Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited

Kazutoshi Fujimura

Akira Morii

Mikio Hayashi

Yasuaki Abe

Kousaku Asagi

The present invention relates to a process for the continuous production of prepreg sheets unidirectionally arranged in parallel which involves contacting a plurality of fiber bundles arranged unidirectionally in parallel with each other with a solvent and continuously taking up the individual fiber bundle units under tension over curved surfaces of spreader bodies, such as cylinders while in a wet state, thereby spreading out said fiber bundles over the curved surfaces by means of said tension and subsequently drying the thus-spread out fibers. The invention also contemplates impregnating the dried fiber bundles with a specified quantity of molten resin to prepare the final prepreg resin-containing sheets. According to applicants' method, the fiber bundles are spread with a solvent prior to being impregnated with a resin and this method greatly decreases the frictional resistance between the fiber bundles and the curved surfaces making it possible for the fiber bundles to be spread out by only using a slight tension.

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Nishinomiya, Japan

Kazutoshi Fujimura