Continuous Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites
Sturdy • Lightweight • Corrosion Resistance • Design Freedom
Continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite, as its name implied, it is a combination of fiber reinforcement and resin matrix (often thermoplastic resin). It is widely used in aerospace, automotive industry, sports equipment, construction, shipbuilding and other fields, and can meet the needs for lightweight, high strength and design flexibility.
It has the following salient features：
- Sturdy: Due to the presence of continuous fibers, the strength and stiffness of the material are enhanced, allowing it to perform better when subjected to load.
- Lightweight: Compared with traditional metal materials, continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic materials are generally lighter, helping to reduce the weight of the structure and improve overall performance.
- Corrosion Resistance: Compared with metal materials, continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic materials usually have better corrosion resistance and have a longer service life in harsh environments.
- Design Freedom: Because thermoplastic resin can be softened and reshaped by heating, the material has a high degree of design freedom and can create complex shapes and structures.
Here let’s see some of the ingredients most used in the two parts of this material.
Continuous Fiber
There are many different types of fibers that can be used to reinforce polymer matrix composites. The most common reinforcements are carbon fiber and glass fiber. You can choose different fiber materials according to your final application.
Since the 1990s, natural fiber composites are emerging in many applications. They are particularly attractive in automotive applications because of lower cost and lower density. Natural fibers, especially polypropylene composites, have attracted greater attention due to their added advantage of recyclability.
- Low cost, low density (~1.5 g/cm3), lightweight, green.
- Higher fiber content than glass fiber.
- High end-of-life biodegradability.
lass fiber production requires 5–10 times more non-renewable energy than natural fiber production. It has better mechanical properties than natural fibers, but not that strong as carbon fiber. The issue of low stiffness can be easily overcome by designing sandwich structures where a lightweight core can be sandwiched between two glass skins and thereby making the end result stiffer.
- Cheaper and more flexible than carbon fiber.
- Higher elongation at break compared to carbon fiber.
- More fragile and less wear-resisting (than carbon fiber).
- Moisture resistance.
- Chemical resistance to acids and solvents.
- Low dielectric constant.
- Electric insulation (often considered as merit).
- Thermal conductivity.
- More widely used in conventional industries than carbon fiber.
Carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites have received much attention because of their easy processability and recycling convenience compared with thermosetting composites.
- Lightweight and high stiffness.
- About 1/4 space gravity of iron, about 2/3 of aluminum.
- Higher stiffness and strength than iron (also higher than glass fiber).
- Over 3 times the tensile modulus of glass fiber.
- High thermal conductivity.
- Low coefficient of thermal expansion.
- Outstanding wear resistance.
- About 10 times higher cost than glass fiber.
- Conductive.
- For high-end fields.
Made from extremely fine fibers of basalt, basalt fiber performs better than glass fiber in physicomechanical properties. It’s suitable for aerospace and automotive components and has become an emerging cost-effective replacement for traditional glass and carbon fibers.
- Long fatigue life.
- Lower cost than carbon fiber.
- Better physicomechanical property than glass fiber.
HMW is also called UHMWPE(Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene) or HMPE(high-modulus polyethylene). The HWM PE is strongest in the impact resistance of extant thermoplastics.
- Strong acid resistance.
- Abrasion resistance.
- Low moisture absorption.
Aramid is a synthetic fiber made from the polymer aromatic polyamide. It’s mainly divided into two meta-aramid and para-aramid according to the different locations of chemical bonds. Para-aramid performs better in tensile strength.
- High strength, high elastic modulus, and high abrasion resistance.
- Strong heat resistance.
- Outstanding strength-to-weight property.
- High chord modulus.
- High tenacity.
- Low creep.
- Low elongation at break (~3.5%).
- Difficult to dye (usually solution-dyed).
