Apparatus for producing fiber reinforced organic foam

Abstract

Urethane plastic foam reinforced with glass fibers is provided, the glass fibers being combined with the plastic foam material prior to foaming. The foaming of the plastic material is physically controlled and restrained to achieve particular desired physical characteristics of the final product. By restricting the extent of foaming, and by using particular layers of fibers, high fiber concentration and more dense skin areas can be obtained in the foam; the fibers can also be initially distributed in a manner to increase their concentration near the surfaces of the foam body. Apparatus is provided for producing reinforced foam in a continuous manner and a method is also provided for combining the fiber reinforcement and the foamable plastic material in a manner such that the plastic material is disposed between two layers of the fiber reinforcement to assure proper distribution of the fibers in the foam. In a preferred form, the fibers are initially disposed in the foamable material in a manner to lie generally perpendicular to the primary direction of growth or rise of the foamable material so that the fibers are also generally perpendicular to the resulting elongate cells. The fibers also preferably are of particular lengths and diameters and present in optimum concentrations to achieve maximum reinforcement and strength in the final product.