Continuous fibre reinforced profiles

Conveyor systems are applied in a number of areas in the rubber industry. The types used can range from simple canvas belt conveyors used for haul-off from conventional extruders, to systems used for transport and cooling of profile products, both in and emerging from continuous vulcanisation units. The latter types have to be resistant to the temperatures used in such systems and are variously constructed from glass fibre-reinforced polytetrafluoroethylene or a silicone rubber covered belt. 

If the filaments are not wound onto a mandrel but simply gathered into relatively large bundles and led slowly into a heated consolidation zone, emerging from a die partly or completely cured, the primitive essentials of pultrusion are present (Fig. 2.3(b)). This process began as the thermosetting resin equivalent of extrusion, that is, it was a continuous operation for manufacturing profiles, such as rod and channels. The method has been extended to fibre reinforced thermoplastics. 

The reinforcements used consist of continuous fibres such as glass rovings or continuous carbon fibre tows, woven rovings or chopped strand mat or a combination of the two, depending on the strength and rigidity required in the molded profile. 

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