Processing of Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites

Short fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites can be processed by most of the classical thermoplastic processing techniques, such as, extrusion and injection moulding. A detailed discussion is provided for these classical thermoplastic processing techniques in Section 9.1. 

The most important technique to consider for reinforced thermoplastic composites is injection moulding. Since the melt viscosity is higher whenever fibres are included in the system, the injection pressures necessary are higher than their unreinforced thermoplastic counterparts. In addition, the product is much stiffen Although the cycle times are less for reinforced thermoplastics, increased stiffnesses can certainly effect the ejection, hence the mould design needs to be modified considerably. 

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