Pultrusion, though a well developed processing art, is not well understood scientifically. Much basic study remains before the process of pultruding composite materials can be stated to be on a firm scientific basis. Such fundamental understanding will be required to develop high performance structural products or products that take advantage of the wide range of possible thermal conductivities of composite materials. These studies will provide a first step toward understanding the pultrusion process variables as they relate to conditions of dynamic loading or to bidirectional thermal conductivity; and, will result in models to characterize the process and an improved ability to design/produce a pultruded material for a given end use. By focusing research on the effects of process variables on the thermal, dynamic, and non-destructive evaluation (NDE) characteristics of pultruded polymeric composite products, innovative material systems can be developed which are important to industry in the United States.
