JPH03180559A - Method for feeding unidirectional fiber bundle in production of glass fiber mat and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continuously produce the subject mat, capable of readily exchanging packages of fiber bundles and suitable as automotive bumper beams, etc., by directly feeding unidirectional fiber bundles through a comb-shaped guide to a nondirectional fiber layer. CONSTITUTION:A nondirectional fiber layer 13 is formed on a horizontal belt conveyor 11 and then dried in a dryer 14. Unidirectional fiber bundles 15 are then taken out of packages 23 of a roving, cake or yarn, passed through a comb-shaped guide 16, superposed on the nondirectional fiber layer 13 and needled with a needler 17 to afford the objective mat 18.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is directed to a glass fiber mat production line that produces a glass fiber mat by needling laminated unidirectional fiber layers and non-directional fiber layers. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for supplying a unidirectional fiber bundle.

[Conventional technology]

The glass fiber mat production line laminates a unidirectional fiber layer and a non-directional (random) fiber layer, and entangles the laminate by needling with a needler.
Manufactures integrated glass fiber mats.

An example of this glass fiber mat manufacturing line is shown in FIG. In this case, first, at the starting end of the mat production line, a unidirectional fiber bundle 2 is fed onto a belt conveyor 3 from a warp beam 1 on which a glass fiber bundle (cake, roving, or yarn) is rewound to form a unidirectional fiber layer. is formed, and a non-directional fiber layer 5 is laminated thereon by randomly shaking off continuous glass fiber bundles 4. This laminate of the unidirectional fiber layer and the non-directional fiber layer 5 is then passed through a dryer 6 to be dried, and sent to a needler 7 where it is entangled by needling. . Thereby, the unidirectional fiber layer and the non-directional fiber layer 5 are integrated into a glass fiber 77).

Glass fiber mats produced in this way are, for example, F
Used to produce RTP stampable sheets (original plates). This stampable sheet is from Tokuko Showa 63-1.
No. 5135, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 112642/1983, periodical “Plastics Age J, page 194 (198
By a publicly known method such as that disclosed in
Manufactured by impregnating glass fiber mat with molten resin. The stampable sheet further has a predetermined size,
It is cut into pieces and stamped to form molded products with high strength and high elasticity in one direction, such as automobile bumper beams.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional glass fiber mat manufacturing line, as described above, a unidirectional fiber bundle 2 (unidirectional fiber bundle 2) was drawn out from a warp beam 1 to form a unidirectional fiber layer. In the case of the method, in advance,
Since it is necessary to prepare a large number of rolls of roving, cake, or yarn, arrange them in parallel with the same tension, and rewind them around the warp beam 1, the cost increases and is not economical.

Furthermore, the length of the glass fibers wound on the warp beam 1 (for example 200 m) limits the time during which the glass fiber mat can be produced continuously. That is, when the glass fiber bundles 2 of the warp beam 1 are used up, production must be temporarily stopped and the warp beam 1 must be replaced.This replacement work involves retying, for example, 540 glass fiber bundles one by one. The length must be adjusted so that a constant tension is applied. This series of tasks takes several hours,
Very inefficient.

The object of the present invention is to provide a unidirectional fiber for a glass fiber, mat production line, which eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, does not require rewinding of the glass fiber bundle onto the warp beam, and allows continuous production of glass fiber mats. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for supplying bundles.

[Means for linking objectives]

This object, in the case of a method invention, provides a method for supplying unidirectional fiber bundles from glass fiber rovings, cakes or yarns to a production line for glass fiber mats consisting of a unidirectional fiber layer and a non-directional fiber layer. This is achieved by pulling out the glass fiber bundles, separating them in predetermined numbers with pipes or guides, guiding them to feed rollers, and then guiding them to a comb-shaped guide to supply the unidirectional fiber bundles in an aligned state to a glass fiber mat production line. Ru.

Furthermore, in the case of an apparatus invention, a wound roving, cake or yarn is fed into an apparatus for supplying a unidirectional fiber bundle to a production line for a glass fiber mat consisting of a unidirectional fiber layer and a non-directional fiber layer. Shelves for mounting, pipes and guides for guiding the fiberglass bundles drawn from the roving, cake or roll of yarn, feed rollers through which the fiberglass bundles are fed through these pipes and guides, and from the feed rollers. This is accomplished by providing a variable pitch comb-shaped guide to hold the array of glass fiber bundles fed to the needler.

In this case, it is preferable that the pipe consists of a straight pipe that receives the glass fiber bundle from a roving, cake or yarn roll, and a flexible pipe connected to this straight pipe and having a corrugated irregularity on its inner wall surface. .

