Fiber tow treatment system and method

Abstract

In one embodiment, a fiber treatment system includes a rotatable nubbed roller including an axis of rotation, a surface, and a number of spaced apart nubs projecting away from the surface, the number of spaced apart nubs imparting a number of spaced apart openings in a fiber tow. In another embodiment, the fiber treatment system further includes an optionally rotatable spreader roller for flattening the fiber tow. In yet another embodiment, the loosened, but still continuous fiber tow is chopped by a downstream chopper to form short fibers with reduced tow sizes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for treating fiber tows, comprising:
 a rotatable nubbed roller including an axis of rotation, a surface, and a plurality of spaced apart nubs projecting away from the surface, the rotatable nubbed roller configured to impart a plurality of openings on a first fiber tow having a first fiber tow size; and   a chopper located immediately downstream of the rotatable nubbed roller, the chopper configured to cooperate with a pulling roller to chop the fiber tow having the plurality of openings to produce a second fiber tow having a second fiber tow size less than the first fiber tow size.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one flattener located upstream of the rotatable nubbed roller and configured to flatten the first fiber tow. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one flattener includes two flatteners located at different elevations. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the projections are non-uniformly spaced along the surface, enabling the chopper to produce fiber tow segments with non-uniform widths. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein there is no intermediate processing mechanism located between the rotatable nubbed roller and the chopper. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein there is no intermediate spool collecting mechanism located between the rotatable nubbed roller and the chopper.