Filament Winding of Co-Extruded Polypropylene Tapes for Fully Recyclable All-Polypropylene Composite Products

Abstract

The creation of high-strength co-extruded polypropylene (PP) tapes allows the production of recyclable "all-polypropylene" (all-PP) composite products, with a large temperature processing window and a high fibre volume fraction. Available technologies for all-PP composites are mostly based on manufacturing processes such as thermoforming of pre-consolidated sheets. The objective of this research is to assess the potential of filament winding as a manufacturing process for all-PP composites made directly from coextruded tapes or woven fabric. Filament wound pipes or rings were tested either by the split-disk method or a hydrostatic pressure test in order to determine the hoop properties, while an optical strain mapping system was used to measure the deformation of the pipe surfaces.

Preparation and characterization of polypropylene homocomposites: Exploiting polymorphism of PP homopolymer

“…[8][9][10][11][12] The key issue of the production of polymer homocomposites is to maintain the high stiffness and strength of the reinforcement (usually fibers and tapes with different layup or textile architecture), i.e., to avoid their temperatureinduced relaxation. To enlarge the processing window, either the melt flowing temperature of the matrix should be reduced, or the melting range of the reinforcement increased, or both.…”

Synergistic Reinforcement of Highly Oriented Poly(propylene) Tapes by Sepiolite Nanoclay

“…More recently, a lot of interest has also been shown in highlydrawn PP tapes, in particular for application as ''selfreinforced'' or ''all-PP'' composites, where both reinforcement and matrix are made from the same polymer. Remarkable achievements in this field [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] led to commercialised products such as Curv 1 or PURE 1 and its licence Tegris 1 .…”

Single-polymer composites (SPCs): Status and future trends

“…Tape winding and tape laying are also feasible. In these processes various heat sources (gas torch, laser) may be used because only the skin (surface) layer of the bicomponent tape should be melted to achieve the required "welding" [148]. Flat panels are produced also by tape winding with subsequent hot pressing.…”