In the Virginia Tech-Dupont wetlay composites process, reinforcing and thermoplastic fibers, mechanically dispersed in an aqueous slurry, are dewatered under vacuum as the slurry is cast onto a 12"-wide, moving wire conveyor to form a continuous, uniform, non-woven mat of commingled thermoplastic and reinforcing fibers.

This mat is subsequently fed into a convective through-air oven where it is dried and the comprising thermoplastic fibers melt to fuse the reinforcing fibers into a coherent, flexible, highly porous mat that is wound as a continuous sheet onto a roll. Fiber-reinforced plastic composites are produced by the compression molding or roll forming consolidation of stacks of wetlay non-woven mats.