Continous LFT Reinforcement White Paper

Expanding the Performance

Envelope for Long Fiber
Thermoplastic Composites
with Unidirectional
Tape Inserts
White Paper
Innovation Made to Order

PlastiComp, Inc.
110 Galewski Drive • Winona, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Internet: www.plasticomp.com • Email: info@plasticomp.com
Telephone: +1 507.454.4334

EXPANDING THE PERFORMANCE ENVELOPE FOR
LONG FIBER THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES WITH
UNIDIRECTIONAL TAPE INSERTS
PlastiComp, Inc., 110 Galewski Dr., Winona, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Telephone +1 (507) 454-4334, Internet www.plasticomp.com
Abstract ‒ As discontinuous, fiber-reinforced composites have limited fatigue and creep resistance,
PlastiComp, Inc. investigated outcomes of selective, structural-reinforcement of injection-molded
samples. Unidirectional, continuous fiber inserts in tensile and compressive regions of structural parts
were insert-molded with long fiber thermoplastic (LFT) compounds. It was found that the load to fatigue
life of one million cycles was increased from 50 to 70 percent of the material strength.
BACKGROUND DISCUSSION
The use of long fiber thermoplastic (LFT) As the pultrusion process used in the
composites is well documented [1]. Although manufacturing of LFT pellets or granules can be
continuous-fiber reinforcement remains the easily adapted to make unidirectional tapes, it
ideal, the normal instances of complex-shaped was decided to make this new form and use
parts preclude the use of continuous fibers, as them as continuous-fiber inserts in high-stress
there are limited methods of placing these fibers regions of LFT injection-molded parts. The
in complex geometries. Secondly, cost-effective process consists of first, consolidating the resin-
and standardized manufacturing methods such as impregnated fiber strands in a rolling mill and
injection molding limit the use of continuous eliminating the pelletizing or granulating stage.
fiber reinforcements. Therefore, discontinuous,
or chopped fiber is the dominant fiber-form. These unidirectional tapes were characterized
When using discontinuous fibers, the fiber for physical uniformity and fiber content. The
content, fiber length, and its aspect ratio and tapes were typically 0.25 mm thick and the
fiber-orientation become the dominant variables. width (12-50 mm) was selected to match the
Long fibers ensure that load transfer from the tensile and compressive surfaces, initially in 12
matrix to the fiber is not limited by the available mm wide ASTM test-bars and later, in injection-
fiber surface-area. molded parts. In initial experiments, standard
ASTM tensile test-bars were injection molded
with tape-inserts on their flat surfaces. Table 1
shows the increase in strength and stiffness of
tensile bars, insert molded with tapes on both
surfaces.
Tensile Tensile Maximum Flexural Flexural

Strength, Modulus, Strain, Strength, Modulus,
Material Tapes MPa GPa % MPa GPa
40% Long CF PA66 No 288 25.8 1.46 366 20.4
40% Long CF PA66 Yes 320 26.8 1.48 458 27
Table 1: Increase in mechanical properties of PA66 + 40% long carbon fiber with continuous reinforced tape
inserts on both surfaces (tapes inserts PA12+ 68 weight % carbon fiber).
© Copyright PlastiComp, Inc. Page 1 of 4

The tapes were made from 68 weight percent
carbon fiber in polyamide (PA) 12 resin. The
tapes were inserted in an ASTM test-bar family
tool and over-molded with 40% long carbon
fiber PA66 compound. Both surfaces of the
molded test-bars were reinforced with the tape
inserts. Next, the tape-reinforced test bars were
creep tested at room temperature. Figure 1
shows the difference between tape-reinforced
test bars and ordinary test-bars.
Figure 1: Room temperature creep of LFT test-bars

insert molded with reinforced tapes.
Figure 2: (A) Injection molded I-beam in 3-point
Plane-stress conditions of injection molded parts bend testing and (B) tape insert in as-molded I-beam.
often consist of surfaces in tension and
compression that are connected with ribs or The results show that LFT compositions show
similar structures. An I-beam is a good fatigue life times of 1million cycles or higher for
representation of these parts, wherein one flange stresses below 50% of the material strength. For
is in tension and the opposite flange undergoes stresses greater than 50% of the material
compression. Therefore, it was decided to mold strength, there was a rapid drop in fatigue life.
an I-beam with tape inserts on the flange In the tape–reinforced, I-beams the fatigue life
surfaces and subject it to flexural fatigue in a 3- of 1 million cycles or higher was extended to
point bend test. 70% of the material strength. Figure 3 displays
the results.
Figure 2 shows the test set-up. An injection-
molded I-beam, 203 mm in length and 25 mm
high was used, where the span-length was 190.5
mm. The fatigue load was varied as a
percentage of the strength of the I-beam material
(40% long carbon fiber PA66). The flexural
bending test was conducted at 15 Hz, a
frequency suited to the application and because
higher-frequency (2-25 Hz) testing represents
the most severe flexural fatigue case [2].

