FIBER TAPE FOR PRODUCING FIBER REINFORCED PARTS AND PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH A FIBER TAPE

Abstract

A fiber tape for producing fiber reinforced parts is provided. The fiber tape includes a fiber layer and a binder material securing the fibers of the fiber layer to each other. The binder material is provided as a binder mesh covering at least an upper surface and/or a lower surface of the fiber layer.

Claims

1. A fiber tape for producing fiber reinforced parts, comprising: a fiber layer comprising fibers; and a binder material securing the fibers of the fiber layer to each other, wherein the binder material is provided as a binder mesh covering at least one of an upper surface and a lower surface of the fiber layer.

2. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the binder mesh is provided as a binder mesh strip laterally folded around side edges of the fiber layer.

3. The fiber tape of claim 2, wherein two side edges of the binder mesh strip are overlapped with each other.

4. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the binder mesh is made of a hot-melt glue material.

5. The fiber tape of claim 4, wherein the binder mesh material is not or at least not fully activated.

6. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the binder mesh has a weight amounting to between about 3 g/m.sup.2 and about 30 g/m.sup.2, preferably between about 6 g/m.sup.2 and about 20 g/m.sup.2.

7. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the fiber layer comprises at least one of carbon fibers, glass fibers, polyester fibers, aramid fibers, and basalt fibers.

8. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the fibers are recycled fibers.

9. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein more than 50% of the fibers have a length of at least 60 mm, preferably a length of at least 100 mm.

10. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the fibers are realigned fibers.

11. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the fiber layer has a weight amounting to between about 10 g/m and about 50 g/m.

12. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the fiber layer has a width of between about 10 mm and about 50 mm, preferably of about 25 mm.

13. A process for manufacturing a fiber tape according to claim 1, wherein the binder mesh and the fiber layer are connected to each other, after the binder mesh is brought into contact with the one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the fiber layer.

14. The fiber tape of claim 2, wherein the binder mesh strip covers the upper surface, the lower surface and side surfaces of the fiber layer.

15. The fiber tape of claim 3, wherein overlapped portions of the binder mesh strip are joined to each other.

16. The fiber tape of claim 15, wherein the overlapped portions of the binder mesh strip are joined to each other by stitches.

17. The fiber tape of claim 1, wherein the binder mesh is binder material which forms a continuous structure.

18. The fiber tape of claim 2, wherein the binder mesh strip is wrapped around the fiber layer in a direction perpendicular to an alignment direction of the fibers.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] In the following, the present disclosure will be explained in more detail referring to the accompanying drawings, in which

[0032] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a fiber tape according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0033] FIG. 2 shows a schematic side view of a device for manufacturing the fiber tape of FIG. 1;

[0034] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged perspective view of the wrapping unit of the device of FIG. 2; and

[0035] FIG. 4 shows a test plate used in a check procedure for checking the quality of the fiber tape of FIG. 1 produced using the manufacturing device of FIG. 2;

[0036] FIG. 5 shows a schematic perspective view of a fiber tape according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a fiber tape 10 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0038] The fiber tape 10 comprises a fiber layer 13 formed of a plurality of fibers 14 extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction L of the fiber tape 10. The fiber layer 12 has a substantially flat shape, in other words, its width W is much larger than its height H. The fiber tape 18 further comprises a binder mesh 16, which is wrapped around the fiber layer 12 and secures the fibers 14 of the fiber layer 12 to each other. In particular, the binder mesh 16 covers an upper surface 12a and a lower surface 12b of the fiber layer 12, and also extends around the side surfaces 12c and 12d of the fiber layer 12.

[0039] According to a preferred, but not limiting embodiment, the fibers 14 may be long recycled carbon fibers (LrCF) realigned in order to extend substantially parallel to each other. The realignment may, for example, be achieved by the process and device known from FR 3 005 065 A1. It should be noted that, in the context of the present disclosure, the term long fibers refers to the fact that at least 50% of the fibers 14 have a length of at least 60 mm, preferably a length of at least 100 mm.

[0040] Furthermore, the binder mesh 16 may be made from a hot-melt or hot-softening glue material and may have a weight amounting to between about 3 g/m.sup.2 and about 30 g/m.sup.2, preferably between about 6 g/m.sup.2 and about 20 g/m.sup.2.

