Patent ID: 8088320

Claim:
A method of constructing a thermoplastic composite material that has the ability to undergo flow and/or draw during vacuum thermoforming so that it can be drawn from a flat sheet with a first wall thickness into a three dimensional shape with a double horizon bend while maintaining a second wall thickness greater than a preset specification thickness, said method comprising: obtaining a plurality of thermoplastic material plies and applying said plies to both faces of at least one original fiber veil ply composed of discontinuous fibers; wherein the structure of said at least one original fiber veil ply was maintained by a polymeric binder comprising less than 10% of the weight of the original fiber veil, so that contact points between said discontinuous fibers in said original fiber veil were held together by said polymeric binder, and the remainder of the original fiber veil had a substantially porous structure; wherein said polymeric binder is chosen for its ability to dissociate from said contact points during the process of forming said composite material, while preserving the overall original fiber veil orientation of said discontinuous fibers; and consolidating said plurality of thermoplastic material plies and said at least one original fiber veil together using a press at a temperature and pressure sufficient to cause said polymeric binder to dissociate from said contact points of said discontinuous fibers, thereby forming at least one fiber veil remnant, and causing said thermoplastic material plies to flow into the porous structure of said original fiber veil, thereby constructing said composite material.