected from a group comprising thixotropic liquids, fibrous material, micro fibrous material, porous particulate systems, and nano-porous particulate systems such as aerogels.

17. A method for manufacturing a composite structure by providing a honeycomb structure having a first main surface and a second main surface, bonding a first nonwoven layer to the honeycomb structure at the first main surface or the second main surface of the honeycomb structure, wherein the honeycomb structure and the first nonwoven layer of fibers comprise thermoplastic polymeric materials, wherein the honeycomb structure is provided from an uncut flat body and comprises a plurality of honeycomb cells, and the honeycomb cells are delimited by walls, wherein a film, comprising a thermoplastic polymeric material, is provided in the composite structure between the first nonwoven layer of fibers and the honeycomb structure and/or bonded to the honeycomb structure at the main surface opposite to the main surface at which the first nonwoven layer of fibers is bonded to the honeycomb structure.

18. An interior lining comprising a composite structure according to claim 1.

19. An automotive headliner comprising an interior lining according to claim 18.

Description

FIGURES

[0218] The description of the figures and the figures itself have to be understood as embodiments of the invention and not as limiting features.

[0219] FIG. 1a-b shows a cross section view of the composite structure.

[0220] FIGS. 2 to 7 show plan views of different honeycomb structures.

[0221] FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a section of a preformed film in a folding process.

[0222] FIG. 1a shows a cross sectional view of the composite structure (100) comprising a honeycomb structure (102), a first nonwoven layer of fibers (101) and a second nonwoven layer of fibers (103) and a film (104). Accordingly, the first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (102) is faced to the first nonwoven layer of fibers (101) and the second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (102) is faced to the second nonwoven layer of fibers (103). The film (104) is located between the first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (102) and the first nonwoven layer of fibers (101).

[0223] FIG. 1b shows a cross sectional view of the composite structure (100) comprising a honeycomb structure (102), a first nonwoven layer of fibers (101) and a second nonwoven layer of fibers (103) and a film (104). Accordingly, the first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (102) is faced to the first nonwoven layer of fibers (103) and the second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (103) is faced to the second nonwoven layer of fibers (101). The film (104) is located between the second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (102) and the second nonwoven layer of fibers (103).

[0224] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a honeycomb structure (200), wherein the honeycomb structure comprises rows of honeycombs (201) and (202). The honeycomb rows (201) and (202) are oriented in the direction of the machine direction (MD) and the honeycomb cells of the honeycomb rows (201) and (202) are alternatingly opened and closed to a first main surface or a second main surface main surfaces (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (200). All honeycomb cells of the honeycomb rows (201) are opened at a first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (200) and all the honeycomb cells of the honeycomb rows (202) are opened to a second main surface of the honeycomb structure (200).

[0225] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of a honeycomb structure (300), wherein a half of the honeycomb cells of the honeycomb structure (300) are filled with a material (301). In this figure only the honeycomb rows (301) are filled, which means that only honeycombs opened to a first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (300) are filled.

[0226] FIG. 4 shows a plan view of a honeycomb structure (400) wherein a half of the honeycomb cells of the honeycomb structure (400) are filled with a material (402). In this figure only the honeycomb rows (402) are filled, which means that only honeycombs opened to a second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (400) are filled. In comparison to FIG. 3, FIG. 4 shows that the other half of the honeycomb cells are filled with a material.

[0227] FIG. 5 shows a plan view of a honeycomb structure (500), wherein a half of the honeycomb cells of the honeycomb structure (500) are filled with a material (501) and (502), wherein the filling of the honeycomb cells comprises a pattern which is diagonal to the machine direction (MD) and to the cross machine direction (CMD). The filled honeycomb cells (501) are opened to a first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (500) and the filled honeycomb cells (502) are opened to the second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (500).

[0228] FIG. 6 shows a plan view of a honeycomb structure (600) comprising honeycomb cells (601), wherein all honeycomb cells (601) are opened to a first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (600) and are not filled with a material. The honeycomb cells (602) are opened to a second main surface (not shown) in view of the honeycomb cells (601) and are filled with a material, further, the honeycomb cells (603) are also opened a second main surface of the honeycomb structure (600) in view of the honeycomb cells (601) and are not filled with a material. The filled honeycomb cells (602) shows a pattern, wherein only every second honeycomb cell of all honeycomb cells, which are opened to a second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (600) in view of the honeycomb cells (601).

[0229] FIG. 7 shows a plan view of a honeycomb structure (700) comprising honeycomb cells which are not filled with material (701) and (704) and honeycomb cells which are filled with a material (702) and (703). The filled honeycomb cells (702) and (703) are randomly distributed in the honeycomb structure (700) and the filled honeycomb cells (703) have its opening to a first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (700) and the filled honeycomb cells (702) have its opening on to a second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (700). Also, the not filled honeycomb cells (701) have its opening to a first main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (700) and the also not filled honeycomb cells (704) have its opening to the second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure (700).

[0230] FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a section of a deformed film (800), wherein the folding of the deformed film is in the beginning. After the folding is completed the walls (802) and (803) are the walls which are delimiting the honeycomb cells (not shown) in machine direction (MD) and the walls (802) and (803) aligned substantially parallel, wherein the walls (802) and (803) are connected only at the shared honeycomb cell boundary ribs (dashed lines 805 and 806). The shared honeycomb cell boundary ribs are located in the first main surface (not shown) and/or in the second main surface (not shown) of the honeycomb structure after complete folding of the preformed film (800). The walls which are not delimiting in machine direction (MD) comprises only one honeycomb wall (801) or (804). Further, connecting areas (807 and 808) are shown, which are closing the honeycomb cells (not shown) after full folding in one main surface. Thereby, the connecting areas (807 and 808) are located in different mains surfaces of the honeycomb structure.