Toray Industries, Inc.

Takaaki Yamashita

Takashi Ochi

Fumihiko Tanaka

Junichi Aoki

So Nishino

Jun Watanabe

Naohiro Matsumoto

Satoshi Enzaki

The present invention provides a technology in production of a prepreg and enhances the production efficiency, in which the technology allows the arrangement property and rectilinearity of reinforcing fibers to be well maintained and allows any resin to be applied stably at a high speed. A prepreg is produced by a method which includes: discharging a molten resin in planar form to form a resin film, and applying the resin film onto a reinforcing fiber sheet conveyed continuously, wherein the reinforcing fiber sheet is conveyed substantially in the horizontal direction, and wherein an angle made between the discharge direction of the resin and the conveyance direction of the reinforcing fiber sheetis 80&#xb0; or less.

Method for producing prepreg and method for producing fiber-reinforced composite material

A carbon fiber bundle from which a carbon fiber composite material having high tensile strength can be obtained has the following configuration. Specifically, the carbon fiber bundle has a strand elastic modulus of 265-300 GPa, strand strength of at least 6.0 GPa, and knot strength of at least 820 N/mm, and includes at least 30,000 filaments.

Carbon fiber bundle

The invention enhances the production efficiency in the production of prepreg by allowing the arrangement property and rectilinearity of reinforcing fibers to be well maintained, allowing the basis weight uniformity of an applied resin to be good, and further allowing a high line speed and suppression of contamination in the process to be achieved. The invention provides a method of producing a prepreg, which includes: discharging a molten resin from a discharge portion; introducing the discharged resin by an air flow; and capturing the discharged resin on a reinforcing fiber sheet conveyed continuously, wherein a key point is that the discharged resin is captured in a region in which the reinforcing fiber sheet is conveyed substantially in planar form.

Production method for prepreg, and production method for fiber-reinforced composite material

Carbon fibers achieve a high elongation percentage and a high tensile modulus of resin-impregnated strands while being lightweight. The carbon fibers are configured such that: the void content in a cross section of the fibers in the axial direction, the cross section including the long axis of a cross section of the fibers in the radial direction, is at least 0.3% by area, but not more than 5.0% by area; the average aspect ratio of the voids is at least 2.0, but not more than 50; and the average width of the voids in the cross section of the fibers in the radial direction is at least 3 nm, but not more than 100 nm.

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Ehime, Japan

Takaaki Yamashita