scholarly journals Curved Foldable Tailored Fiber Reinforcements for Moldless Customized Bio-Composite Structures. Proof of Concept: Biomimetic NFRP Stools

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Rihaczek ◽  
Maximilian Klammer ◽  
Okan Başnak ◽  
Jan Petrš ◽  
Benjamin Grisin ◽  
...  

Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) are increasingly popular building materials, mainly because of their high strength to weight ratio. Despite these beneficial properties, these composites are often fabricated in standardized mass production. This research aims to eliminate costly molds in order to simplify the fabrication and allow for a higher degree of customization. Complex three-dimensional shapes were instead achieved by a flat reinforcement, which was resin infused and curved folded into a spatial object before hardening. Structural stability was gained through geometries with closed cross-sections. To enable this, the resource-saving additive fabrication technique of tailored fiber placement (TFP) was chosen. This method allowed for precise fibers’ deposition, making a programmed anisotropic behavior of the material possible. Principles regarding the fiber placement were transferred from a biological role-model. Five functional stools were produced as demonstrators to prove the functionality and advantages of the explained system. Partially bio-based materials were applied to fabricate the stool models of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites (NFRP). A parametric design tool for the global design and fiber layout generation was developed. As a result, varieties of customized components can be produced without increasing the design and manufacturing effort.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Costalonga Martins ◽  
Sacha Cutajar ◽  
Christo van der Hoven ◽  
Piotr Baszyński ◽  
Hanaa Dahy

It has become clear over the last decade that the building industry must rapidly change to meet globally pressing requirements. The strong links between climate change and the environmental impact of architecture mean an urgent necessity for alternative design solutions. In order to propose them in this project, two emergent fabrication techniques were deployed with natural fiber-reinforced polymers (NFRPs), namely tailored fiber placement (TFP) and coreless filament winding (CFW). The approach is explored through the design and prototyping of a stool, as an analogue of the functional and structural performance requirements of an architectural system. TFP and CFW technologies are leveraged for their abilities of strategic material placement to create high-performance differentiated structure and geometry. Flax fibers, in this case, provide a renewable alternative for high-performance yarns, such as carbon, glass, or basalt. The novel contribution of this project is exploring the use of a TFP preform as an embedded fabrication frame for CFW. This eliminates the complex, expensive, and rigid molds that are traditionally associated with composites. Through a bottom-up iterative method, material and structure are explored in an integrative design process. This culminates in a lightweight FlexFlax Stool design (ca. 1 kg), which can carry approximately 80 times its weight, articulated in a new material-based design tectonic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-183
Author(s):  
Julian Lich ◽  
Tino Wollmann ◽  
Angelos Filippatos ◽  
Maik Gude ◽  
Robert Kuschmierz ◽  
...  

AbstractIn-situ measurements of the deformation and of the structural dynamical behavior of moving composite structures, such as rotors made of glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP), are necessary in order to validate newly developed simulation models. Local methods like strain gauges and fiber Bragg gratings lack spatial resolution, while contactless optical methods like image correlation or speckle interferometry suffer from noise effects in the presence of fast rigid body movements. A novel compact sensor – based on the diffraction grating method – is introduced for spatially and temporally resolved strain measurement. The use of a line camera allows the measurement of vibrations up to several tens of kHz. With a scanning movement, strain fields at submillimeter resolution can be recorded. The use of two diffraction orders and an objective lens reduces cross sensitivities to rigid body movements on the strain measurement by two to three orders of magnitude. A validation on a GFRP probe was conducted in a quasi-static tensile test with an optical extensometer up to 14500 µϵ. Furthermore, a strain measurement on a moving rotor at surface speeds up to 75 m/s was performed and the results were compared with those of strain gauges as a gold standard. The statistical standard deviation was around 10 µϵ and independent of the rotational speed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 867 ◽  
pp. 41-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chitra Umachitra ◽  
N.K. Palaniswamy ◽  
O.L. Shanmugasundaram ◽  
P.S. Sampath

Natural fibers have been used to reinforce materials in many composite structures. Many types of natural fibers have been investigated including flax, hemp, ramie, sisal, abaca, banana etc., due to the advantage that they are light weight, renewable resources and have marketing appeal. These agricultural wastes can also be used to prepare fiber reinforced polymer hybrid composites in various combinations for commercial use. Application of composite materials in structural applications has presented the need for the engineering analysis. The present work focuses on the fabrication of polymer matrix composites by using natural fibers like banana and cotton which are abundant in nature and analysing the effect of mechanical properties of the composites on different surface treatments on the fabric. The effect of various surface treatments (NaOH, SLS, KMnO4) on the mechanical properties namely tensile, flexural and impact was analyzed and are discussed in this project. Analysing the material characteristics of the compression moulded composites; their results were measured on sections of the material to make use of the natural fiber reinforced polymer composite material for automotive seat shell manufacturing.


MRS Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 791-797
Author(s):  
Kabiru Mustapha ◽  
Martiale G. Zebaze Kana ◽  
Winston O. Soboyejo

ABSTRACTThis study presents a combine experimental and analytical investigation of the toughening behavior in natural fiber-reinforced earth-based composites. A specially designed single fiber pullout apparatus was used to provide a quantitative determination of interfacial properties that are relevant to toughening brittle materials through fiber reinforcement. The parameters investigated included a specially designed high strength earth-based matrix comprising of 60% laterite, 20% clay and 20% cement. The toughening behavior of whisker-reinforced earth-based matrix is analyzed in terms of a whisker bridging zone immediately behind the crack tip and interface strength. This approach is consistent with microscopy observations which reveal that intact bridging whiskers exist behind the crack tip as a result of debonding of the whisker-matrix interface. Debonding with constant frictional stress was obtained and this formed the basis for the analytical model considered and the underlying crack-microstructure interactions associated with Resistance-curve behavior was studied using in situ/ex situ optical microscopy to account for the bridging contribution to fracture toughness. The effect of multiple toughening mechanisms (debonding and crack bridging) was elucidated and the implications of the results are considered for potential applications in the design of robust earth-based building materials for sustainable eco-friendly homes.


2008 ◽  
Vol 47-50 ◽  
pp. 486-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasama Jarukumjorn ◽  
Nitinat Suppakarn ◽  
Jongrak Kluengsamrong

Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites became more attractive due to their light weight, high specific strength, biodegradability. However, some limitations e.g. low modulus, poor moisture resistance were reported. The mechanical properties of natural fiber reinforced composites can be improved by hybridization with synthetic fibers such as glass fiber. In this research, mechanical properties of short sisal-PP composites and short sisal/glass fiber hybrid composites were studied. Polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) was used as a compatibilizer to enhance the compatibility between the fibers and polypropylene. Effect of weight ratio of sisal and glass fiber at 30 % by weight on the mechanical properties of the composites was investigated. Morphology of fracture surface of each composite was also observed.


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