Spring devices – Fibrous – Glass fiber
Patent
1985-10-16
1987-04-21
Kashnikow, Andres
Spring devices
Fibrous
Glass fiber
156169, 156192, 156245, 156500, 264136, 264258, 267 47, B29C 6714, B29C 6718, F16F 118, F16F 136
Patent
active
046590714
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL DOMAIN
The invention is concerned with a process for producing a leaf spring which, at least in essential springy sections, is composed of a fiber-reinforced plastic material in which high-strength reinforcing fibers, appropriately composed of glass fibers, carbon fibers or other suitable fibers, pass at least approximately in the direction of the maximum extension of the spring material, and in which spring-eyes are appropriately integrated in the leaf spring body at the spring ends. It is furthermore concerned with a plastic leaf spring of a thickness that is variable along its length, appropriately manufactured pursuant to the process according to the invention.
STATE OF THE ART
Springs of the above mentioned type have been known for many years, but thus far they have found no acceptance worth mentioning in motor vehicle construction. From U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,357, for example, a process is known for the manufacture of such plastic leaf springs, in which one starts out with a strip comprised of non-woven glass fiber material and a soft matrix material on an epoxy resin basis. Blanks of such a strip are placed in a mold in several plies, one above the other, and joined under pressure and at a raised tempeerature under cure-hardening of the matrix resin to produce the finished leaf spring. Since each of the superposed strip blanks contributes only about 0.01" to the thickness of the leaf spring, then, for example, for a spring thickness of 3/4" 75 superposed strip blanks would have to be used. The curing time for such a spring is assumed to be about 45 minutes.
Because of the need to insert the strip blanks into the mold, a great amount of manual labor is required for this known method. In addition, the long curing times required are an obstacle to an efficient spring production.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The objective of the invention is to present a new process for the manufacture of plastic leaf springs of the above mentioned type, which requires a substantially lesser amount of manual work than the process known from the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,357.
This problem is solved by the process according to the invention in that a continuous web is formed comprised of reinforcing fibers, appropriately in the form of fiber rovings or fibrous tissues, with the reinforcing fibers appropriately impacted or impregnated with a hardenable plastic substance, and wherein the continuous web is wound up in several layers into a continuous reel on a rotating pick-up device with at least two pick-up elements, whereupon the continuous reel, appropriately together with other components serving to construct the leaf spring, is placed into a mold, in such a manner that the continuous reel adjoins along essentially its entire periphery the barrel-shaped contact area of the molding chamber, and wherein appropriately thereafter the hollow spaces still present in the molding chamber between reinforcing fibers are filled up by introducing a hardenable plastic substance, and wherein the plastic material in the mold is solidified and appropriately hardened into the leaf spring blank.
In an advantageous embodiment of the process according to the invention for the manufacture of a leaf spring of variable thickness along its length, intermediate layer-pieces are put on the continuous web prior to its being wound up, which pieces arrange themselves in the continuous reel between contiguous superposed continuous web layers.
According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the process according to the invention is characterized in that the intermediate layer pieces are composed of a fibrous laminar material appropriately impacted or impregnated with a hardenable plastic substance. The intermediate layer pieces, appropriately composed at least partially of a fibrous tissue, may advantageously be impacted with a plastic substance after they are put on the continuous web.
Pursuant to another advantageous embodiment of the process according to the invention, for the manufacture of a leaf spring in whic
REFERENCES:
patent: 2027343 (1936-01-01), La Bombard
patent: 2980158 (1961-04-01), Meyer
patent: 3057767 (1962-10-01), Kaplan
patent: 3900357 (1975-08-01), Huchette et al.
patent: 4414049 (1983-11-01), Jones
patent: 4475723 (1984-10-01), Meyer
Motor Boat and Yachting, vol. 89, Sep. 1956, p. 382.
Diefendorf Richard R.
Isosport Verbundbautiele Ges. m.b.H.
Kashnikow Andres
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