Prepreg and preparation method thereof
Technical Field
The invention relates to a prepreg and a preparation method thereof, belonging to the technical field of composite materials.
Background
The fiber reinforced resin matrix composite material can be widely applied to aerospace structures due to the advantages of light weight, high strength, high toughness and the like. In recent years, the development of various low-cost molding technologies promotes the expansion of the application range of fiber reinforced resin matrix composite materials, and the application scenes are more abundant. The Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process was the earliest developed liquid molding technology for the cost reduction of advanced composite materials. In the RTM forming process, dry fibers are firstly lapped and fixed by using a setting agent or the fabric preformed body is directly placed in a closed mould, then a resin matrix is injected, and a near-net-size composite material component with excellent comprehensive performance can be obtained through curing and forming. For the RTM forming process, the shaping and prefabricating technology is the primary key technology, and the structural self-supporting capacity of the fiber preformed body directly influences the infiltration effect, the internal quality and the structural performance of resin on the preformed body in the subsequent RTM forming process.
The prepreg technology is a process method for pre-impregnating and compounding the resin prepolymer and the fiber or fabric before curing and molding, is easy to store and convenient to use, has good surface viscosity, is convenient to lay and mold, has high fiber collimation degree, and is beneficial to transferring the internal stress of a composite material member. The traditional RTM process directly uses dry fibers or fabrics, has the technical problems of difficult fiber preform paving, difficult qualitative determination and the like, and particularly has the problems of low efficiency of manual brushing of a setting agent, poor uniformity and stability of a material system and the like in the traditional process for RTM forming of large-size workpieces. The technical problems existing at present are as follows: 1) the content of resin in the prepreg suitable for RTM molding needs to be controlled at a lower level, and the impregnation uniformity is difficult to control; 2) the low resin content prepreg has to meet the requirements of the slitting process to obtain prepreg tows suitable for an automatic preform laying system, however, due to the low resin content of the prepreg, the tows are prone to splitting during the slitting process.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to overcome the defects of the prior art, provides the low-resin-content prepreg applicable to RTM (resin transfer molding) and the preparation method thereof, and applies the performance advantages and the technical advantages of the prepreg to the preform weaving technology so as to improve the defects of the prior art and promote the popularization and application of RTM.
The technical solution of the invention is as follows: a prepreg characterized by: the composite material consists of continuous reinforced fiber, thin-layer net felt and resin, and is formed by compounding the continuous reinforced fiber and the thin-layer net felt through double-sided resin film impregnation by a hot melting method, wherein the thin-layer net felt is positioned on one side of the continuous reinforced fiber; the resin accounts for no more than 15% of the mass of the prepreg, the continuous reinforcing fiber accounts for no less than 80% of the mass of the prepreg, and the balance is a thin-layer net felt.
A prepreg preparation method is characterized by comprising the following steps:
a first step of preparing a resin film;
secondly, pre-soaking, compounding and bonding one side of the thin-layer net felt and the resin film prepared in the first step together to obtain a resin film/thin-layer net felt;
and thirdly, impregnating and compounding the resin film/thin-layer net felt, the continuous reinforced fibers and the resin film obtained in the second step by a hot melting method to obtain the prepreg.
The prepreg prepared by the method is used for weaving RTM preforms.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:
(1) according to the invention, through the structural design and preparation process control of the prepreg, the prepreg meets the requirements of the subsequent slitting process and RTM (resin transfer molding) process, and is convenient to store and transport;
(2) according to the invention, through the impregnation and compounding of the double-sided resin film, the resin plays a role in bonding, and the thin net felt stuck on one side provides a transverse adhesive force, so that the prepreg tows are prevented from splitting in the slitting process;
(3) the fiber has high collimation degree, is bonded by resin, is not easy to bend and deform, reduces the technical difficulty of weaving the prefabricated body and is beneficial to improving the quality reliability of products;
(4) the self surface viscosity of the invention can provide the shaping supporting force, the process of using dry fiber or fabric and shaping agent together is avoided, and the distribution uniformity of the shaping agent is controllable;
(5) the prepreg tows can meet the requirements of an automatic weaving and laying process of a prefabricated part, improve the laying efficiency of the large-size sample prefabricated part, reduce the process complexity and save the cost;
(6) the thin-layer net felt pasted on the surface can play a role in guiding flow, and guides resin to impregnate the fiber reinforcement in the resin injection process of RTM molding, so that the probability of defects between layers of the composite material is reduced, and the quality reliability of the product is improved.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the present invention;
FIG. 3 shows a surface topography structure (electron microscope) of a carbon felt coated with a prepreg obtained in example 1 of the present invention;
FIG. 4 shows the surface topography (electron microscope) of the carbon felt coated with the prepreg obtained in comparative example 1.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following examples and accompanying drawings.
The invention uses a hot melting method to realize the impregnation of the fiber reinforcement to obtain the prepreg with low resin content, and then the prepreg is cut into tows to obtain the prepreg silks which can be used for the molding process of the RTM automatic preform. The prepreg cloth with low resin content is prepared by the process design of laminating a thin-layer net felt on the surface and impregnating and compounding a double-sided resin film, the prepreg cloth is prevented from splitting under the state of low resin content by the transverse adhesive force of the surface net felt and the bonding action provided by resin, and the prepreg tows suitable for molding RTM automatic preforms can be obtained by cutting.
