Advanced Composite Thermoplastics

Reinforced plastics (RP) technology has grown rapidly to meet the ever-increasing demands for advanced materials. A new family of structural materials, advanced composite thermoplastics (ACTP), have recently been developed to fill the gap between brittle, high strength, thermoset advanced composites and tougher, lower strength, conventional reinforced thermoplastics. Advanced composite thermoplastics are thermoplastic matrix composite materials utilizing oriented, high-strength fibrous reinforcement. ACTP is available in tapes, rods, woven fabric, pultruded profiles, and long-fiber molding compounds. These materials can be fabricated by a variety of methods, including injection molding, compression molding, filament winding, rotational molding, transfer molding, and tape laying. The major advantages of ACTP lie in high strength-to-weight ratios, toughness, chemical resistance, reformability, and process economy.