Toray Industries, Inc.

Andrew Hideo Koyanagi

Nobuyuki Arai

Narumichi Sato

Alfred P Haro

Ryohei Watari

A laminate body is provided which contains a thin prepreg having a component (A) containing a matrix of reinforcing fiber, a component (B) containing a thermosetting resin, and a component (C) containing particles of a thermoplastic resin. When molded and cured out of autoclave, the laminate body achieves a fiber-reinforced composite having a low void ratio and providing excellent mechanical performance.

Prepreg, laminate body, fiber-reinforced composite material, and manufacturing method for fiber-reinforced composite material

The objective of the present invention is to provide a prepreg and a fiber reinforced composite material using this prepreg. This prepreg has good handleability, is suitable for producing a reinforced composite material in a short-time and without using an autoclave, and is capable of yielding a fiber reinforced composite material exhibiting excellent impact resistance, wherein the occurrence of voids has been suppressed. To attain the objective, this prepreg comprises a reinforced fiber [A] that is layered and partially impregnated with an epoxy resin composition containing an epoxy resin [B] and a hardener [C], the impregnation rate &#x3c6; being 30 to 95%. In this prepreg, a thermoplastic resin [D] insoluble in the epoxy resin [B] is distributed unevenly over a surface on one side of the prepreg, and a portion not impregnated with the epoxy resin composition is localized in the layer of the reinforced fiber [A] on the side where the thermoplastic resin [D] is distributed unevenly. This prepreg has a localization parameter &#x3c3;, which defines the degree of the localization to be in the range of 0.10&#x3c;&#x3c3;&#x3c;0.45.

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Iyo-gun, Japan

Andrew Hideo Koyanagi