Toray Industries, Inc.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited

Hiroshi Odani

Shigeru Nishiyama

Masahiko Shimizu

Toshihide Sekido

Kazuaki Kitaoka

Toshihiro Ito

Eisuke Wadahara

Masaaki Yamasaki

Tetsuo Makino

Tomoyuki Shinoda

Yutaka Ochi

Keiichi Fujiki

Nobuo Asahara

Naofumi Hosokawa

Fumihito Takeda

Shintaro Tanaka

Akihiko Shirahase

Akimine Izawa

Kousuke Yoshimura

Atsushi Ochi

Kimio Mitani

Masumi Mizobata

Toru Kato

Nobuyuki Komatsu

Masato Furukawa

S Nishiyama

M Shimizu

A production method for a fiber-reinforced plastic, in which a preform made of a reinforcing fiber substrate and having a three-dimensional shape and an inner mold operatable in a lateral direction different from an up-down direction are disposed in a mold cavity formed by an upper mold and a lower mold, and a state in which a plate thickness of the preform has been made greater than the thickness of a molded article to be obtained is brought about, and a matrix resin is injected and impregnated into the preform, and, after that, at least one of the upper mold and the lower mold is operated toward the other and the inner mold is operated in the lateral direction to pressurize the preform, whereby the thickness of the preform is controlled so as to be equal to a predetermined product's thickness, and subsequently the matrix resin is hardened by heating to obtain the molded article, and a production apparatus for a fiber-reinforced plastic for use in the production method.

Production method and production apparatus for fiber-reinforced plastic

A method of RTM molding includes placing a reinforcing fiber substrate in a mold, placing resin distribution media exhibiting a resin flow resistance lower than a resin flow resistance of said reinforcing fiber substrate on both surfaces of said reinforcing fiber substrate, and after pressure in said mold is reduced by evacuation, injecting a resin into said mold through said resin distribution media to impregnate said reinforcing fiber substrate with said resin injected, wherein resin flow resistance of a first resin distribution medium placed on a first surface of said reinforcing fiber substrate is lower than resin flow resistance of a second resin distribution medium placed on a second surface of said reinforcing fiber substrate, and said evacuation is carried out through said second resin distribution medium while said resin is injected into said first resin distribution medium to impregnate said reinforcing fiber substrate with said resin injected.

Methods of RTM molding

A method of producing fiber-reinforced plastic uses a molding die which includes a resin filling port at one end; a resin suction port at the other end; a laminate body of a plurality of laminated fiber-reinforced base materials and housed in the inner space of the molding die; a resin diffusion medium extending from the resin filling port and provided on opposite surfaces of the laminate body to supply resin onto opposite surfaces of the laminate body from the resin filling port; and a resin suction medium extending from the resin suction port and provided along a side surface of the laminate body on the suction port side to contact the side surface or to have a gap from the side surface, in a state that gas or resin can be suctioned from the laminate body so that the gas or resin can be moved from the laminate body toward the resin suction port.

Method for producing fiber-reinforced plastic

A method of RTM molding including laminating a plurality of reinforcing fiber materials in a mold to form a reinforcing fiber material laminate, and impregnating a resin into said reinforcing fiber material laminate by injecting a resin in a direction from an end surface of said reinforcing fiber material laminate along a laminate surface while reducing pressure in said mold by evacuation.

A method of vacuum-assisted RTM includes disposing a resin distribution medium on one surface of a reinforcing-fiber substrate, covering the whole with a bag material, reducing the pressure inside the bag material, and injecting a resin into the resin distribution medium to distribute the resin substantially in in-plane directions and then impregnate the resin into the reinforcing-fiber substrate in the thickness direction. The method is characterized in that the flow resistance of the resin distribution medium itself during resin distribution is changed in in-plane directions of the reinforcing-fiber substrate, in accordance with a difference in fiber weight per unit area or density between parts to be impregnated with resin of the reinforcing-fiber substrate present in a plane direction of the reinforcing-fiber substrate, or in accordance with a difference in distance from a resin impregnation initiation part to a resin impregnation completion part between parts to be impregnated with resin of the reinforcing-fiber substrate present in a plane direction of the reinforcing-fiber substrate.

Method of vacuum-assisted RTM

A method of RTM molding wherein a reinforcing fiber substrate is placed in a mold, each of a first and a second resin distribution media exhibiting a resin flow resistance lower than the resistance of the reinforcing fiber substrate is placed on each surface of the reinforcing fiber substrate, and the inside of the mold is evacuated and a resin is injected into the mold to thereby impregnate the reinforcing fiber substrate with the resin injected, characterized in that the first resin distribution medium exhibits a resin flow resistance lower than that of the second resin distribution medium, and the evacuation is carried out through the second resin distribution medium while the resin is injected through the first resin distribution medium. The method can be advantageously employed for producing, in particular, FRP structure which is thick and excellent in designability, lightweight property and/or strength.

Method of RTM molding

A preform, formed with a plurality of reinforcing fiber substrates stacked to each other and each made of at least reinforcing fiber yarns, has a resin material, whose main component is a thermoplastic resin, interlaminated between the layers of the reinforcing fiber substrates in the preform, and has through holes extending through a plurality of the reinforcing fiber substrates in the thickness direction of the preform; an FRP molded using this preform; and processes for producing these. By improving the impregnability in the thickness direction of the preform, an FRP excellent both in various mechanical properties and in matrix resin impregnation and stabler in quality can be produced with high productivity.

Processes for producing perform and FRP

To smooth the surface of a flow sheet that is used in a paper machine and make the flow sheet easy to handle, reinforced fibers are disposed in a mold. The entire moldis covered with enclosing membersso that an enclosed spaceis formed inside the enclosing members. While air in the enclosed spaceis being suctioned through one end of the enclosed space, matrix resin is supplied to the reinforced fibers through the other end of the enclosed spaceto impregnate the reinforced fibers with the matrix resin, and the matrix resin is hardened, whereby there is obtained a flow sheet whose surface smoothness is 0.25 &#x3bc;m or less in terms of arithmetical mean roughness.

Flow sheet for paper machine and method of manufacturing the same

A sound-proof wall made of FRP in the form of a sound-proof wall panel that includes a core and skin members made of FRP positioned on both sides of the core and whose weight per nit area is within the range of 10-60 kg/m; and a method of producing the same. This sound-proof wall, though light in weight, has a superior sound insulation property and will never corrode because it is made of FRP. Further, it has a high degree of freedom of engineering design including sound-proof property, design, and shape, capable of producing a desired sound-proof wall with case. Further, since it has a high specific strength, it is possible to attain a drastic weight reduction while retaining the necessary strength, and facilitate working, shorten construction time, and reduce construction cost.

Sound-proof wall made of FRP, and method of producing the same

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Ehime, Japan

Hiroshi Odani