Further, the feed roller includes at least two rubber-covered rollers, and an entrance guide for the glass fiber bundle (referred to as an entrance guide because it is located on the entrance side with respect to the feed roller) is provided in front of the first roller. , it is desirable that the center line of this inlet guide is oriented in the tangential direction of the first roller.

Furthermore, it is desirable that a comb-shaped guide for arranging the glass fiber bundles is provided between the first roller and the inlet guide.

[Effect]

In the present invention, the rovings, cakes, and yarns are directly fed as unidirectional fiber bundles to a glass fiber mat manufacturing line (for example, its needler) without rewinding the wound rovings, cakes, or yarns onto a warp beam.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiments shown in the figures.

FIG. 1 shows in plan view a glass fiber mat production line equipped with a unidirectional fiber bundle feeding device 10 according to the invention. In FIG. 1, 11.12 is a belt conveyor arranged approximately horizontally.

Continuous long glass fiber bundles (see reference numeral 4 in FIG. 11) are randomly shaken off at the starting end range of the belt conveyor 11 (the right-hand range in FIG. 1) by a non-directional fiber bundle supply device (not shown). Non-directional fibers N (random fiber layer) 13 are formed.

A plurality of non-directional fiber bundle supply devices are arranged at regular intervals in the conveyance direction of the conveyor, and drop continuous glass fiber bundles in a spiral shape while reciprocating in the width direction at a predetermined speed (for example, (Refer to Publication No.-6660). For example, a continuous glass fiber bundle consists of 4 filaments each having a diameter of 23μ.
The non-directional fiber layer 13 is shaken off so that the weight per unit area of the non-directional fiber layer 13 becomes, for example, 440 g/rrf.

The non-directional fiber layer 13 thus formed is conveyed by the belt conveyor 11 and passes through the dryer 14. This dryer 14 blows hot air at about 50° C. onto the non-directional fiber layer 13 to dry it.

The non-directional fiber layer 13 is subsequently transferred to the belt conveyor 12. In the end region of this belt conveyor 12, a unidirectional fiber bundle 15 is fed onto the non-directional fiber layer 13 from a unidirectional fiber bundle feeding device 10 according to the invention. This unidirectional fiber bundle has, for example, a single yarn diameter of 23 μm and a bundled number of 200 fibers.
0 pieces, cake, roving or yarn with a moisture content of 0 to 20%, 540 pieces at DMA+ pitch in a width of 2.2 m,
are fed parallel to each other. This unidirectional fiber bundle supply device 1
o will be explained in detail later.

After passing through the comb-shaped guide 16, the unidirectional fiber bundle 15 supplied from the unidirectional fiber bundle supply device 10 passes through the non-directional fiber N.
13 and is laminated.

This comb-shaped guide 16 preferably has a variable pinch.

The unidirectional fiber bundles 15 may be passed through the comb-shaped guide 6 one at a time or two at a time.

This comb guide 16 itself is known in the textile industry and will not be described in detail here.

The laminated unidirectional fiber layer and non-directional fiber layer 13 are then supplied to a needler 17, where needling is performed so that the needles enter from the side of the unidirectional fiber layer. Thereby, both layers become entangled and consolidated into a glass fiber mat. Since this needler 17 itself is well known, it will not be described in detail here.

A delivery roller 19 is provided on the exit side of the needler 17 for carrying out the glass fiber pine 18. This delivery roller 19 is driven to rotate intermittently.

Said unidirectional fiber bundle supply device 10 essentially comprises a shelf 24 on which a roll 23 of roving, cake or yarn is placed;
A hard straight pipe 25 that guides the glass fiber bundle (unidirectional fiber bundle) 15 drawn out from this roving, cake or yarn roll 23, a flexible pipe 26 connected to this pipe 25, and this flexible pipe Feed roller 2 to which the glass fiber bundle is fed from 26
It consists of 7.

Shelves 24 carrying rolls 23 of roving, cake or yarn are arranged remote from the mat production line, for example in a V-shape. The fiberglass bundle 15 is drawn from a roll 23 of roving, cake or yarn and passed through a stainless steel guide rod 2, as shown in FIGS.
8 and pass the two together through the hole in the guide plate 29. This guide +ff129 is fixed to the side of the l1II124 with screws, etc., and the titanium guide 30 is attached to the hole. Next, the glass fiber bundle 15 is made of hard vinyl chloride with a cap 31 and a titanium guide 32 attached to the tip. (See Fig. 4).