The invention provides a prepreg, which can be used in an RTM process, as shown in fig. 1. The prepreg consists of continuous reinforced fibers, a thin-layer net felt and resin, and is formed by compounding the continuous reinforced fibers and the thin-layer net felt by impregnating a double-sided resin film through a hot melting method, wherein the thin-layer net felt is positioned on one side of the continuous reinforced fibers; the resin accounts for no more than 15% of the mass of the prepreg, the continuous reinforcing fiber accounts for no less than 80% of the mass of the prepreg, and the balance is a thin-layer net felt.
The invention has no special limitation on the type of the continuous reinforced fiber, selects a proper type according to the performance of the composite material, and can be one or a mixture of several of glass fiber, carbon fiber or aramid fiber and the like. Preferably, the content of the continuous reinforced fibers is 85-93%, and the RTM manufacturability is optimal. The continuous reinforced fiber is not less than 80% and has no obvious adverse effect on RTM forming.
The invention has no special restriction on the types of the resins, and the proper types are selected according to the performance of the composite material, and can be epoxy resin, bismaleimide resin or cyanate resin and the like. Preferably, the content of the resin in the prepreg is 5-10%, and the RTM manufacturability is optimal. The resin content is not more than 15 percent, no obvious adverse effect is caused on RTM molding, the resin content is not less than 3 percent, so that the resin can provide enough adhesive force for reinforcing fibers to prevent the prepreg cloth from splitting in the cutting and using processes, the necessary surface viscosity is given to the prepreg, and the resin plays a role of a sizing agent in the automatic laying molding of RTM preforms; when the prepreg is prepared by a hot melting method, one side of the adhesive film can be ensured to soak a part of fibers after the thin-layer net felt is soaked.
The thin-layer net felt is not specially limited in type, and can be a thin type carbon fiber felt net, a fiber gauze net and other breathable net felts, and the surface density of the net felts is less than or equal to 15g/m2The thickness is less than or equal to 0.3mm, so that the prepreg can be soaked conveniently when prepared by a hot melting method, and a part of fibers below the thin-layer net felt can be soaked. Preferably, the surface density of the net felt is 5-10 g/m2The thickness is less than or equal to 0.2mm, and the manufacturability comprehensive performance is optimal.
Further, the invention also provides a prepreg preparation method as shown in fig. 2, which is realized by the following steps:
1. a resin film is prepared.
The specific process for preparing the resin film capable of meeting the requirement of preparing the prepreg by the hot melting method by selecting the proper temperature and the pressure between rollers is known in the art, and the appropriate process can be determined by the technology in the art according to the type of the resin and the like. Preferably, the variation of the surface density of the resin film is less than or equal to 10%.
2. And (3) pre-soaking and compounding one side of the thin-layer net felt and the resin film together.
The invention does not require the bonding strength of the thin-layer net felt and the resin film, and only needs to ensure that the paving is not obviously affected by delamination when the subsequent composite reinforced fiber is used.
3. And (3) impregnating and compounding the resin film/thin-layer net felt, the continuous reinforced fiber and the resin film in the second step by a hot melting method to obtain the prepreg.
In the step, one surface of the continuous reinforced fiber is coated with a pure resin film, and the other surface of the continuous reinforced fiber is coated with a thin-layer net felt for impregnating resin, and the hot melting method process can be used for referencing the existing double-sided resin prepreg preparation process, and a person skilled in the art selects a proper composite process under the aim of impregnating as much as possible. Preferably, the proper compounding temperature is selected in the step, so that the viscosity of the resin is not more than 20000mPa & s, the resin is impregnated inwards as far as possible under the action of a compression roller and capillary, a microstructure shown in figure 1 is formed, the resin can be ensured to have a certain bonding effect on the reinforcing fibers, and meanwhile, the thin-layer net felt pasted on the surface can provide transverse adhesion force, and the splitting of the tows in the subsequent slitting process is prevented.
4. And (4) cutting the prepreg obtained in the step (3) into prepreg tows.
And (3) cutting the prepreg cloth obtained by impregnation, compounding and winding into prepreg tows with different specifications and widths by using a cutting device, wherein the width of the tows is selected according to the requirements of the subsequent RTM preform automatic weaving and forming process, and the width specifications such as 3.175mm, 6.35mm or 12.7mm can be selected.
Further, the invention also provides a prepreg used for weaving the RTM preform.
Example 1
The composition structure is as follows:
88-90 wt% of T700 continuous carbon fiber
5g/m22-2.5 wt% of short-fiber carbon felt (about 0.1mm thick)
8-10 wt% of medium-temperature curing epoxy resin
The preparation process comprises the following steps:
1. preparing resin film, selecting proper temperature and pressure between rollers, and controlling the surface density of the resin film to 10 +/-1 g/m2。
2. Mixing 5g/m2And (3) pre-dipping and compounding the short fiber carbon felt and the resin film prepared in the step (1).
