Laminates reinforcing agents

Basically a plastic composite is the assembly of two or more materials made to behave as a single product. Examples include vinyl-coated fabric used in air mattresses or laminated metal bonded together with a plastic adhesive used in helicopter blades. The RP type of composite combines a plastic with a reinforcing agent that can be fibrous, powdered, spherical, crystalline, or whisker, made of organic, inorganic, metallic, or ceramic material. To be structurally effective, there must be a strong adhesive bond between the resin and reinforcement. 

One of the main uses of polyester resin is to function as the adhesive for glass-fiber lamination. The cross-linking reaction of unsaturated polyesters is exothermic that is, it is accompanied by a rise in temperature. Indeed, one of the useful features of an inorganic adherend functioning also as a reinforcing agent in these resins is that the heat of reaction... 

Suzuki, Y., Maekawa, Z., Hamada, H., Yokoyama, A. and Sugihara, T. (1993). Influence of silane coupling agents on interlaminar fracture in glass fiber fabric reinforced unsaturated polyester laminates. J. Mater. Sci. 28, 1725-1723. 

As an additional component, various thermoplastic polymers can be used. As a binder for copper clad laminates, a solution of solid epoxide resin (Epikote 1001), BPA/DC prepolymer, Zn acetate and poly(phenylene sulfide) was used [83], Other binders for reinforced plastics contain polysulfone. Such compositions consist of liquid BPA/ECH epoxide resin, BPA/DC prepolymer, polysulfone and bis(4-hydro-xyphenyl)sulfone [85]. Bis(4-aminophenyl)sulfone can be also added [86]. In such systems the bisphenol reacts with the epoxide resin as a chain extension agent, whereas the diamine crosslinks the diepoxide. The Tg values are close to 200 °C. They can be increased a little, if the BPA/ECH epoxide resin is replaced by the tetra-epoxide A,A,A, A -tetrakis(2,3-epoxypropyl)diaminodiphenylmethane [87]. 

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