Patent Application
20200156327
The present invention relates to resin-molded articles, a process for manufacturing said articles and an apparatus for manufacturing said articles.
Molded articles, those which are manufactured with a material prepared by kneading a fibrous base material and a resin material and then molding the mixture into a desired shape, have been known in the past. As an example thereof, fiber-reinforced plastic using carbon fibers as the fibrous base material has been prepared. This fiber-reinforced plastic has superior strength and rigidness than those made of metals and advantage in the lightness and less corrosiveness. In this concern, it has been used in various fields as structural parts capable of being mass-produced. In addition, because of its excellent suitability to mass-production, it has also been used for various purposes including both interior and exterior automotive parts, electric appliances, sporting goods and so on.
On the other hand, a method for forming a coating film and coated articles produced thereby are disclosed in the Patent Reference 1 as technology for coating parts made of such a fiber-reinforced plastic to commercialize them. This article is structured by defining the film thickness and parallel light transmissivity such that it takes on metallic glaze in the specular direction and delustering material feeling of the fiber-reinforced plastic in the other direction.
The automotive exterior trim parts defined in the appended Patent Reference 2 are prepared by adding and kneading acrylonitrile-styrene resin with PC and PBT at the adding rate of several to several tens percent by weight relative to the whole weight and adding carbon black and plastic dye as the coloring agent so that deep impressive color and surface hardness can be provided to the prepared polymer-alloyed resin without paint application. In addition thereto, such a functional part for an automotive use that can simply provide automotive interior trim part with light-emitting function (Patent Reference 3) and such an automotive body and parts those which are applied with a low-brightness paint provided with beautiful appearance and chemical resistance equivalent to the conventional level without using black dye (Patent Reference 4) are also disclosed. Furthermore, as shown in the appended Patent References 5 through 7, a vacuum molding method and a vacuum molding apparatus adopted to adhere a decorative film or a sheet-shaped material onto an adherend have been already disclosed.
Although the plastic moldings kneaded with fibers have such advantages as it excels in the strength and the rigidness as described above and is lightweight, fibrous parts are exposed on the surface, whereby causing the surface of a molding to be rough and convexo-concave. Because of that, though it depends on the use, it is required either to apply paint in the post-process or to ask an experienced operator to smooth the surface by means of repeated painting and surface polishing. Thus, it is problematic not only that the conventional fiber-reinforced moldings requires great care for the surface processing in the post-process and is costly, but also that the smoothing of the surface is made unevenly due to the difference in the workmanships of the painting and polishing operators. In particular, resistance against both weather and ultraviolet rays is strictly demanded in case that the moldings using carbon fibers are used outdoors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide resin-molded articles, to which such advantages as strength, rigidness and light weight are secured thanks to kneading with fibers, and which has excellent surface characteristics such as smoothness of the surface and beauty in the appearance, and resistance against weather, ultraviolet rays and light.
Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a process and an apparatus for manufacturing the resin-molded articles, those which are capable of facilitating the surface processing of the molded article using a fibrous base material as the supporting base, reducing the number of the steps, and achieving homogeneity of the surface property like smoothing of the surface.
The resin-molded articles manufactured according to the present invention is structured such that a molded base made of a fibrous base material comprising any of carbon fibers, glass fibers and the complex thereof is coated with a surface skin material provided with an adhering layer.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the molded base is characterized in that it is molded with the fibrous base material to which at least one of ABS, polycarbonate, acryl and nylon is added as a binding agent.
According to the other embodiment of the present invention, the surface skin member is characterized in that an adhering layer is attached to the underside of a resin film and a decorative layer is formed on the surface of the molded base.
According to still the other embodiment of the present invention, the surface skin member is characterized that the adhering layer is attached to the underside of the resin film and a decorative layer is intervened between the resin film and the adhering layer.
According to still the other embodiment of the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that it is prepared by etching the underside of the resin film and an adhering layer is attached to said underside.
According to still the other embodiment of the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that it comprises at least one material selected from a group consisting of acryl, polycarbonate, ABS, PET, vinyl chloride, polyurethane and polypropylene.
According to still the other embodiment of the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that the thickness thereof is in a range of from 0.1 mm to 5 mm.
The manufacturing process for the resin-made articles according to the present invention is characterized by comprising the following steps:
a molded base made of a fibrous base material comprising any of carbon fibers, glass fibers and the complex thereof is placed on a tray,
the resin surface skin member provided with an adhering layer is arranged over the molded base such that the adhering layer of the resin surface skin member is directed downward,
the surroundings of the molded base and the resin surface skin member is rendered in a negatively-pressurized state and the resin surface skin member is heated,
the resin surface skin member is softened as a result of heating and the tray is elevated to thereby closely contact the molded base to the softened resin surface member, and
the upper region of the tray is rendered to be in a pressurized state and subsequently the surrounding of the tray is opened to remove the molded base coated with the resin surface skin member.
In one embodiment of the manufacturing process for the resin-molded articles according to the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that an adhering layer is attached to the underside of the resin film and a decorative layer is formed on the surface of the molded base.
In the other embodiment of the manufacturing process for the resin-molded articles according to the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that an adhering layer is attached to the underside of the resin film and a decorative layer is intervened between the resin film and the adhering layer.
In still the other embodiment of the manufacturing process for the resin-molded articles according to the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that the underside thereof is etched and an adhering layer is then attached to said underside.
In still the other embodiment of the manufacturing process for the molded articles according to the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that it is made of at least one material selected from a group consisting of acryl, polycarbonate, ABS, PET, vinyl chloride, polyurethane and polypropylene.
In still the other embodiment of the manufacturing process for the resin-molded articles according to the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that the thickness thereof is in a range from 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm.
