Abstract
Research has been carried out on the use of glass fibers (hereafter referred to as “GF”) to form a beam structure of GF reinforced thermoplastic composites. GF is generally supplied in lengths 0.2 to 0.6 mm and dispersed in a discontinuous form in a matrix resin in conventional GF reinforced thermoplastic composites. We have successfully developed a method to form a beam structure in which the GF are apparently joined in the matrix resin by utilizing the fact that polymers with a high affinity for GF migrate to the interface of the GF. That is, by adding a small quantity of resin having a higher heat resistance than the matrix resin and having an excellent affinity for GF, we have been successful in joining the fibers by selectively migrating this small quantity of resin to the interface with the GF. This beam structure material was found to have a heat distortion temperature (HDT) significantly higher than that of conventional GF reinforced thermoplastic composites. By applying this concept to glass fiber reinforced polystyrene (GFPS), the HDT of GFPS improved from 100°C - 110°C to 200°C - 250°C.