Tubular Component Made of Composite Material, and a Device and Method for Producing It

The present invention relates to structures made of composite material using a matrix of thermohardening resin, which structures can be used as structural reinforcement components in various fields of technology.

In particular the invention relates to a tubular component of the type defined in the pre-characterising part of claim 1.

The object of the present invention is to provide a tubular component made of composite material of a type which is an improvement compared with known types, is easy to handle and store and can be easily shaped in its non-polymerised state, and is highly resistant in its polymerised state.

This object is achieved by means of the features indicated in the characterising part of claim 1.

The tubular component according to the present invention has high-performance mechanical properties making it suitable for replacing structural components which hitherto were made of metal components, thus permitting the weight of these parts to be considerably reduced. In particular this component may advantageously be used in order to produce structural components of various types, and in particular the bodywork of motor vehicles, such as for example cross-members under the dashboard, frameworks of movable parts such as doors and hatches, rollbars, or frames for supporting the power unit.

The object of the invention is also a device for producing a tubular component made of composite material.

The device is characterised in that it comprises in succession:

a container of thermohardening resin disposed in such a manner that it surrounds a tubular reinforcement core made of fabric or non-woven fabric, whereby as the tubular reinforcement core passes through said container, it is impregnated with the resin present therein; and a compressor member adapted to subject the tubular reinforcement core impregnated with resin to a radial compression action, such a compression action being directed from the inside towards the outside of the tubular reinforcement core.

The object of the invention is also a method of producing a tubular component made of composite material.

This method is characterised in that it comprises the following operations:

providing a tubular reinforcement core made of fabric or non-woven fabric consisting of resistant fibres;

impregnating the reinforcement ore with a thermohardening resin; and

subjecting the impregnated reinforcement core to a radial compression action by means of a compressor member disposed inside the reinforcement core, whereby the reinforcement core is subjected to a compression action directed from the inside towards the outside.

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, given with reference to the attached drawings, provided purely as a non-limiting example, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial lateral cross-section elevation view showing schematically a device for producing a tubular component made of composite material according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse cross-section elevation view of a detail of FIG. 2, designated by the arrows II--II;

FIG. 3 is a lateral cross-section elevation view of a detail of reinforcement core of a tubular component according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of a detail of FIG. 1 designated by the arrow IV.

With reference initially to FIG. 1, a device for producing a tubular component made of composite material is designated 1 as a whole.

The device 1 comprises a dispenser unit 3 which can produce continuously a tubular reinforcement core 4 made of fabric or of non-woven fabric substantially in a "sock" form, by processing resistant filaments or fibres. This dispenser unit is of a known type and will therefore not be described in greater detail since it does not come within the scope of the present invention.

The unit 3 can be supplied with fibres of various types, depending on the type of reinforcement core to be obtained, such as mineral fibres (for example glass fibres or aramide fibres), or organic fibres (for example carbon fibres or plant fibres), or metal fibres or thermoplastics fibres.

Below the unit 3 along the axis A of the core 4 produced by the unit 3, there is disposed a container 7 provided with a central hole 9 inside which the core 4 is disposed. The container 7, which is substantially in the form of a tray surrounding the core 4, has a cylindrical wall 11 which projects from the central hole 9 on the side opposite the unit 3, coaxially with the outer surface of the core 4. The container 7 is filled with a thermohardening resin 13 which may for example be of the type such as unsaturated polyester, or vinyl ester, or polyester-polyurethane, or phenolic polyester or epoxy polyester, in the fluid, non-polymerised state.

As the tubular core 4 passes through the central hole 9 of the container 7, the core 4 is impregnated with the resin 13 which penetrates its fibres by force of gravity and thus produces a tubular component 5 made of composite material. At the part of the container 7 provided with the cylindrical wall 11, inside the tubular core 4 there is inserted a rotary member 15 which is rotatably supported by a drive shaft 17 which is disposed coaxially with the axis A of the unit 3. As can be seen in greater detail in FIG. 2, the member 15 comprises a plurality of ribs 19 (four in the example illustrated) which project radially outside a substantially cylindrical core 18 rigidly connected to the drive shaft 17. The ribs 19 are wound helically about the core 18, and when the member 15 is rotated by the shaft 17, the movement of the ribs provides a compression force directed from the inside towards the outside of the tubular component 5. This compression action enables optimum distribution amongst the fibres which constitute the core 4 to be obtained from the resin matrix 13. This rotary member 15 also compacts radially the tubular component cross-sections which come into contact therewith. The rotary member 15 cooperates with the cylindrical wall 11 so as to define the cylindrical form of the tubular component 5 made of composite material.

Between the wall 11 and the outer surface of the tubular component 5, there is a radial gap by means of which the resin 13 left over from impregnating the fibres of the core 4 is disposed on the outer surface of the tubular component 5.

