Carbon fiber reinforced PEI thermoplastic floor panels have been developed for the Gulfstream V corporate jet, replacing a heavier Al design. The floor panels comprised preconsolidated carbon fiber/PEI skins bonded to each side of a Nomex/phenolic honeycomb and processed by thermoforming and ultrasonic welding.
The cfrp has been used in harsh and demanding environments for oil and gas conduits. Rolatube Technology are in early development stage of thermoplastic composite bi-stable reeled tubing, preimpregnating UD carbon fiber tows with HD PE or PP by rolling to form a tape and welding along an overlapped seam.
Polycarbonate over-molded with a carbon fiber reinforced PEEK has been used by Entegris to make linear wafer carriers for the semiconductor industry.
EMS-Chemie and Schappe Techniques have produced a flexible carbon-polyamide 12 hybrid yarn by blending PA 12 staple fibers with stretch broken carbon fibers with a staple length of about 80mm. This hybrid material can be compression molded, giving void free composites.
Ten Cate Advanced Composites produces Cetex, a continuous carbon fiber /PPS composite, widely used for structural aircraft components such as the vertical rudder nose ribs for the A330-200 Airbus.
The Westland Group /GKN have undertaken production of many components from thermoplastic prepreg. Griffiths, Damon and Lawson have described their earlier work.
Vybron Composites manufacture profiles by pultrusion/pulforming using CF/PPS for air compressor blades and guitar neck, CF/nylon with a braided exterior for orthopedic end uses and CF/PEEK for aerospace profiles.
Thermoplastic molding compounds: Carbon fiber is used to reinforce thermoplastic molding compounds, to improve the structural integrity and enhance the wear resistance by increasing the thermal conductivity and creep resistance, thus improving the working pressure velocity of the matrix. It also enables the dissipation of static electricity. The load and velocity capacity of a bearing material is expressed as a product of the load and the linear velocity of the part. The limiting pressure velocity is the maximum PV a material can withstand before it experiences a severe failure, while the working PV is defined as LPV/2.