The glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene/AA2024 hybrid composite (short for Al/Gf/PP laminate) was prepared by hot pressing with anodized 2024-T3 aluminum alloy as the skin and thermoplastic glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene core as a substitute of thermosetting glass fiber-reinforced polymer (based on epoxy) in order to increase the productivity and reduce the production costs during manufacturing procedure. The effect of peel ply (release cloth) and cooling rate on the laminate was investigated elaborately in this work. The orientation of glass fiber is mainly influenced by the peel ply structure, resulting in the resin’s overflow during hot press. Moreover, different cooling rates due to various cooling methods significantly affected both the degree of crystallization of the matrix and deformation of the metal skin during the curing process. Finally, a new peel ply structure was adopted to prevent the fiber from spilling during hot press process, while bubbles were allowed to flow out normally along with partial resin. Finally, a novel cooling method to reduce the degree of polypropylene crystallization and control metal deformation was proposed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.