Methods to reduce the print-through phenomenon on the surface of FRP

The reflected image on the surface of the fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) often presents twists and wrinkles. This phenomenon is called print-through phenomenon (PTP) in this investigation and the lines present on the material surface are called print-through lines (PTL). Earlier studies and experimental observations indicate that PTP is related to the non-uniform inner stress in the gel coating layer of the FRP. The non-uniform inner stress is caused by the various shrinkages of the plastic matrix and fibers of the fiber layers during the laminating process. So the main idea to reduce PTP is to reduce or uniform the non-uniform inner stress in the get coating layer of the FRP. Several methods can be used to reduce PTP and two of them are investigated in this paper. One is removing atmospheric pressure before the plastic matrix of the fiber layers hardens. The other method is inserting a core-Mat layer into the Mat layers during laminating the FRP. Removing atmospheric pressure before the plastic matrix hardens can remove the influence of atmospheric pressure on causing the inner stress of the gel coating layer. Once the inner stress of the gel coating layer is reduced, PTP on the surface of the FRP can be eased off. Inserting a core-Mat layer into the Mat layers will form a buffer zone which can uniform the inner stress in the gel coating layer of the FRP. Therefore, PTP on the surface of the FRP can be eased off. To verify the present contentions, some experiments and qualitative analysis were performed. Both experimental and analysis results show that the PTP on the surface of FRP can be reduced by the present methods.