Thermoplastic Resins
The thermoplastic resin is a polymer compound that becomes soft or fluid when heated and then returns to its original solid state when cooled. It’s commonly used in injection molding. Products of thermoplastic resins are strong in chemical resistance. Most of them have a hard, crystalline, or rubbery surface.
- High impact strength.
- High ductility and low friction.
- Low hardness and rigidity.
- Electrical treeing resistance.
- Softer and tougher than most commodity resins.
- Higher stiffness and strength than PE resin.
- Excellent tensile and impact strength.
- Lower toughness in cold conditions.
PVC is the world’s third most widely used plastic for its versatility, durability, and cost competitiveness. It’s especially needed in the building process, whose purpose is for lightweight, long-lasting and maintenance-free.
- A high level of chemical resistance.
- Water and abrasion resistance.
- Ultraviolet exposure should be avoided.
PPS is an engineering plastic commonly used as a high-performance thermoplastic.
- Heat resistance.
- Chemical resistance.
- Excellent dimensional stability.
- Low moisture absorption.
- Recyclability.
Similar to PPS fiber, PEEK is also semicrystalline thermoplastic with excellent mechanical and chemical resistance. It is an advanced new material that provides more toughness, meanwhile, it’s also more expensive and difficult to process.
- High chemical resistance.
- High hardness, stiffness, and strength.
- Excellent fatigue and stress-crack resistance.
Unlike most thermoplastics, polycarbonate can undergo large plastic deformations without cracking or breaking. It is often used in automotive interiors and exteriors.
- Superior transparency and self-extinguishing properties.
- High impact resistance but low scratch resistance.
Since ABS is combined with 3 kinds of monomers, its quality and final properties are greatly dependent on the processing method and the proportion of these components.
- Medium strength.
- Heat resistance, impact resistance and toughness.
- Great Electrical Insulation Properties.
- Easy to be machined, sanded, glued and painted, great material for prototyping.
- Poor weatherability.
- Poor solvent resistance.
- High smoke generation when burned.
- Comparatively high cost.
The polyamide resin is usually for auto parts, sports goods, and machinery parts.
- High strength.
- Dimensional stability.
- Wear resistance.
- Excellent mechanical properties and toughness.
- Superior abrasion resistance.
- Good chemical, oil and solvent resistance.
TOPOLO Continuous Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites
Continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite materials exist in the form of tapes and sheets, which are UD tapes (continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic unidirectional tapes) and CFRT sheets (continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic sheets). Our continuous fiber thermoplastic materials mainly use PA, PP, PE, and PPS as resin matrix, and glass fiber and carbon fiber as reinforcement materials. In addition, we also provide other thermoplastic composite related products, such as thermoplastic honeycomb panel series and thermoplastic sandwich panel series.
Learn more about our Thermoplastic Composite Production Lines.
UD Tapes
UD Tapes (continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic prepreg unidirectional tapes) are the most basic form of continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites. Its most notable feature is that it has only one layer, and all the fibers are arranged in only one direction, which results in its ultra-high tensile strength in one direction.
CFRT Sheets
CFRT sheets (continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite sheets), which is a multi-layer laminated sheets with thermoplastic unidirectional tapes laid at different angles (0°/90°, 45°/45°). This lamination method can compensates for the tensile strength of a single layer of unidirectional tape in the other direction.
Thermoplastic Honeycomb Panels
Thermoplastic polypropylene honeycomb panels are a widely accepted new lightweight fiberglass composite sandwich material. Since its invention, it has attracted the attention of various industries. It is made of thermoplastic skin material – CFRT (continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic) sheet and thermoplastic core material – polypropylene honeycomb through thermal lamination.
CFRT Foam Sandwich Panels
As an economical and practical thermoplastic skin material, CFRT sheets can replace thermosetting FRP sheets in many fields. CFRT sheets can be combined with various foam systems through adhesives to form lightweight, sturdy CFRT sandwich panels. It has been widely used especially in box trucks and trailers that pursue lightweighting. And continue to expand to other industries.