PRODUCTION OF ROPE COMPOSED OF FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITE MATERIAL

• Main Authors: NARITA ISAO, TSUNODA ATSUSHI, MIZUGUCHI TOYOKAZU
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 15.06.1993
• Subjects: CABLES OTHER THAN ELECTRIC; LAYERED PRODUCTS; LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT ORNON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; ROPES; ROPES OR CABLES IN GENERAL; TEXTILES; TRANSPORTING

PURPOSE:To obtain the subject lightweight product, having corrosion resistance, good in operating efficiency and suitable for building materials or civil engineering by impregnating fiber bundles with an epoxy resin in a specific proportion, semicuring the resin, twisting the resultant fiber-reinforced composite element wires and then thermosetting the resin. CONSTITUTION:Fiber bundles (generally fiber bundles of carbon fiber, aramid fiber or glass fiber) are initially impregnated with an epoxy resin so as to provide 40-70wt.% fiber content and then preferably semicured by a method for treatment at 80-120 deg.C for 1-5min. The resultant plural fiber-reinforced composite element wires having 1-5 mm diameter are subsequently twisted to afford a fiber-reinforced composite material, which is then heat-treated preferably at 150-180 deg.C for 2-5min and cured to provide the objective product. Furthermore, the diameter of the product is preferably 3-50mm from the viewpoint of use as a substitute wire rope in applications of civil engineering and construction. The number of twists of the rope is preferably 1-10 turns/m in aspects of shape retaining properties, etc.