Method For Manufacturing Molded Article By Low Pressure Molding
Abstract:
This method for manufacturing a molded articles is characterized in preparing a specific random mat including a thermoplastic resin and a carbon fiber bundle having an average fiber length of 5-100 mm, impregnating the random mat with a thermoplastic resin pressing the random mat in a metal mold in a range of 0.1-20 MPa, and then removing the random mat from the metal mold. A large complex molded article can be manufactured because the molding is carried out at low pressure.
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Notices, Deadlines & Correspondence
6 7 Minamihommachi 1 chome Chuo ku Osaka shi Osaka
5410054
Inventors
1. NAGAKURA Yasunori
c/o Teijin Limited Composites Innovation Center 11 6 Itazuma Gotemba shi Shizuoka
4120048
2. ARAKAWA Motoomi
c/o Teijin Limited Composites Innovation Center 11 6 Itazuma Gotemba shi Shizuoka
4120048
3. TANIGUCHI Michiharu
c/o Teijin Limited Composites Innovation Center 11 6 Itazuma Gotemba shi Shizuoka
4120048
4. OBATA Akihiko
c/o Teijin Limited Composites Innovation Center 11 6 Itazuma Gotemba shi Shizuoka
4120048
Specification
DESCRIPTION
Title of Invention
METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SHAPED PRODUCT BY LOW-PRESSURE
MOLDING
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a shaped product
including a thermoplastic resin and carbon fibers. More specifically, the present invention
relates to a method for manufacturing a shaped product including a thermoplastic resin and
carbon fibers by a press molding method at a low pressure, and the shaped product obtained
from the method.
Background Art
A fiber-reiforced composite material, especially a composite material in which carbon
fibers are used as reinforcing fibers, is expected to be applied to applications of a vehicle
requiring to be light-weighted due to its high specific strength and specific rigidity. In
particular, in a case where a matrix resin is thermoplastic, the material is promising from the
standpoint of productivity and recyclability.
Patent Document 1 discloses a method including, impregnating carbon fibers having a
specific fiber length with a resin, forming a preform in a sandwich structure by using a
composite material precursor (prepreg) in which two single carbon fibers intersect within a
specific range, and then press-molding the preform. Here, as a specific example, there is
provided a sheet-making method which employs a wet method in order to intersect two single
carbon fibers within a specific range. However, in many cases, such a method may require a
drying process or the like, thereby complicating a manufacturing process. Further, it is
difficult to form a prepreg with a relatively large thickness. Then, a large number of layered
sheets are required at the time of molding, thereby complicating a molding process.
Patent Document 2 discloses a sheet material for a fiber-reinforced composite shaped
product in which a plurality of reinforcing fiber bundles are randomly placed in a
thermoplastic resin as a matrix. Here, in a state where the reinforcing fiber bundles are
pulled and aligned at a predetermined ratio, the thermoplastic resin covers the periphery of the
fiber bundles or impregnates into the fiber bundles, and then the fiber bundles are cut to be
formed as chopped strands. Further, in Patent Document 2, the sheet material is inserted into
a mold and molded by hot press. In this method, since the fiber bundles are cut after being
covered with or impregnated with the thermoplastic resin, the cut chopped strands have a
certain width and their fiber orientation tends to be close to one direction. Thus, there is a
problem in that a high isotropy is hardly achieved even if the chopped strands are uniformly
dispersed to obtain a shaped product sheet.
Patent Document 1 : Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 20 1 0-23 5779
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication H 10-3 1677 1
Summary of Invention
A main object of the present invention is to provide a novel method of manufacturing
a shaped product including a thermoplastic resin and carbon fibers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel method of manufacturing
the shaped product at a lower pressure by using a press molding method.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of easily
manufacturing a large-sized shaped product by low-pressure molding.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a shaped product which is
good in mechanical isotropy, which may be manufactured by the above manufacturing
methods.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the
following description.
The present inventors have investigated a method of manufacturing a shaped product
(CFRTP) including carbon fibers and a thermoplastic resin by a low-pressure molding method
excellent in productivity. In particular, they have focused on chopped strands with a specific
length and a carbon fiber bundle thereof. As a result, they completed the present invention
based on knowledge that it is very important to use a mat base material having the carbon fiber
bundle satisfying a specific opening degree.
According to the present invention, objects and advantages of the present invention
are achieved by:
[I] a method of manufacturing a shaped product including carbon fibers and a
thermoplastic resin, the method including:
(1) a process of preparing a random mat which includes the carbon fibers including
carbon fiber bundles with an average fiber length of 5 mm to 100 mm and the thermoplastic
resin;
3
(2) a process of impregnating the thermoplastic resin into the carbon fiber bundles by
heating and pressurizing the random mat up to a temperature of a melting point or more and
less than a decomposition temperature in a case where the thermoplastic resin is crystalline, or
up to a temperature of a glass transition temperature or more and less than a decomposition
temperature in a case where the thermoplastic resin is amorphous before or after arranging the
random mat within a mold;
(3) a process of pressurizing and molding the impregnated random mat within the
mold at a pressure ranging from 0.1 MPa to 20 MPa; and
(4) a process of taking out the obtained shaped product from the mold,
in which, the processes (1) to (4) are performed in this order,
in the random mat, the carbon fibers have a fiber areal weight ranging fiom 25 g/m2 to
10,000 g/m2, are substantially randomly oriented in-plane direction, and
the carbon fiber bundles include carbon fiber bundles (A) having the carbon fibers of
not less than a critical number of single fiber defined by following equation (I), and carbon
fibers (B) having the carbon fibers of less than the critical number of single fiber, in which a
ratio of the carbon fiber bundles (A) is 20 Vol% or more and less than 99 Vol% based on a
total amount of the carbon fibers in the random mat.
critical number of single fiber = 6001D (1)
(in which, D represents an average fiber diameter (pm) of single carbon fiber)
Also, the present invention includes the following invention.
[2] The method according to [I], wherein the process (1) includes a process (1-1) of
cutting and then opening the carbon fibers.
[3] The method according to [I] or [2], wherein, in the process (3), the pressure ranges
from 0.5 MPa to 10 MPa.
[4] The method according to [3], wherein the pressure ranges from 0.5 MPa to 5 MPa.
[5] The method according to any one of [I] to [4], wherein the process (2) includes a
process (2-1) of impregnating the thermoplastic resin into the carbon fiber bundles by heating
and pressurizing the random mat before arranging the random mat within the mold, and the
process (3) includes a process (3-1) of arranging the impregnated random mat within the mold,
and pressurizing and molding the random mat in the mold controlled to a temperature less than
a crystallization temperature in a case where the thermoplastic resin is crystalline, or to a
temperature less than a glass transition temperature in a case where the thermoplastic resin is
amorphous.
[6] The method according to [5], wherein the process (3-1) includes a process (3-2) of
4
clamping the mold at a slide lowering speed of 50 mdsec to 10,000 mdsec before
pressurizing the random mat.
[7] The method according to any one of [I] to [4], wherein the process (2) includes a
process (2-2) of impregnating the thermoplastic resin into the carbon fiber bundles by heating
and pressurizing the random mat, due to heating the mold up to the temperature of a melting
point or more and less than the decomposition temperature in a case where the thermoplastic
resin is crystalline, or up to the temperature of a glass transition temperature or more and less
than the decomposition temperature in a case where the thermoplastic resin is amorphous,
after arranging the random mat within the mold, and the process (3) is performed after the
process (2-2).
[8] The method according to any one of [I] to [7], wherein a content ratio of the
thermoplastic resin to the carbon fibers in the random mat ranges from 50 parts to 1,000 parts
by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the carbon fibers.
[9] The method according to any one of [I] to [8], wherein an average number of the
fibers (N) in the carbon fiber bundles (A) in the random mat satisfies following equation (2).
0 . 71~04 ID2