It is no surprise for you that we are focused on UD and Crossply technology. It is not only in our name, but also visible in our Research and Technology Center. We can make thermoplastic UD and Crossply tapes and cut them on our slitting machine in widths from 12 millimeters upwards.
To show the possibilities with thermoplastic tapes, we have woven a fabric sample by hand. The appearance of this fabric is well known in the market and the quality is good due to the fully impregnated tapes. It can be combined with UD and Crossply panels for the best performance and this fabric as the outer layers for its appearance.
There are suppliers of equipment for weaving this tape on the market and the output of these machines is expected to be high. Although this is not typical for weaving, it can be with this combination. Instead of making a prepreg out of a fabric, by means of for example film impregnation, the prepreg is formed by the UD tapes. The second sample we present is a panel made from UD tape chips. These chips are cut from residues of the tape slitting. These high performance chips are of course an ideal material for these panels.
The performance of the panel is in its nature orthotropic and the thermo formability is expected to be high. We were surprised by the performance of these panels. In comparison with Crossply panels, the performance of the Chips panel was more than 50% in bending stiffness and strength. In the near future we will make a product for a small series sports car out of the Chips panel, in carbon fiber PA6.