If the individual glass fiber bundles are not isolated by the pipe 25, the glass fiber bundles 15 will become taut or droop when pulled out. They intersect with each other,
If they become tangled, the glass fiber bundles 15 will rub against each other as they progress, single filament breakage will occur, and fuzz will occur.
The vinyl chloride pipe 25, which will eventually break the glass fiber bundles 15, serves to isolate the glass fiber bundles 15 from each other and prevent such troubles from occurring.

Furthermore, when the glass fiber bundle 15 moves up and down, the tension applied to the glass fiber bundle also changes. In other words, when the glass fiber bundle sags greatly, the tension becomes large, and when the sagging' is small, the tension is also small. However, as mentioned above, when the glass fiber bundle 15 is passed through the straight pipe 25 and taken out, The range in which the fiber bundle 15 moves up and down can be minimized, and fluctuations in tension can also be reduced.

Suitable materials for the pipe 25 for these purposes include metal or plastic, but metal makes the pipe heavier and the frame for hanging it must also be strong, and glass fiber It is necessary to select a material that is resistant to corrosion due to peroxides contained in the binder of the bundle. On the other hand, if it is made of plastic, a hard plastic without tackiness is lightweight and can be easily mounted, and there is no need to worry about corrosion.As long as the inner wall surface is smooth, for example, fluorine resin or olefin resin can be used. Pipes made of PVC, vinyl chloride, ABS, PC, acrylic, etc. can be used. In particular, hard vinyl chloride pipes, which are widely available on the market, are suitable from the viewpoint of cost and performance.

The glass fiber bundle exiting the straight pipe 25 passes through a flexible pipe 26 whose inner wall surface is gently curved and corrugated, and is guided to a feed roller 27 . The role of the flexible pipe 26 is to gently change the direction of the glass fiber bundle 15 with as little wear as possible. For this reason, it is desirable that the inner wall surface of the flexible pipe 26 is corrugated so that the contact area between the glass fiber bundle 15 and the pipe 26 is small. FIGS. 5a to 5e show examples of the flexible pipe 26. In the case of FIG. 5a, the waveforms are formed independently in a ring shape and are formed at regular intervals. In the one shown in FIG. 5b, the corrugations are formed in the shape of one or more threads.

In the one shown in FIG. 5c, an independent ring-shaped protrusion is formed on the inner wall surface. In the one shown in FIG. 5d, the protrusion is formed in the shape of one or more threads. In the one shown in FIG. 5e, a spring is inserted and fixed into a flexible pipe.

The material of the flexible pipe 26 is preferably the same as that of the straight pipe 25. In general, it is best to use one that is lightweight and has a smooth interior wall surface. For example, Miraflexi@SS, MFS-164, a product of Mirai Kogyo Co., Ltd., which is widely available on the market as a wire protection tube, is suitable.

The glass fiber bundle 15 is fed from the flexible pipe 26 via the inlet guide 35 to the feed roller 27 . As shown in FIG. 6, this entrance guide 35 is constructed by attaching an iron vibrator 36 with an inner diameter equal to the outer diameter of the flexible pipe 26, an iron plate 37 to which this iron pipe is welded, and a guide presser attached to the opening of the iron pipe 36. Installed titanium guide 39
It consists of The iron plate 37 is a feed roller 27 which will be described later.
It has a rectangular shape with an arc extending over the entire length. As shown in the plan view of FIG. 7, a large number of iron pipes 36 are fixed to the iron plate 37 so as to be offset from each other in the width direction and the longitudinal direction of the iron plate 37. A flexible pipe 26 is inserted into each iron pipe 36 and fixed thereto.

The glass fiber bundle 15 passes through a flexible pipe 26, a titanium guide 39, and three rubber-coated rollers 41, 4.
It is fed to a feed roller 27 consisting of 2.43 mm. At this time, if the iron plate 37 is flat, the center line 40 (see FIG. 6) of the entrance guide 35 (flexible pipe 26, titanium guide 39, or iron pipe 36) and the tangent line of the feed roller 27f7) if roller 41 are The glass fiber bundle 15 runs while being rubbed by the edge of the titanium guide 39 because it does not fail. As a result, more fluff is generated at the edge of the titanium guide 39 where the contact angle is large, and the generated fluff adheres to the traveling glass fiber bundle 15 and also transfers to the surface of the feed roller 27, causing the fluff to form one after another. This causes the glass fiber bundle to be cut and wound around the feed roller. In order to prevent such troubles, the center line (normal line) of the entrance guide 35 is arranged so as to be tangent to the first roller 41 of the feed roller 27 (eighth line).
(see figure), in this way, the contact angle of the glass fiber bundle 15 at the edge of the titanium guide 39 becomes small, and fluff is hardly generated.

