Forming and Commercialisation of Self-Reinforced Polymer Composites

Forming and Commercialisation of Self-Reinforced Polymer Composites 

The main options when considering forming self-reinforced polymer composites are direct forming( i.e. directly consolidating the composites from precursor fibres or fabrics in the final form) and thermoforming of preconsolidated laminates. An overview of some forming methods is shown in Fig. 17. 

Most published work that has been identified as describing forming of self-reinforced polymer composites has been performed on PP-based systems, because, to date, these systems have received most attention as possible commercial products. Self-reinforced polymer composites based on the hot compaction concept reported by Ward and coworkers at the University of Leeds [33] have been commercialised into a product branded as Curv (formerly by BP Amoco, later by Propex Fabrics, USA) [225]. The use of coextruded PP tape technology, as reported by Peijs and coworkers [5], has been commercialised and branded as PURE (by Lankhorst Pure Composites, The Netherlands) [226], and also licensed to Milliken and Company, USA who market the material as Tegris (formerly as MFT) [227, 228, 270]. An apparently similar composite technology based on coextruded PP tapes has also been commercialised as Armordon (by Don and Low, UK) [229]. 

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