NEW THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE PREFORMS BASED ON SPLIT-FILM WARP-KNITTING

A newly developed type of dry thermoplastic textile preform incorporat ing non-crimp glass fibre reinforcements and matrix material in the fo rm of split-film is presented. Weft-inserted warp knitting has been ch osen as a textile production technique for its low cost. A specialized glass fibre/polypropylene matrix system has been proven to perform fa vourably in melt impregnation and to provide good composite properties . Some of the processing techniques to be applied to the new textile p reform are presented, one of which is the QUIKTEMP concept for fast he ating and cooling of tools for thermoplastic moulding. Composite plate s produced from preliminary split-warpknit structures reveal a good po tential for cost-saving while reasonable mechanical properties can be maintained. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.