The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 12, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 31, 2002
Christopher M. Edwards, Midland, MI (US);
Edward L. d'Hooghe, Hulst, NL;
AVC Holdings Inc., Midland, MI (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a glass mat thermoplastic comprising a glass mat impregnated with an engineering thermoplastic polyurethane (ETPU) having a T of at least 50° C. The glass mat thermoplastic can be prepared, for example, by a) contacting a continuous glass mat with ETPU film or sheet, or between ETPU films or sheets, with sufficient pressure and heat to form a multilayered structure which contains a wetted out glass mat layer sandwiched between an ETPU layer and a glass mat layer, b) thermoforming or compression molding the multilayered structure with sufficient heat to substantially completely wet out the glass mat with the ETPU; and c) cooling the substantially wetted out thermoformed glass mat to a temperature below the T of the ETPU. The efficiency with which the depolymerizable and repolymerizable ETPU can be impregnated into the glass mat matrix results in a GMT with excellent physical properties.