Importance

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Abstract

A method is provided for making a lightweight composite panel in which an outer skin is developed by spraying a heat curable reactive urethane formulation onto a contoured heated surface of a mold cavity of a press mold and maintained thereon in a semi-cured state. A substrate-forming foam layer impregnated with a hardening compound is positioned against a second foam layer and the layers in turn laid over the semi-cured urethane skin. The foam layers are urged together within the mold under heat and pressure at a temperature sufficient to accelerate activating of the hardening compound to render the substrate-forming foam layer relatively stiff, hard and self-supporting and less compressible than that of the second foam layer, and to bond the foam layers to one another at their interface, while forcing the semi-cured skin material into interstices of the second foam layer and thereafter curing the skin producing a bond between the skin and the second foam layer.

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First Claim