Polycarbonate is used in housings for water meters and power tools. Camper tops, pallets, and hand luggage are typical applications of reinforced HD polyethylene. This compares to 0.030 to 0.060-in. Azdel Inc. The company also markets a glass-reinforced PET polyester sheet product and plans to add sheet materials based on other resin matrices. Another new composite form is a sheet material in various thermoplastic matrix resins developed by Du Pont.
Reinforcement is unidirectional but discontinuous glass, carbon, or aramid fibers.
Carbon-fiber reinforcement also makes plastic compounds partially conductive. In compounds containing small amounts of carbon, this characteristic is useful for applications where static charges cannot be tolerated. PAN-derived fibers have been available for several years and, for several of the lower modulus varieties, large databases have been developed through their use in aerospace programs. These fibers are generally selected for their high strength and efficient property translation into the composite. Specifically, flexural and tensile moduli are the highest ever measured in discontinuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites.