Patent ID: 8480935

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a fibre-reinforced composite material, the method including the steps of: (a) providing at least two layers of dry fibres; (b) providing a resin having a plurality of particles dispersed therein; (c) forming a stack of adjacent layers of fibre with a layer of the resin on a surface of each layer of fibres; and (d) flowing the resin into each layer of fibres to form a resin matrix around each layer of fibres, each layer of fibres filtering the particles dispersed in the resin to form a heterogeneous dispersion of the particles within the resin matrix, wherein the resin matrix comprises a first region disposed at a surface of each layer of fibres and between adjacent fibre layers, which first region has a higher concentration of particles than a second region of the resin matrix disposed within the respective layer of fibres.