Downstream of the container 7 there is disposed a tank 20, also in the form of a tray, the bottom 21 of which is provided with a circular aperture 22 through which the tubular component 5 can pass. From the aperture 22 in the bottom 21 there projects in the direction of the container 7 an annular wall 23 which acts as a scraper for the excess resin 13, which by this means is deposited in the tank 20, and which by means of a recirculation plant 25 comprising a pump 27 and pipes 29, is fed back to the container 7. The wall 23 also acts as a final shaping component for the outer wall of the tubular component 5.

Below the tank 20 and in the axial direction A of the tubular component 5, there is a device 31 of a known type which forms coating films 33a, 33b of plastics material, on the outer surface and on the inner surface of the tubular component 5 respectively.

The films 33a and 33b enable the component 5 to be handled when it has not yet been subjected to polymerisation, and prevent the inner walls thereof from sticking together. Additionally, when the component 5 has been subjected to a polymerisation process in order to obtain a rigid structural component, if this component is subjected to impacts which fracture it, the films 33a and 33b enable the parts separated by the fracture to be held together.

After the step in which the films 33a and 33b are formed, the tubular component 5 comprises a semifinished product which can easily be handled and for example stored by being wound onto bobbins or placed in appropriate containers.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and as shown better in FIG. 3 and 4, the unit 3 produces the tubular reinforcement core 4 comprising a plurality of coaxial cylindrical layers 4a, 4b adjacent one another and joined to one another by connection elements 6. The elements 6 are at a predetermined distance from one another in the axial direction A of the tubular reinforcement 4, and comprise sections of the layers 4a, 4b which project radially towards the adjacent layers. These connection sections enable limited sliding to take place between the coaxial adjacent layers 4a and 4b, thus ensuring that the tubular component 5 can easily be shaped, and can thus adapt to twisting paths which have a relatively small radius of curvature. Naturally it will be appreciated that there may be any number of adjacent coaxial layers, and in particular more than two. If the pitch, in other words the axial distance between the connection elements 6, is varied, the required level of sliding can be obtained between the various layers which constitute the reinforcement core 4.

The coaxial layers made of fabric or of non-woven fabric may all comprise fibres of the same type, for example all mineral fibres or organic fibres or metal fibres, or each layer may comprise fibres of a type different from that of the adjacent layers. For example using fibres which have a higher mechanical resistance for the outermost layers, for example metal filaments, tubular components which have greater resistance to perforation from the outside can be produced.

The semifinished product comprising the tubular component 5 can easily be subdivided into sections, each of which may form a finished product which acts as a structural component of the required type. For this purpose a section of tubular component 5 is disposed inside a hollow mould which delimits the outer shape to be assumed by the finished product when processing thereof is completed. The shape of this hollow mould may also be provided with projecting or recessed components, and it may have any transverse cross-section, for example it may be substantially in parallelepipedal shape.

At the ends of the section of the semifinished product consisting of the tubular component 5 there are disposed heads (not shown in the Figures), each of which is provided with a two-way valve, of which the opening and closing in both directions can be controlled externally, for example by means of an electrical signal. A pressurised fluid, for example air, water or steam, is supplied by means of the heads, through these valves, to the inside of the component 5, such that the pressure prevailing in the inner recess of the tubular component 5 compresses the latter against the walls of the hollow mould. In this case the inner coating film 33b prevents the pressurised fluid from passing through the wall of the tubular component 5 and thus forming a sealing barrier.

The pressurised fluid is heated to a temperature preferably of between 130.degree. and 180.degree. C. and the mould is maintained at the same temperature of the fluid in order to enable polymerisation of the resin to take place. Both the two-way valves are closed in order to prevent pressurised fluid from escaping from inside the tubular component 5. The component 5 is then maintained in this condition for a predetermined length of time until the polymerisation occurs.

Alternatively, the interior of the tubular component 5 can be supplied with a foam fluid, such as for example polyutherane and preferably an expanding resin, which during expansion undergoes an exothermic reaction so as to generate heat, which enables the resin 13 to be polymerised. In this case the foam, which sets when polymerisation of the resin 13 is completed, remains inside the tubular component 5, thus contributing towards the structural resistance of the component 5 and at the same time constituting a sound-absorbing space.

The film of plastics material 33a for coating the outer surface of the tubular component 5 is selected such that it is compatible with and facilitates the processing to which the finished product formed by the tubular component 5 is subjected. In particular, in cases in which the outer surface of the product is to be connected to other structural components, for example by means of gluing, the film 33a will be produced from a plastic material compatible with the adhesives used, and which can facilitate the gluing process and prevent long-term deterioration of the adhesion.

If the reinforcement core 4 comprises a plurality of coaxial layers joined to one another, even after the resin 13 has been polymerised, the possibility of the layers which constitute the reinforcement core being able to slide relative to one another will be limited, so as to enable the resistance features of the product following to impacts to be improved.