3. And (5) dipping and compounding to obtain the prepreg.
197g/m2One surface of the T700 unidirectional continuous carbon fiber is coated with a pure resin film, and the other surface is coated with the short fiber carbon felt which is prepared in the step 2 and is impregnated with the resin, and the compounding temperature is selected to be 85 ℃, and the viscosity of the resin is about 10000mPa & s.
4. And (6) slitting. The prepreg cloth obtained by dipping, compounding and rolling is cut into prepreg tows with the width of 6.350 +/-0.025 mm by using a cutting device, the cut prepreg tows are not split, the prepreg tows have good surface lap joint viscosity at the laying temperature of the RTM preform, and the method can be used for automatic forming weaving of the RTM preform.
Scanning electron microscope analysis was performed on the surface and internal structure of the obtained prepreg, and the results are shown in fig. 3.
Example 2
The composition structure is as follows:
85-88 wt% of T700 continuous carbon fiber
10g/m24-5 wt% of short-fiber carbon felt (about 0.2mm thick)
8-10 wt% of high-temperature curing epoxy resin
The preparation process comprises the following steps:
the surface density of a film surface prepared from the prepreg is controlled to be 10 +/-1 g/m2Using 10g/m2The short fiber carbon felt is impregnated and compounded at the temperature of 100 ℃, the resin viscosity is about 8000mPa s, other process conditions are the same as those in the embodiment 1, the prepreg cloth obtained by impregnating, compounding and rolling is cut into prepreg tows with the width of 3.175mm +/-0.025 mm, the cut prepreg tows are not split, the prepreg tows have good surface lap joint viscosity at the laying temperature of the RTM preform, and the method can be used for automatic forming weaving of the RTM preform.
Scanning electron microscope analysis was performed on the surface and internal structure of the obtained prepreg, and the results were similar to those in fig. 3.
Example 3
The composition structure is as follows:
80-83 wt% of T700 continuous carbon fiber
15g/m25-7 wt% of short-fiber carbon felt (about 0.3mm thick)
10-13 wt% of bismaleimide resin
The preparation process comprises the following steps:
the surface density of a film surface prepared from the prepreg is controlled to be 13 +/-1 g/m2Using 15g/m2The short fiber carbon felt is prepared, the prepreg compounding temperature is 85 ℃, the resin viscosity is about 12000 mPa.s, other process conditions are the same as those in the embodiment 1, the prepreg cloth obtained by dipping, compounding and rolling is cut into prepreg tows with the width of 12.7mm +/-0.025 mm, the cut prepreg tows are not split, the prepreg tows have good surface lap joint viscosity at the RTM preform laying temperature, and the method can be used for automatic forming weaving of RTM preforms.
Scanning electron microscope analysis was performed on the surface and internal structure of the obtained prepreg, and the results were similar to those in fig. 3.
Comparative example 1
The composition structure is as follows:
82-85 wt% of T700 continuous carbon fiber
20g/m28-9 wt% of short-fiber carbon felt (about 0.5mm thick)
8-10 wt% of medium-temperature curing epoxy resin
The preparation process comprises the following steps: using 20g/m2The chopped carbon felt was processed under the same conditions as in example 1. Scanning electron microscope analysis was performed on the surface and internal structure of the obtained prepreg, and the results are shown in fig. 4.
Comparative example 2
The composition structure is as follows:
90-92 wt% of T700 continuous carbon fiber
8-10 wt% of medium-temperature curing epoxy resin
The preparation process comprises the following steps: this comparative example did not use a thin mesh felt, and used 10 + -1 g/m on both sides2The resin films were subjected to impregnation lamination, and the other process conditions were the same as in example 1.
FIG. 3 shows that the prepreg obtained in example 1 has a carbon felt with short fibers attached to the surface thereof and the selected areal density of the carbon felt is within the range required by the present invention, and the resin can be effectively impregnated into the surfaces of the carbon felt and the continuous reinforcing fibers to firmly bond the carbon felt and the fiber surfaces and exert the adhesion effect thereof, thereby realizing the low resin content stateIn this state, the prepreg is prevented from splitting during slitting. FIG. 4 is an SEM image of a sample obtained in comparative example 1, using 20g/m2The carbon felt (about 0.5mm thick) exceeds the technical requirements of the invention on the thin-layer net felt, and because the carbon felt has low hole density and becomes thick, resin is not easy to be impregnated and contacted with the continuous fiber reinforcement, thereby causing poor adhesion between the carbon felt and the reinforcement fiber. In fact, the prepreg fabric obtained in comparative example 1 is severely split in the slitting process, so that the slitting efficiency is reduced, and the tows cannot meet the requirements of the RTM forming process. The prepreg cloth obtained in the comparative example 2 has limited bonding force of resin because no thin net felt provides transverse adhesive force, the reinforcing fiber can be easily torn, and the prepreg cloth cannot meet the requirements of a slitting process.
The invention has not been described in detail and is in part known to those of skill in the art.