2. Short-fiber TP compounds (SFT)

2.1 Compound manufacturing

The high viscosity of TP resins explains the compounding technology used, i.e. extrusion/granulation compounding which, thanks to the action of heat and the high shear forces developed by the compounding screw(s), leads to homogeneous dispersion and a good level of impregnation of the reinforcing fibers by TP resins.

Several compounding methods exist, depending essentially on how the glass fibers are introduced. The most widely-used method to date involves separate dosing on a twin-screw extruder (figure 1 ), with the resin being fed into the extruder inlet (zone 1), followed by the reinforcement in the...