Apparatus and method for manufacturing resin-impregnated cured sheet, and apparatus and method for manufacturing carbonaceous material sheet

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a windable carbonaceous material sheet, which is obtained by continuously curing a long uncured fiber sheet which is obtained by using short fibers to make paper and which contains uncured resin to produce a resin-impregnated cured sheet, and then continuously carbonizing it, and its production process. For the object, a long uncured fiber sheet (1a) is conveyed by conveyance means which is equipped with one rotation belt set (2) comprising a drive roll (2a), a follower roll (2b), and an endless belt (2c) which is put on and around these rolls (2a, 2b). A resin-impregnated cured sheet (1b) is produced by heating and pressurizing the uncured fiber sheet (1a) by resin curing means (3) which is arranged so as to nip the uncured fiber sheet through the endless belt (2c). Further, the resin-impregnated cured sheet is continuously conveyed in a horizontal direction, and then is carbonized by the apparatus for manufacturing a carbonaceous material sheet which is equipped with a carbonization treatment chamber for carbonizing a carbonizing material and guide rolls which are provided in the carbonization treatment chamber, so that a carbonaceous material sheet is continuously produced. Then, this is wound up. Accordingly, production efficiency is remarkably improved, and its handling property and conveying property are excellent.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing, for example, a substrate of a flexible printed circuit board and an electrode substrate of a fuel cell. Specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method that makes it possible to continuously produce a long resin-impregnated cured sheet or a long carbonaceous material sheet.PRIOR ART[0002] A substrate of a printed circuit board, which comprises fiber reinforced plastics, is produced by using an organic fiber reinforced pre-preg that is obtained by impregnating matrix resin into a sheet made of para-aramid fiber and meta-aramid pulp or fusion-liquid-crystal aromatic polyester fiber and pulp thereof, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-77803 as a conventional technology. Alternatively, there is a method of obtaining a flexible substrate by impregnating epoxy resin into a dry sheet, which is obtained by integrating a mixed web comprising a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0019] Since the apparatus for manufacturing the resin-impregnated cured sheet can perform a curing treatment while continuously conveying the long uncured fiber sheet, the curing can be carried out uniformly over the uncured fiber sheet in a length direction thereof. Accordingly, it is possible to produce a resin-impregnated cured sheet that has uniform quality in the length direction with a high productivity, without generating any local fragile portions or broken portions.

[0055] Further, it is preferable that the temperature at the heating and pressuring is higher than the preheating temperature by 50.degree. C. or more. Thereby, the thermosetting resin can be sufficiently cured.

Problems solved by technology

Since the conventional substrate of a porous carbon electrode has a large thickness and fragility, many of such substrates are easy to be destructed when being bent.

Furthermore, in order that the efficiency of chemical-electrical energy conversion is raised by smoothing the flow of gas and water in a fuel cell, when the porocity of the substrate of the porous carbon electrode is raised, there raises a problem that the electroconductivity itself is lowered.

As a result, the feed path of the gas is choked by the water, therefore the feed path of the gas is apt to be narrow.

Thus, when the printed circuit board and the porous electrode substrate are produced in short sheet forms, the treatment and delivery thereof are inconvenient.

Further, it cannot but being cut again into an actual size at a site of fuel cell assembly, therefore there occurs a uselessness of the material at the cutting.

However, since the carbon fiber sheet becomes extremely fragile after being pressed, the sheet is apt to be broken at an edge of the hot press apparatus, namely, a boundary portion between the face to be pressed and the adjacent face that has been already pressed.

Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a high quality product.

When the guide rolls are not provided in the carbonization treatment chamber, the resin-impregnated cured sheet contacts with a bottom face of the carbonization treatment chamber due to its self weight, which causes a crack or a fragment.

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