CONSOLIDATION OF COMMINGLED THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE

Polymer composites are widely used in the automotive, aerospace and marine industries because of their high specific properties. As compared to metallic materials, polymer composites do not need very expensive mouldsand the fabrication processes, therefore their fabrication cost is very low. Various polymer matrices and high modulus reinforcements have been developed for different applications, together with a range of processing methods which are suitable for a wide range of manufacturing volumes. Thermoplastic matrix composites are particularly useful because of their toughness, clean processing and recyclability, which makes them attractive for automotive applications. However, one major drawback is their high melt viscosity, which makes impregnation difficult. Various methods have been developed to overcome this problem. One relatively inexpensive method is commingling, providing a new hybrid yarn that facilitates a range of fabrication options combined with tile potential for relatively low pressure processing. Commingled materials are widely available in a woven form or as a yarn for use in filament winding, pultrusion or braiding. The textile processing and the consolidation techniques or commingled material were studied to produce composite tubes and the results are described in this paper. A braiding machinewas used to make performs of tile thermoplastic commingled yarn followed by the consolidation. Tape compaction method is also described to obtain fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite tubes