Fibre reinforced PET composite manufacturing via Solid State Polymerisation

Abstract

Due to the high viscosity of thermoplastics, their processing in fibre-reinforced composite is not trivial. Here we present a route to obviate this issue in a solvent-free manner. To this purpose, we impregnate GF textiles with low-viscosity PET polymer followed by in-situ solid state polymerisation. Processing at low viscosity enables time-efficient manufacturing of void-free intermediate materials, followed by a post-processing step in the solid state that brings back the physical and chemical properties of the polymer. Via this novel approach, PET matrix inside a composite prepreg, was transformed in-situ from an oligomer of few Pas to a polymer grade with similar Mw to the highest commercially available one, in ≤10 h under mild conditions and in the solid state.