THE POTENTIAL FOR LOW-COST THERMOPLASTIC PULTRUSION

For the past several years, thermoplastic pultrusion technology development has concentrated on high-performance polymers, for example: polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyetherimide (PEI), and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), While these polymers are more likely to find use as engineering materials for aircraft and spacecraft, lower temperature, lower cost fiber reinforced thermoplastics have a greater potential in the automotive, industrial, recreational, and building supplies markets. The present state of the art in thermoplastic pultrusion is primarily to consolidate prepreg, towpreg, or commingled fibers by pulling such materials through a die system. In using this approach, manufacturing costs have escalated. If in-line impregnation (without the use of hazardous solvents) was perfected, many of the recyclable thermoplastics recovered from municipal waste could be used in cost-effective pultrusion production lines. This paper identifies several potential pultrudable, recyclable, low cost thermoplastics and compares their mechanical properties with conventional pultruded materials. Manufacturing methodology and costs are also addressed, as well as methods for characterizing and testing of these materials.