The Bundle Effect of UD-laminate Made of Friction Spun Core Yarn as Premix

Consolidation of thermoplastic unidirectional(UD)lami-nate with friction spun core yarns was investigated,espe-cially the characterization of filament bundles in consoli-dation was analyzed.The results showed that the bundleeffect was affected considerably by processing conditions(applied pressure and processing time).The boundaryof the bundles was disappeared under suitable processingconditions and finally an even fiber/resin distributioncould be attained.In consolidation,filament bundlesgetting close each other and resin flowing into the bundl-es occurred simultaneously,and eventually the bundleswere fully impregnated by the resin.Fiber packing den-sity in UD-laminate was the same as that of frictionspun core yarn(55%-65% in volume)and was not af-fected significantly by processing conditions under thecurrent experimental conditions.