A new aligned short-carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic prepreg

Short-fiber composites offer a significant advantage over long-fiber composites in manufacturing complex structural parts because of their much higher strain capacity in all directions. On the other hand, the drawback of using randomly oriented short-fiber composites is a significant loss in specific mechanical properties. Therefore, to minimize this drawback, it is absolutely necessary that all fibers be aligned. This paper will introduce a new aligned short-carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic prepreg (HTA7/PEI), the manufacturing technique, and the processing parameters for composite plates, as well as the first unidirectional mechanical properties in comparison to a similar long-fiber composite.