Lightweight thermoplastic sheets including reinforing skins

摘要

A multi-layered fiber reinforced sheet (10) for automotive vehicle interior structural components includes, in an exemplary embodiment, a permeable fiber reinforced thermoplastic core layer (12) having a first surface (14) and a second surface (16). The core layer includes a plurality of reinforcing fibers bonded together with a thermoplastic resin, and has a density of about 0.1 gm/cc to about 1.8 gm/cc. The multi-layered fiber reinforced sheet also includes at least one first reinforcing skin (18) applied to the first surface of the core layer, and at least one second reinforcing skin (20) applied to the second surface of the core layer. Each first and second reinforcing skin includes a matrix of reinforcing fibers and a thermoplastic resin wherein the matrix of reinforcing fibers applied to the first surface are arranged in a bi-directional orientation and the matrix of reinforcing fibers applied to the second surface are arranged in a bi-directional orientation.