Patent ID: 7879174

Claim:
A continuous process for the production of lightweight thermoplastic composite products, said process comprising the steps of: i) feeding on a continuous basis a fabric sheet of dry unconsolidated commingled fibers of thermoplastic resin and reinforcing fiberglass or carbon fibers in an oven to heat said sheet to a temperature sufficient to insure melting and flow of said thermoplastic resin fibers, ii) subjecting said fabric sheet to further controlled heat and pressure by feeding same from said oven and through a gap between a first pair of heated rollers, said rollers being heated to a predetermined temperature to avoid abrupt cooling at surfaces of said fabric sheet and compressing said sheet in said gap, iii) feeding said fabric sheet through further pairs of rollers, at least one pair of which is a pair of heated rollers operating at reduced temperature from said first pair of heated rollers to reduce the temperature of said sheet and further maintain said sheet under pressure to insure full distribution of the resin in voids of said commingled fibers and to obtain a desired sheet thickness while causing said commingled fibers to consolidate to thereby form a continuous composite consolidated sheet, iv) controlling the temperature of said oven and said heated rollers, and controlling a feed speed of said sheet through said oven and rollers, and v) processing said sheet to form a desired product.