Simple manufacturing method for a thermoplastic composite using PP-Straw

Disposable PP-straws are cylindrical tubes composed of a thermoplastic film and are readily used as thermoplastic composites intermediate if carbon fiber (CF) is reinforced. Herein, we used PP-straw as a matrix material and developed a carbon fiber PP-straw prepreg (CSP) using CF reinforced materials. Disposable straws can be recycled to produce composites by using PP-straws, and the manufacturing process of the thermoplastic composite material is simplified. The CF content suitable for PP-straws was determined at 40 wt% by tensile strength and electrical resistance changes in pressurizing CSP. In manufacturing CSP, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) showed that the PP matrix was impregnated when the gap between the fibers was >5 μm, thus air texturing was used to widen the gap between the CF tows. Suitable fiber configurations for the CSP were formed at 4 kPa of air texturing pressure, and the CSP properties were degraded because of damaged fibers under higher-pressure conditions. The tensile impact and inter-laminar shear strengths (ILSS) were evaluated, and the improved properties of the CF PP-straw composites were confirmed with increasing fiber length.