Patent ID: 6901986

Claim:
A system for making from laminate an automotive carbon fiber-filled sheet molding compound having the characteristics of light weight, high stiffness and high strength, the system comprising: a mechanism for providing chopped automotive carbon fibers, a predetermined resin paste, a first carrier film, and a second carrier film; a mechanism for coating substantially completely one side of one of the first and second carrier films with the predetermined resin paste to define a coated side; a mechanism for depositing chopped automotive carbon fibers onto the coated side, wherein the coated side is the one side of the first and the second carrier films that is coated substantially completely with the predetermined resin paste; a mechanism for covering the deposited carbon fibers with the second carrier film to define a compactable carbon-filled laminate; and a mechanism for compacting the carbon-filled laminate to admix the resin paste with the carbon fibers between the films, whereby to form the automotive carbon fiber-filled sheet molding compound.