ABSTRACT
Pultrusion is a continuous manufacturing process for making long, straight structural composite parts of a constant cross-sectional area. It can produce a wide variety of solid and hollow cross sections with wall thicknesses ranging from 2 to 30 mm. Pultruded composites typically contain longitudinally oriented continuous fiber rovings and several layers of random fiber mat, such as continuous filament mat (CFM) and chopped strand mat (CSM), at or near the outer surfaces. The pultrusion die is designed to ensure that the pultruded section is cured before it emerges from the die exit end. It is divided into three major sections: die entrance section, curing and consolidation section, and cooling section. The common pultrusion production line has six operational areas arranged in the following order: fiber storage and supply, resin impregnation, preforming die, pultrusion die, pulling, and cutting. The commonly used resins in pultruded products are isophthalic polyesters and vinyl esters.
