New thermoplastic composite preforms based on split-film warp-knitting

A newly developed type of dry thermoplastic textile preform incorporating non-crimp glass fibre reinforcements and matrix material in the form of split-film is presented. Weft-inserted warp knitting has been chosen as a textile production technique for its low cost. A specialized glass fibre/polypropylene matrix system has been proven to perform favourably in melt impregnation and to provide good composite properties. Some of the processing techniques to be applied to the new textile preform are presented, one of which is the QUIKTEMP concept for fast heating and cooling of tools for thermoplastic moulding. Composite plates produced from preliminary split-warpknit structures reveal a good potential for cost-saving while reasonable mechanical properties can be maintained. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe