Hybrid carbon fibre/nylon 12 single polymer composites

This paper describes the production and properties of hybrid single polymer composites made from co-mingled tows of carbon and oriented nylon 12 fibres using the Leeds hot compaction process. For 22% volume fraction of carbon fibres, a well consolidated UD sample was made at a temperature of 176 °C, 2°C below the temperature at which major melting of the oriented PA12 fibres, and loss of molecular orientation, occurs. For braided cloth a higher temperature of 178°C was required to give a good sample, which is too close to the melting point of the PA12 multifilaments. Reducing the carbon fraction to 13% allowed a well consolidated sample (braided cloth) to be made at a lower temperature of 175°C, giving a wider temperature processing window. In tension the hybrid samples were found to fail in a brittle manner while in bending the behavior was ductile as long the molecular orientation was retained

Technology and development of self-reinforced polymer composites

In recent years there has been an increasing amount of interest, both commercially and scientifically, in the emerging field of "self-reinforced polymer composites". These materials, which are sometimes also referred to as "single polymer composites", or "all-polymer composites", were first conceived in the 1970s, and are now beginning to appear in a range of commercial products. While high mechanical performance polymer fibres or tapes are an obvious precursor for composite development, various different technologies have been developed to consolidate these into two- or three-dimensional structures. This paper presents a review of the various processing techniques that have been reported in the literature for the manufacture of self-reinforced polymer composites from fibres or tapes of different polymers, and so exploit the fibre or tape performance in a commercial material or product