TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of a thermal consolidation process for the production of enhanced technical fabrics
AU - Evangelou, Angelos
AU - Loizou, Katerina
AU - Georgallas, Michalis
AU - Sarris, Ernestos
AU - Marangos, Orestes
AU - Koutsokeras, Loukas
AU - Yiatros, Stylianos
AU - Constantinides, Georgios
AU - Doumanidis, Charalabos
AU - Drakonakis, Vassilis
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research and Innovation Foundation (Project: ENTERPRISES/0618/0051 & INNOVATE/0719/0011).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Li-censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Fiber reinforced composites are increasingly used in high value applications. A novel technology (NanoWeld® ) enhancing the structural integrity of the interlayer has demonstrated promising results; however, manufacturing issues related to scalability need to be overcome. The developed technology relies on consolidating thermoplastic nanofiber nonwoven veils onto technical dry fabrics through roll-to-roll ultrasonic welding. The enhanced technical dry fabrics can be further processed as any other technical fabrics for the composites industry. An alternative solution for consolidation is proposed here, based on a thermo-compressive approach to address the scala-bility issue. A finite element model has been employed to simulate the operating conditions and provide information for optimization of the process. Its results demonstrate that consolidation is achieved rapidly, indicating that the production rate could be accelerated. The quality of enhanced technical dry fabrics produced using the proposed consolidation assembly has been evaluated using scanning electron microscopy as well as mechanical testing of fiber reinforced composites. The mechanical response of such manufactured composites has been compared against benchmark Nan-oWeld® composites, demonstrating superior performance.
AB - Fiber reinforced composites are increasingly used in high value applications. A novel technology (NanoWeld® ) enhancing the structural integrity of the interlayer has demonstrated promising results; however, manufacturing issues related to scalability need to be overcome. The developed technology relies on consolidating thermoplastic nanofiber nonwoven veils onto technical dry fabrics through roll-to-roll ultrasonic welding. The enhanced technical dry fabrics can be further processed as any other technical fabrics for the composites industry. An alternative solution for consolidation is proposed here, based on a thermo-compressive approach to address the scala-bility issue. A finite element model has been employed to simulate the operating conditions and provide information for optimization of the process. Its results demonstrate that consolidation is achieved rapidly, indicating that the production rate could be accelerated. The quality of enhanced technical dry fabrics produced using the proposed consolidation assembly has been evaluated using scanning electron microscopy as well as mechanical testing of fiber reinforced composites. The mechanical response of such manufactured composites has been compared against benchmark Nan-oWeld® composites, demonstrating superior performance.
KW - CFRP
KW - Consolidation
KW - FEM
KW - Fracture toughness
KW - Interlayer enhancement
KW - Nanofabrics
KW - Thermal simula-tion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112614713&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/machines9080143
DO - 10.3390/machines9080143
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112614713
SN - 2075-1702
VL - 9
JO - Machines
JF - Machines
IS - 8
M1 - 143
ER -