| 摘要 |
<p>A fiber bundle (B) workpiece is coated with a particulate material during passage about a plurality of pulleys (54, 56) arranged to establish a serpentine travel path portion through a coating zone (10). The pulleys have arcuate grooves (58) extending thereabout, which cause the fiber bundle to twist axially, and the fibers of the bundle move with respect to one another as the fiber bundle moves along the serpentine path. These two actions increase coating efficiency and the penetration of particulate material into the fiber bundle. The travel path portion will preferably lie in horizontal plane, and the coating means will normally constitute an electrostatic fluidized bed of particulate material. After exiting the coating zone, the fiber bundle may pass through an oven (12) to partially melt the particulate material, and thereby cause the particles to adhesively attach to the fiber bundle. The fiber bundle, with particulate material attached thereto, may thereafter be collected and stored on a spool (32) as an intermediate product for use in subsequent composite article manufacturing processes.</p> |