used as inserts [3, 4]. Figure 5 displays the
parabolic increase in tensile strength with insert
ply-thickness or the total number of plies used,
and is based on a systematic study conducted by
PlastiComp.
Figure 3: Fatigue life increase in 40% long carbon

fiber PA66 composites with tape inserts.
SUMMARY
LFT composites are limited in applications when Figure 4: Failure of injection-molded test-bar
creep and fatigue load conditions become underlying material; tape holds fractured halves
important. Conventionally, metal inserts are together suppressing catastrophic failure.
used to satisfy stiffness, creep, and fatigue
requirements. However, a metal-polymer matrix
is more fraught with the risks of mismatched
phases at the interface. It is especially true of
insert-molded parts, where differences in
thermal expansion lead to high residual stresses
at the metal-polymer interface. Although
145 MPa
mechanical pinning is often used to combat 118 MPa
78 MPa
differential shrinkage at these interfaces, the use

of unidirectional fiber-reinforced polymer
inserts is a better option because of thermal
compatibility. Figure 5: Tensile strength vs. number of tape inserts
for 30% long glass fiber PP injection-molded test-
Initial studies (Table 1) show an increase of 11 bars (0.25 mm thick tape inserts; glass fiber weight
percent in tensile and 25 percent increase in fraction: 68%).
flexural strengths, respectively. The flexural
properties show a pronounced increase because The improved creep and fatigue properties
of the tape-insert on the tensile-surface of the I- shown in Figures 1 and 3 made it possible to
beam, and when the continuous fiber meet in-use specifications for composite parts
reinforcement takes up the flexural load. that are under constant bending loads of 1,560
N, with peak loads of 3,560 N and are warranted
Tensile or flexural strength is always limited by for 40,000 cycles at frequencies of 8 Hz or
failure in the surrounding LFT material. The lower. Since these parts are a breakthrough in
tape inserts never fractured, leading to the metal replacement in the outdoor sports industry,
suppression of catastrophic failure normally customer confidentiality restricts the display of
associated with LFT composites (Figure 4). these parts. Nevertheless, they can be visualized
Data is consistent with other studies when as 660 mm long I-beams, where the I-beam
normalized to the fiber-content, thickness of the flange width is 25 mm and the height of the I-
unidirectional plies or the total number of plies beam is 90 mm.

Microstructural studies of the failure ABOUT PLASTICOMP
mechanisms under creep and fatigue conditions
are currently underway and will be reported in Deploying a partnership philosophy combined
future publications. Preliminary failure analysis with a fully integrated approach to application
points to crack propagation and failure in the development, PlastiComp focuses its expertise
LFT material that surrounds the unidirectional on moving innovative long fiber reinforced
insert. thermoplastic composite technology into new
markets and applications by applying long
Because of the additive properties of tape fiber’s stronger, tougher, and lighter capabilities
inserts, tapes of varying fiber content and matrix to make products better. Ready-to-process
polymer are currently in testing for load-transfer Complēt® composite pellets for injection
between the polymeric matrix and unidirectional molding provide made-to-order performance by
fibers, failure mechanism and mechanical incorporating long carbon, glass, or specialty
properties. Initial study indicates that the tensile fibers with thermoplastic polymers ranging from
strengths of unidirectional tapes are only 20% polypropylene to PEEK for application specific
that of the reinforcing fibers. This loss in tensile structural material solutions.
strength should be correlated with load-transfer
mechanisms in tape-testing and the For more information on PlastiComp’s long
standardization of tensile testing of 0.25 mm fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite
thick samples. products and technologies, please call +1 507-
858-0330, e-mail info@plasticomp.com, or visit
REFERENCES their website at www.plasticomp.com.
1. Robert C. Constable & Louis N. Kattas, “Long Glass Revised January 2018
Fiber Thermoplastics: Rapid Growth and Change,”
ANTEC 2002
2. Esmaeillou, P., Ferriera, V., et al, “Fatigue Behavior
of Polyamide 66/Glass Fiber Under Various Kinds of
Applied Loads,” Polymer Composites, 2012, pp. 540–
547
3. Ruegg A., Stotzner N. et al, “A New Mass Production
Process for Lightweight Structural Parts & Their
Application-Field,” ANTEC 2004, pp. 3504-3508
4. Jaarsma F.C., “Localized Reinforcement of Injection-
Molded Parts Using Continuous Length Glass Fibers,”
ANTEC 2009, pp. 1247-1252

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Expanding the Performance

Innovation Made to Order

Tensile Tensile Maximum Flexural Flexural

© Copyright PlastiComp, Inc. Page 1 of 4

Figure 1: Room temperature creep of LFT test-bars

© Copyright PlastiComp, Inc. Page 2 of 4

Figure 3: Fatigue life increase in 40% long carbon

differential shrinkage at these interfaces, the use

© Copyright PlastiComp, Inc. Page 3 of 4

© Copyright PlastiComp, Inc. Page 4 of 4

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