Manufacturing of braided thermoplastic composites with carbon/nylon commingled fibers

Commingled fibers, a blend of reinforcement and matrix filaments within the tow, provide a good material arrangement to overcome the high viscosity at melt of thermoplastic matrices. This study first characterizes the architecture of a carbon/nylon commingled yarn by microscopy. Then, braiding technology is used to manufacture the tubes at various braiding angles. Laminates are then made by compression molding with preforms extracted from the braids. The consolidation quality is examined using the constituent content method and microscopy. Tensile and flexural properties are obtained for a wide range of angles. Fracture analysis of tensile coupons is realized. Finally, the tensile modulus is predicted using classical lamination theory.