Embroidered Composite Laminate With Backing Sheet for Surface Smoothness

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing composite material products, particularly those with transparent resins, suffer from visible woven patterns that lack aesthetic appeal and design freedom, and embroidery with specific fibers leads to gaps and strength degradation.

Innovation Solution

A method involving embroidery with a specific fiber thread through a backing sheet, followed by solidification with a transparent resin, to create a composite material product with enhanced design freedom and surface smoothness, using a backing sheet to distribute stress and prevent gap formation.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If embroidery is performed with specific fiber thread directly on the specific fiber cloth, then design freedom is improved, but gaps form between threads causing strength degradation and surface disturbances

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedesign freedomVSAvoidstrength
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSStrength

Solution Approach 1:

A backing sheet is introduced as an intermediary layer between the specific fiber cloth and the embroidery thread. The backing sheet receives the embroidery stitches and distributes the stress, preventing gap formation in the specific fiber cloth while still allowing the design to be formed. This mediator resolves the contradiction by enabling embroidery without compromising structural integrity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The invention creates a composite structure consisting of three layers: the specific fiber cloth, the backing sheet, and the transparent resin. This composite material approach combines the aesthetic design capability of embroidery with the structural strength of the backing sheet and resin, resolving the contradiction between design freedom and strength.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #40Composite materials

2Adaptability or versatility

If embroidery is performed with specific fiber thread directly on the specific fiber cloth, then design freedom is improved, but surface smoothness deteriorates due to gap formation and wrinkling

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedesign freedomVSAvoidsurface smoothness
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The backing sheet serves as a mediator that captures the embroidery stitches and prevents them from creating gaps and wrinkles in the specific fiber cloth surface. By providing a dedicated layer for the embroidery thread to penetrate and stitch into, the backing sheet maintains surface smoothness while enabling design freedom.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The backing sheet acts as a flexible thin film structure that can accommodate the embroidery stitches without creating surface irregularities. The thin film nature of the backing sheet allows it to conform to the stitched design while maintaining overall surface smoothness when viewed from the front of the specific fiber cloth.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

3Illumination intensity

If transparent resin is used in the composite material product, then aesthetic appearance is improved, but the woven pattern becomes visible causing design limitations

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaesthetic appearanceVSAvoiddesign freedom
Core Design Contradiction:
Illumination intensityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The embroidery design is formed in advance on the backing sheet before the transparent resin is applied. This preliminary action allows the design to be established and fixed on the backing sheet, which then serves as a template visible through the transparent resin, enabling aesthetic appearance with full design freedom.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The invention utilizes colored threads in the embroidery process to create visible designs through the transparent resin. By applying color changes through the embroidery thread on the backing sheet, aesthetic appearance is achieved without limiting design freedom, as the colored pattern becomes visible through the transparent resin layer.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #32Color changes

Data Source

PatentEP3756869B1Method for manufacturing composite material product
Publication Date: 2025.11.12 FUTURE TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
  • EP3756869B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3756869B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3756869B1 patent drawingFigure 3(A)~3(B)

AI summary

Provided is a technology for imparting a design having a higher degree of freedom than in the related art to a composite material product including a woven fabric, which is formed of a thread made of a specific fiber (carbon fiber, glass fiber, aramid fiber), and a resin. As a first step, a specific fiber cloth (100), which is the woven fabric formed of the thread made of a specific fiber, and a backing sheet (200) formed of a thermoplastic resin are stacked. Subsequently, embroidery is performed with an embroidery thread (300) to form a design on a front surface of the specific fiber cloth (100). The embroidery thread (300) is made of the specific fiber, and penetrates through the specific fiber cloth (100) and the backing sheet (200) . Then, the specific fiber cloth (100) and the backing sheet (200) are sandwiched between resin sheets (400) each formed of a thermoplastic resin, and the whole is cured by an RFI method.