Process and apparatus for the production of wound sandwich structures

Abstract

The invention relates to a process and an apparatus for the production of wound sandwich structures, wherein the inner shell, made of a galss-reinforced plastic, is prepared in a known way, then solid core elements are wound onto the inner shell, and finally an outer shell, made of a glass-reinforced plastic, is formed on the wound core. Thus rigid articles (e.g. containers), consisting of inner and outer shells of glass-reinforced plastic and a core of wound core elements, are obtained. The core elements are wound up by forwarding the individual elements directly one after another onto a thread which carries the core elements, presses them onto the rotating mandrel, and is also wound up, or by forming a flexible band by adhesion, from the core elements and the carrier thread or band, and this flexible band is wound up. The inner and outer shells, and the surface of the core material are prepared preferably on a conventional winding machine, provided with auxiliary equipments according to the invention. The wound sandwich structures prepared according to the invention are several times higher in mechanical strength than the articles made by the known techniques.