The glass fibers exiting the entrance guide 35 are transferred to the titanium guide 39.
However, since the pitch of each glass fiber bundle 15 is very narrow at 81 m, the glass fiber bundles 15 may be twilled between the titanium guide 39 and the feed roller 27 as shown on the right side of FIG. There is. When the glass fiber bundle 15a and the glass fiber bundle 15b contact the feed roller 27 while still being twilled, the glass fiber bundle 15a and the glass fiber bundle 15b remain overlapped and the feed roller 27
each roller (for example, the first roller 41 and the second roller 42)
(see FIG. 10), then the glass fiber bundle 15c adjacent to the glass fiber bundles 15a and 15b is
Since the clamping force between the roller 41 and the second roller 42 is reduced, the take-up speed is slowed down, and the tension applied to the beaded roller 17 is increased compared to the normally fed glass fiber bundle. As a result, the glass fiber bundle 15c is not impregnated with resin during the production of the stampable sheet, which hinders the development of strength and deteriorates the appearance of the molded product. Therefore, a comb-shaped guide 44 as shown in FIG. 9 is provided in front of the first roller 41. Due to this guide 44, the adjacent glass fiber bundles 15 are taken up by the feed roller 27 without being twisted.

The glass fiber bundle 15 is transferred from a feed roller 27 to a variable-pitch comb-shaped guide 16 provided at the inlet of a needler 17.
, and is supplied to the needler 17 with uniform arrangement and tension. Thereby, glass fiber bundle (unidirectional fiber bundle)
15 is laminated and needled on the non-directional fiber 113 that is conveyed from the right side to the left side below the feed roller 27 in FIG.

In the above unidirectional fiber bundle supply device, the glass fiber bundle 1
5 is rubbed and worn as it passes through the inner walls of the pipes 25 and 26 and the guides, causing frequent breakage of single yarns, resulting in fluff, and may eventually lead to breakage.

In order to prevent this, in the present invention, the glass fiber bundle 15
It is desirable that the material has moisture in it.

The glass fiber bundle 15 is coated with a sizing agent depending on the purpose, collected into a single strand, and wound up as a cake or lobing.The glass fibers immediately after being wound contain 10 to 20% moisture. In order to make glass fiber bundles for ordinary FRP and FRTP, these must be
It is dried in a drying oven at ~120°C for 10-12 hours and then packed and shipped. - The reason why glass fibers for composite materials are generally dried is that the resin to be composited may be hydrolyzed or foamed by moisture, which may impair the composite effect. However, polypropylene resin is resistant to hydrolysis, and since the stampable sheet manufacturing equipment is a device that expels air from the glass fiber mat and pushes in the resin instead, the glass fibers may contain moisture. However, there is virtually no effect at all. On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-17720, an organic peroxide is added to a glass fiber sizing agent suitable for FRTP stampable sheets with a polyolefin resin matrix, and roving or cake If a roll like this is dried under the drying conditions described above, the organic peroxide will decompose due to the heat and will no longer be effective. Therefore, normally, glass fiber bundles are spread out into a thin layer and then dried by blowing hot air at 50°C. In other words, in order to prevent the organic peroxide from decomposing, it is dried in a relatively low temperature and in a form with good drying efficiency in a short period of time.

However, when the glass fiber bundle is wound into a roving, it takes about 10 days at 50°C and about a month at room temperature in a well-ventilated place. This makes industrial production impossible.

In this way, the presence of moisture can prevent the glass fiber bundles 15 from being worn out and fuzzing, without impairing the composite effect of the resin. In the present invention, a roving with a moisture content of 12% was used, but almost no fuzz was accumulated on the variable pitch comb-shaped guide 16, and a uniform glass fiber mat was obtained. The moisture content of this mat immediately after production was about 5%.

In the above example, the roving, cake or yarn is used as a unidirectional fiber bundle on a fiberglass mat production line (
The process of rewinding the roving, cake or yarn onto the warp beam is not necessary since the roving, cake or yarn is fed directly to the warp beam (e.g. the needler). The replacement of rovings, cakes or yarn rolls is also carried out by joining the starting ends of the rovings, cakes or yarns of the new rolls, starting from the end of the glass fibers, and in the case of warp beams. It is very easy as there is no need to adjust the length or tension as in the case of . Alternatively, spare roving, cake, or yarn can be prepared on a shelf and the winding end and winding start end can be connected in advance. Furthermore, since this winding is replaced without stopping the glass fiber mat production line, the glass fiber mat can be continuously produced.

