Nippon Steel & Sumikin Materials Co., Ltd.

Nippon Steel Composite Co., Ltd.

Nippon Steel Chemical & Material Co., Ltd.

Masaki Arazoe

Akira Kobayashi

Masaki Shimada

Makiji Miyao

Toshikazu Takeda

Akihiro Tateishi

Hidehiko Hino

Provided is a flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand which is produced by curing a twisted resin-impregnated strand and has no disturbed fiber orientation, and a flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand sheet which is produced by using said flat fiber-reinforced plastic strands. According to a method of manufacturing the flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand, (a) a twisted resin-impregnated strand fin an uncured state, the strand including a plurality of reinforcing fibers f, is fed in a state of tension between a pair of heated steel beltsA andB facing each other and making rotation movements; and (b) the resin-impregnated strand fis sandwiched and heated by the steel beltsA andB, and pressurized from both sides of the strand fto form a cross section of the strand into a flat shape, and, with the shape being kept, a resin is cured and cooled.

Flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand, flat fiber-reinforced plastic strand sheet, and method of manufacturing the same

It is an object of the present invention to provide round fiber-reinforced plastic strand, a manufacturing method thereof, and a fiber-reinforced sheet which eliminate limitation in forming speed and limit on number of products capable of being manufactured at a time, do not require use of a release agent, eliminate the necessity of operations such as roughing after forming, and thus permit a considerable reduction of the manufacturing cost and a remarkable increase in the product quality. The manufacturing method of the round fiber-reinforced plastic strand of the present invention comprises (a) a step of continuously feeding reinforcing fiber bundles feach comprising a plurality of reinforcing fibers arranged in a direction while twisting the reinforcing fiber bundles f(b) a step of impregnating the reinforcing fiber bundles ffed continuously with a matrix resin R; and (c) a step of heating the resin-impregnated reinforcing fiber bundles fwhile tensioning to a prescribed intensity, thereby forming the reinforcing fiber bundle into a circular cross-section and hardening the resin, and manufactures a fiber-reinforced plastic strandhaving a circular cross-section.

Round fiber-reinforced plastic strand, manufacturing method thereof, and fiber-reinforced sheet

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Tokyo, Japan

Masaki Arazoe