[0041] In order to form a closed envelope for the fiber layer 12, the two lateral edge portions 16a and 16b of the binder mesh 16 are overlapping each other. Furthermore, the gluing property of the hot-melt or hot-softening glue material of the binder mesh 16 may be at least partially activated in order to connect the two overlapping edge portions 16a and 16b of the binder mesh 16 to each other and to connect the entire binder mesh 16 to the fibers 14 of the fiber layer 12. A partial activation of the hot-melt glue material of the binder mesh 16 may, for example, be obtained by heating the hot-melt or hot-softening glue material to a temperature which is about 5 to 10 C. below its melting temperature or softening temperature range.

[0042] FIG. 2 shows a device 20 for manufacturing the fiber tape 10. The realigned fibers 14 are supplied onto a manufacturing platform 22 by a fiber supply unit 24, e.g. the fiber supply unit known from FR 3 005 065 A1. To be precise, the fibers 14 are supplied onto the binder mesh 16, which is supplied from a binder mesh coil 26. By means of a wrapping unit 28, which is shown in more detail in FIG. 3, the two lateral edge portions 16a and 16b of the binder mesh 16 are folded around the fiber layer 12 so that they overlap each other.

[0043] By means of a heat source 32, e.g. a hot air blowing unit 32 electing hot air 30 (see FIG. 2), the binder mesh 16 is heated, e.g. to a temperature, which is about 5 to 10 C. below the melting temperature or softening temperature range of the material of the binder mesh 16, in order to make the binder mesh material adherent (partial activation). It should be noted that instead of the hot air blowing unit 32 any other suitable type of heat source may be used, e.g. an infrared heater.

[0044] A pressure roller 34 presses the binder mesh 16 with its overlapping edge portions 16a and 16b against the fiber layer 12, in order to connect the overlapping edge portions 16a and 16b to each other and the overall binder mesh 16 to the fibers 14 of the fiber layer 12, or even to make the binder mesh material penetrate into the volume of the fiber layer 12. A cooling unit 36 cools the so-produced fiber tape 10 in order to maintain the achieved connected state of fiber layer 12 and binder mesh 16. Finally, the fiber tape 10 is coiled to a spool or coil 38 pulling the binder mesh 16 through the manufacturing device 20.

[0045] The degree of alignment of the fibers 14 supplied by the fiber supply unit 24 may be checked during the manufacturing process by a quality check unit 40, which, for example, may work optically on a pattern recognition basis.

[0046] In addition or alternatively, the quality of the fiber tape 10 produced by the manufacturing device 20 may be checked using a test plate 42 (see FIG. 4). The test plate 42 is manufactured by placing pieces of fiber tape 10 in several layers above each other such that the fibers 14 of all pieces of fiber tape 10 are extending parallel to each other, impregnating the so-obtained unidirectional preform with matrix material, e.g. thermoplastic or thermoset plastics material, and curing the matrix material. Then, two test samples 44 and 46 are cut from this test plate 42, both test samples 44, 46 having identical width w and identical length l, but, while the length direction, of test sample 44 extends parallel to the fiber direction L (0), length direction of test sample 46 extends orthogonal thereto (90). These two test samples 44, 46 are placed in a tensile strength testing equipment, in order to determine the tensile strength (TS) of the parallel test, sample 44 (TS(0)) and of the orthogonal test sample (TS(90)). And, if the tensile strengths (TS) of the two test samples 44, 46 differ from each other by more than 10% ((TS(0)TS(90))/TS(0)>10%), the fibers are deemed, to be aligned.

[0047] FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of a fiber tape according to the present disclosure substantially corresponding to the fiber tape 10 of FIG. 1. As a consequence, in FIG. 5, identical elements are designated by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1, but increased by 100. Moreover, fiber tape 110 shown in FIG. 5 is described only insofar it differs from fiber tape 10 of FIG. 1 to the description of which it is hereby explicitly referred.

[0048] Fiber tape 110 of FIG. 5 differs from fiber tape 10 of FIG. 1 by the fact that the overlapping edge portions 116a and 116b of the binder mesh 116, which are wrapped around the fibers 114 of the fiber layer 112, are connected to each other and to the fiber layer 112 by stitches 150, e.g. made from a thermoplastic thread. According to this embodiment, the hot-melt glue material of the binder mesh 116 needs not to be activated at all, as the stitches 150 are connecting not only the edge portions 116a and 116b to each other, but also the binder mesh 116 to the fibers 114 of the fiber layer 112 without the binder mesh material having to be adherent (partial activation) or tacky (full activation).