Patent ID: 8273208

Claim:
A process for making a structural composite laminate, comprising: providing a first lamina; depositing a plurality of solid yet deformable discrete, non-porous, thermoplastic polymeric particles having surfaces on the first lamina to establish a core, wherein inter-particle voids extend surface to surface from and to the respective surfaces of adjacent thermoplastic polymeric particles; applying a second lamina over the core; applying a sufficient compressive force to the first and second laminas to permanently deform the thermoplastic polymeric particles into a deformed state between the first and second laminas while retaining the inter-particle voids and maintaining the thermoplastic polymeric particles as non-porous; and releasing the compressive force without delaminating the first and second laminas from the thermoplastic polymeric particles to thereby provide a structural composite laminate comprising the first lamina, the second lamina, and a core between the first and second laminas the core comprising the non-porous thermoplastic polymeric particles substantially retained in the deformed state and having the inter-particle voids.