Author(s)

K. Tanaka, J. Nakatsuka, Y. Matsuura, T. Ueda, T. Katayama

Abstract

To deal with environmental issues, the gasoline mileage of passenger cars can be improved by reduction of the car weight. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics (CFRTP), which are superior in specific strength and specific modulus, is expected to be used for car body. Many pipe-shaped members have been used for structural materials for cars, and low cost and high-speed molding method for CFRTP pipe has been required. Although rapid heating process of mold has been developed by applying high-frequency direct resistance heating to the mold itself in previous studies, sufficient mechanical properties of CFRTP pipe could not be obtained because of the high viscosity of thermoplastic resin. In CFRTP molding, impregnation improvement of the resin is one of the important issues to be solved. In this study, carbon fiber thermoplastic resin pre-impregnated sheet, which was impregnated with thermoplastic resin beforehand, is used as molding material to improve the quality of the CFRTP pipe. The CFRTP pipe molded with pre-impregnated sheet had less void and higher strength than the pipe molded with dry carbon and nonwoven fabric.

Keywords

CFRTP prepreg sheet, high-frequency direct resistance heating, rapid molding process