A New Foam Material Made from Discontinuous Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics

Abstract

Sandwich panels are widely used in building construction, housing and transportation equipment. The core is normally used low density material such as honeycomb structure or cell-structured thermoplastic foams. However, they have difficulties molding complex shaped structures and being weak in shear. A new stiff and lightweight carbon fiber reinforced foam (CFRF) was manufactured by focusing on spring back effect of monofilament dispersed discontinuous CFRTP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic). Specific bending modulus of polypropylene matrix CFRF was changed from 2.20 to 5.30 depending on spring back ratio. Press molding for complex shaped CFRF including curved surface and deep drawing structures was successfully obtained by one-step procedure. Furthermore, sandwich structure having solid polyamide skin was also obtained in the same method.