For those applications where the properties of unreinforced or short fibre reinforced polymer stock shapes (such as plates or rods) are not suitable, continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic plates can be an outstanding alternative. Thanks to the continuous fibre reinforcement (usually woven fabrics made of glass or carbon fibres) these plates offer high mechanical properties, which are usually only achieved by metals, while at the same time being significantly lighter than the latter.
Thanks to the utilisation of thermoplastic matrix materials, the plates share the advantages of thermoplastic unreinforced plates, such as high impact toughness, mechanical properties in a broad temperature range, chemical resistance, and high elongation at break, while also having absolute mechanical properties around one order of magnitude higher than unreinforced thermoplastics. Depending on the chosen application, the matrix material can be selected to fulfil the specific needs and covers a broad spectrum of customer requirements.
Plates made of continuous glass or carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastics can be processed through waterjet cutting, as well as with conventional machining methods (suitable equipment and processing parameters needed) to finished parts of outstanding quality with minimal tolerances.
The following composite plates are manufactured by Ensinger:
PPS CFRP - polyphenylen sulfide woven carbon fibre:
PEI GFRP - polyetherimide woven glass fibre:
PC CFRP - polycarbonate woven carbon fibre:
Our thermoplastic composite plates can be supplied in a thickness ranging from 1 mm to 95 mm with maximum dimensions of 525 x 625 mm.
Standard products are woven glass fibre reinforced PEI as well as woven carbon fibre reinforced PC and PPS. Other matrix and fibre combinations, fibre architectures or customised fibre lay-ups can be offered upon request.
The composite plates have densities between 1.5 and 1.8 g/cm³, giving them a similar specific weight to unreinforced or short fibre-reinforced plates. Nevertheless, the reinforcing fibres increase their mechanical properties dramatically to a level similar to metal. Compared with unreinforced polymer plates, continuous fibre-reinforced plates achieve values that are 5 times higher for both tensile strength and Young’s modulus.
Continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastics exhibit extremely low coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) in a range around 5x10-6 K-1. This property is of great importance for applications in which the parts are subjected to temperature fluctuations over a broad range and where high precision is required.
The thermoplastic matrix gives the plates high impact toughness, with the value significantly higher than in plates with a thermoset matrix such as epoxy or phenolic resins. Moreover, the high elongation at break of the thermoplastics ensures tough, non-brittle fracture behaviour. For some applications, the intrinsic vibration damping of the matrix can also be a relevant advantage.
Achieve your goals in thermoplastic composites without long and costly development times. For our TECATEC PC, PEI and PPS plates, no minimum order quantity is required.
