Abstract Thermoplastic filament winding with in line melt impregnation has been investigated for the manufacture of continuous glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic pipes. With polyethylene matrixes it was found that the high melt viscosity hindered full melt impregnation and resulted in high pull forces in the case of pipe grade polyethylene. Using a lower viscosity polyethylene it was possible to operate the melt impregnation process, but the product obtained exhibited a high void content. Surprisingly, it was found that filament winding resulted in a considerable decrease in void content, to an acceptable level. It was found possible to wind good quality pipes and achieve high failure pressures that fully reflected the strength of the reinforcement. The non-linear strain response of glass–polyethylene pipes can be modelled using laminate theory modified to take account of the non-linearity of the matrix and the change in fibre angle that occurs as the pipe deforms.
[1]
S. Tsai,et al.
Introduction to composite materials
,
1980
.
[2]
A. A. Griffith.
The Phenomena of Rupture and Flow in Solids
,
1921
.
[3]
R. Pipes,et al.
Thermoplastic Filament Winding with On-Line Impregnation
,
1990
.
[4]
P. D. Soden,et al.
Influence of winding angle on the strength and deformation of filament-wound composite tubes subjected to uniaxial and biaxial loads
,
1993
.
[5]
J. E. Gordon,et al.
The New Science of Strong Materials
,
1975
.
[6]
J. Colton,et al.
On‐line consolidation of thermoplastic towpreg composites in filament winding
,
1994
.