In still the other embodiment of the manufacturing process for the resin-molded articles according to the present invention, the resin surface skin member is characterized in that it is molded with the fibrous base material added with ABS, polycarbonate, acryl and nylon as a binding agent.
The apparatus for manufacturing resin molded articles according to the present invention comprises:
a lower chamber box movably holding a tray used for the molded fibrous base in the vertical direction,
an upper chamber box having a heater built-in and movable in the vertical direction relative to the lower chamber box,
a resin surface skin member extended over the area locating between the upper and lower chamber boxes,
a negative pressure biasing means arranged in both of the upper and lower chamber boxes and communicating them,
a pneumatic biasing means arranged in both of the upper and lower chamber boxes and communicating them,
a driving unit for moving the tray in the vertical direction, and
a driving unit for moving the tray in the vertical direction and a driving unit for moving the upper chamber box in the vertical direction,
characterized in that the apparatus is configured such that the resin surface skin member is attached to the molded base by virtue of press given by the molded base on the tray against the resin surface skin member owing to the elevation of the lower chamber box, or application and release of bias generated by the negative pressure biasing means and the pneumatic biasing means, or heating by the heater.
According to the present invention, resin-molded article which has excellent surface property such as smoothness and beautiful appearance while keeping its advantages in strength, rigidness and lightweight resulting from kneading with fibrous material and is simultaneously resistant to weather, ultraviolet rays and light, can be attained. Yet, with the present invention, a process and an apparatus for manufacturing the resin-molded articles which enables facilitation of surface processing of the molded fibrous base, reduction of the manufacturing steps and homogenization of the surface property such as surface smoothing can be attained as well.
Now, the present invention is explained by means of the examples given below with referring to the appended drawings.
As the manner for molding the fibrous base material, though various manners as exemplified below can be employed, it should not be limited to those manners given below. The molding manner includes molding the fibrous base material following to mixing a binding agent as a binder to the fibrous base material, molding after weaving or twisting the fibrous base material, molding by covering the fibrous base member formed by weaving the fibrous material with a binding agent, molding by covering the fibrous base member formed by twisting the fibrous material with a binding agent, molding by forming the fibrous material by employing the above-described manner and apply foundation painting to the surface, and molding by forming the fibrous material by employing the above-described manner and apply foundation painting to the surface and followed by sanding thereof. While, as the resin surface skin film, various types of synthetic resin sheets being capable of sticking to the fibrous base member may be employed. As an example, if acryl material is used for the transparent resin film 3, the resulted film may be resistant to weather and ultraviolet rays, and the film made of either PC or ABS material may acquire better moldability and productivity. Therefore, the material to be used can be appropriately selected depending on the application. For the adhering layer, an acrylic adhesive is the preferred. The thickness t of the resin surface skin film (transparent resin film 3) containing an adhering layer is preferably in a range of from 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm, however, it is arbitrary determined depending on the application such as place to be used of the molded article. The structures of the molded article 1, the adhering layer 2 and the resin surface skin film 3 as explained in the following are same as those described above, respectively. Note that the employable material examples to be used for the resin surface skin film 3, all materials respectively made of acryl, PC, ABS, PET, vinyl chloride, polyurethane and polypropylene may be given. While, for the binding agent, materials respectively made of ABS, polycarbonate, acryl and nylon are employable. However, the materials being employable for the resin surface skin member is not limited to those described above, any resin sheet that can stick to the molded article in the steps described latter and any material that can be molded with the fibrous material maybe employed for the resin surface skin member and the binding agent, respectively.
With regard to the resin-molded article 10 according to the example shown in
With regard to the resin-molded article 10 according to the example shown in
In respect of the resin-molded article 10 shown in
With referring to
Inside the upper chamber box 22 that ascends and descends relative to the lower chamber box 21, a heater 30 is arranged at the upper position. A vertically-moving driving unit 31 is provided to the upper position of the upper chamber box 22, and the actuating rod 31a thereof is connected to the upper side of the upper chamber box 22. Besides, a pressuring apparatus, e.g. a pneumatic tank 32, for rendering the inside of the upper chamber box 22 to be in a pressurized state is connected to said upper chamber box 22 via the switching valve 27. In such a state that the upper chamber box 22 is lowered and closely contacted to the lower chamber box 21 being attached with the resin surface skin film 29, both insides of the upper and lower chamber boxes 22, 21 are kept in a sealed condition.
Taking the manufacturing apparatus for the resin-molded articles configured as described above as an example, the process for manufacturing the resin-molded articles according to the present invention will now be explained with referring to
Then, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Subsequently, the inside of the upper chamber box 22 is shifted from the negative pressurized state to either opened-to-air state or pneumatic state while actuating the heater 30 inside the upper chamber box 22 to thereby accelerate the adhesion of the resin surface skin film 29 to the surface of the molded article.
The resin-molded article to which surface processing having been applied according to the present invention may be used for various applications because it has advantages of high strength and rigidness, light weight, highly resistant to weather and ultraviolet rays, smoothed surface irregularity and beautiful appearance.
According to the present invention, an resin-molded article having excellent surface property, such as surface smoothness and beautiful appearance, while securing advantages of strength, rigidness and lightweight given by virtue of kneading of fibers, and further being provided with resistance against weather, ultraviolet rays and light can be attained. In addition, a process and an apparatus for manufacturing resin-molded articles, which enables easy surface processing to the surface of a molded article comprising a fibrous base member, reduction of the manufacturing steps and homogenization of the surface aspect, such as smoothening of surface, can also attained.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-197001 | Oct 2015 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15525611 | May 2017 | US |
| Child | 16747770 | US |
