Traditionally,most aerostructures have been manufactured using chopped e-glass fiber and e-glass fiber powder reinforced thermoplastics ,which are thermoset pre-impregnated e-glass fiber in the form of unidirectional tape or woven fabic.New manufacturing processes and materials are necessary in order to reduce part costs,keep up with increasing production rates and limit the enviromental impact.e-glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics are a material solution that avoids investing in new autoclaves and de-bulking during lay-up while providing a very long shop life and reducing part manufacturing time.
Chopped e-glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic are a relatively new class of fiber-reinforced maretials in the field of composites.According to the fiber length ,they take an intermediate position between injection molded chopped fiber -reinforced thermoplastics and compression molded glass mat-reinforced thermoplastics .However, chopped e-glass fiber show better mechanical properties and even new property combinations compared to the corresponding chopped e-glass fiber and e-glass mat composites.
Chopped e-glass fiber combine low production costs and high production rates of glass mat with the superior properties,close to those of advanced continuous fiber-reinforced plastics and can be converted using compression,extresion-blowing or injection molding equipment.TO expand the range of these materials,more and more fiber matrix combinations are constantly developed.so far, natural,glass,aramid,and various e-glass fiber are used in typocal matrix polymers,such as polypropylene and various polyamides.Other advantages of chopped e-glass fiber materials include:1.no need for semi-finished pre-compounding ,less labor-intensive,great freedom in material modification ,2.easy recycing ,3.lower injection pressures during the injection molding ,due to the better flow properties of chopped e-glass fiber marerials,which reduces investment and production costs,4.very good surface quality os the produced parts,5.short cycle times and lower rejection rates.
The use of e-glass fiber reinforced plastics and especially chopped e-glass fiber composites in the automotive industry is steadily increasing,which is mainly a consequence os the low cost and good mechanical properties of the parts based in these materials.The increased safety in regard to high energy absorption offered by these materials and the design freedom enabled by thermoplastic parts and injection molding,cause an increasing demand of chopped e-glass fiber materials.Applications in the automotive industry based on chopped e-glass fiber matericals range from interior instrumental panel,bottle holders.
These cases show that the special needs of the automotive industry can be covered with the application of optimized chopped e-glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics materials.