In the above embodiment, the unidirectional fiber bundle supplying device 10 according to the present invention was placed between the dryer 14 and the needler 17, but it could be placed at the starting end of the mat production line like the conventional equipment shown in FIG. It can also be placed in

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the present invention, the roving, cake, or yarn is directly supplied as a unidirectional fiber bundle to the glass fiber mat production line, so that the process of rewinding the roving, cake, or yarn onto the warp beam is unnecessary. No need for changing rovings, cakes or yarn wraps, and allows continuous production of fiberglass mats.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a glass fiber mat production line equipped with a unidirectional fiber bundle supply device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the positional relationship of the roving roll, shelf, and rigid pipe of the unidirectional fiber bundle supply device. Figure 3 is a side view of Figure 2, Figure 4 is a sectional view showing the inlet part of the rigid pipe, Figures 5a and 5b.
Figures 5c, 5d, and 5e are cross-sectional views showing different examples of flexible pipes, Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the entrance guide provided in front of the feed roller, and Figure 7 is the iron plate of the entrance guide. Figure 8 is a schematic side view showing the positional relationship between the inlet guide and the feed roller, and Figure 8 is a plan view of the iron pipe.
Figure A is a partially enlarged view of Figure 8, Figure 9 is a perspective view showing the feed rollers, Figure 1O is a diagram showing the glass fiber bundles stacked in a twill between the feed rollers, and Figure 11 is a warp beam. 1 is a perspective view of a glass fiber mat production line having a conventional unidirectional fiber feeder configured as a 10... Unidirectional fiber bundle supply device, 11.12...
・Belt conveyor, 13... non-directional fiber layer,
14... Dryer, 15.15a. 15b, 15c... Unidirectional fiber bundle, 16... Comb-shaped guide, 17... Needler 18... Glass fiber mat, Work 9... Delivery roller,
23...Roving, cake or yarn roll;
24... Shelf, 25... Straight pipe, 26.
...Flexible pipe, 27...Feed roller,
28...Guide rod, 29...Guide plate, 3
0...Titanium guide, 31...Cap, 3
2...Titanium guide, 35...Inlet guide, 36...Iron pipe, 37...Iron plate, 38
...Guide presser, 39...Titanium guide,
40...center line of entrance guide, 41,42.43.
...Roller, 44...Comb-shaped guide Fig. 5c Fig. 5e Fig. 5d Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 10

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a method of supplying unidirectional fiber bundles to a production line for glass fiber mats consisting of unidirectional fiber layers and non-directional fiber layers, the glass fiber bundles are pulled out from glass fiber roving, cake, or yarn, and then pipes or A unidirectional fiber bundle in the production of glass fiber mats, characterized in that the unidirectional fiber bundles are separated by a guide and guided to a feed roller, and then guided to a comb-shaped guide to supply the unidirectional fiber bundles in an aligned state to a glass fiber mat production line. supply method. 2. A device for supplying unidirectional fiber bundles to a production line for glass fiber mats consisting of a unidirectional fiber layer and a non-directional fiber layer, including shelves for placing wound rovings, cakes, or yarns, rovings, and cakes. or a pipe and guide for guiding the glass fiber bundle drawn from the yarn roll, a feed roller through which the glass fiber bundle is fed through the pipe or guide, and an arrangement of the glass fiber bundle from the feed roller to the needler. A feeding device for a unidirectional fiber bundle in the production of a glass fiber mat, characterized in that it is equipped with a variable pitch comb-shaped guide for holding a unidirectional fiber bundle. 3. characterized in that the pipe consists of a straight pipe for receiving a glass fiber bundle from a roll of roving, cake or yarn, and a flexible pipe connected to the straight pipe and having corrugated irregularities on its inner wall surface, A feeding device for a unidirectional fiber bundle in the production of a glass fiber mat according to claim 2. 4. The feed roller consists of at least two rubber-coated rollers, and an inlet guide for the glass fiber bundle is provided in front of the first roller, and the center line of the inlet guide is aligned with the first roller.
3. A device for feeding unidirectional fiber bundles in the production of glass fiber mats according to claim 2, characterized in that the feeding device is oriented tangentially to the roller. 5. 5. The device for feeding unidirectional fiber bundles in the production of glass fiber mats according to claim 4, characterized in that a comb-shaped guide for arranging the glass fiber bundles is provided between the first roller and the entrance guide.