Advancement in Composite Materials-LC Polymers or Fibre-Reinforced Thermoplastics?

Composite materials with fibre reinforcement are gaining access to broader fields of application due to their favourable properties. Fibre reinforced plastics especially for injection molding use limited fibre length regarding fibre damage and flow properties. In recent years a new class of polymers with similar mechanical properties has been developed offering a flow behaviour even better than many unfilled thermoplastics, called liquid crystal polymers (LCP). The following paper describes their processing.