Resin Infusible Carbon Fiber Unidirectional Broadgoods for Fatigue Dominated Applications

The development of a low-cost permeable unidirectional carbon fabric material withoutfiber undulation is needed in order to provide full property translation that is comparableto unidirectional prepreg. In this Phase I effort, Composites Automation LLC proposes tofabricate unidirectional carbon broadgood using thermoplastic binder with high enoughpermeability of the fabric to allow infusion processing. Particle loading will be minimum,but sufficient to bind the spread tows together and provide toughening and improvedmechanical properties of the part after cure. The fabric microstructure can be controlledusing the proposed process, has no fiber crimp and does not rely on local stitches to holdthe fibers in place. Process throughput can be significant for lower particle fraction systemsand is anticipated to be faster than any industrial NCF machine and be an ideal process toreduce cost.