Hose reinforced with discontinuous fibers oriented in the radial direction

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG.
1, hose 1 with a section removed illustrates a hose having fibers 2 oriented in the radial direction.
Radial orientation of the fibers is shown in the end cross-section of hose 1 by fibers 2 being aligned so that they point toward the axis of symmetry of the hose.
In the portion of hose 1 in which a section is removed, only the ends of fibers 2 (or cross-sections of fibers) are in view.
FIG.
2 shows hose 3 having fibers 4 oriented in the axial direction in which the fibers are aligned substantially parallel to the axis of symmetry of the hose.
In the end cross-section of hose 3, only the ends of fibers 4 (or cross-sections thereof) are in view, whereas, substantially the entire length of fibers 4 are visible in the portion of hose 3 in which a section is removed.
Referring to FIG.
3, hose 5 is shown having fibers 6 oriented in the circumferential (hoop) direction in respect to the axis of the hose.
In circumferential orientation, fibers 6 are aligned in the direction of the circumference of the hose, therefore, substantially the entire lengths of fibers 6 are visible in both the end cross-section of hose 5 and in the portion of hose 5 in which a section is removed.
Of course, it is understood that FIGS.
1, 2 and 3 are idealistic representations.
Normally, a number of fibers are tilted from any particular plane of orientation and all three orientations, axial, circumferential and radial, co-exist with one type of orientation generally predominating.
Axial orientation as shown in FIG.
2 may be achieved by extruding a matrix containing discontinuous fibers through a die having a channel of equal or diminishing channel width which channel is essentially parallel to the direction of extrusion; however, minor numbers of fiber may still be oriented in the other two planes.
Circumferential orientation as shown in FIGS.
3 may be achieved by extruding a matrix containing discontinuous fibers through a die having a channel in which both channel walls diverge outwardly from the axis