Google Taraied te Rumaian [Swart pos ¥ CompositesWorld AUTOMOBILE | FIBRE DE CARBON Publicat 20.12.2021 Fibra de carbon in automobile: intr-o fundatura? it sA patrunda in aplicatiile auto de baza, asa Timp de zeci de ani, fibra de carbon nu a reu ZAC cum a sperat industria compozitelor. Aplicatile alternative compozite suger. oportunitatile viitoare raman in continuare stralucitoare. Hperspective-si-provocatii Seritor colaborator, Institutul pentru Inovare in Productia de Compozite Avansate (IACI) Cred ot: MW Timp de cel putin 40 de ani, apelul de sirend al pietei auto a atras atentia producatorilor de fibra de carbon, previziunile de adoptare pe scar largi nerealizate in mod repetat. Prima aplicatie de mare volum pe care mi-o amintesc a fost arborele bobinat cu filament pentru camioneta Ford Econoline din 1984, la aproximativ 40.000 de unitati pe an. in trei ania iesit din iile productie, costul find un factor primordial. in decer urmatoare, arborii din fibri de carbon au facut aparitii pe platformele OEM, dar au rimas un produs de volum relativ mic. anton FheAIL UU SIMA, 1a LICepULUL anu ZUUU, eLLUZaSitUL penuU Libra, de carbon a crescut pe masura ce o multime de super-masini si masini sport au profitat de o abundenti de fibri de carbon la pret redus, dar aceste aplicatii nu s-au transpus in vehiculele obisnuite. in 2013, odata cu introducerea BMW-ului (Miinchen, Germania) i3 si i8 cu consum intens de fibra de carbon si crearea unui lant de aprovizionare dedicat pentru a satisface cererea de fibre si componente, am asteptat (si am asteptat) ca alti OEM sé urmeze exemplul, dar nimeni nu a facut-o. In 2015, am cAntat laudele filozofiei multimateriale ,Carbon Core” de la BMW pe platforma principal din Seria 7, considerdnd aceasta ca un progres necesar pentru a declansa proliferarea pe scar largi a componentelor selectate produse din fibri de carbon. Acest concept a progresat in cadrul BMW pe viitorul SUV iX (vezi, BMW lanseaza cusca de carbon multimaterial cu linia de vehicule IX 2022 ”), dar BMW este exceptia, nu regula. in cele din urma, la expozitia mondiala JEC din 2017 de la Paris, am remarcat cel putin o duzina de prototipuri cu stalp B in toate fibra de carbon sau hibrizi carbon/otel, ,aplicatia ucigasi” pentru fibra de carbon din automobile. Mai multi producatori au implementat tehnologia, dar inca nu a prins cu adevarat la nivel global. in cele din urma, este nevoie de mai mult efort pentru a reduce costurile, astfel incat aceasta aplicatie sa poata cdstiga direct fata de o solutie din otel. La conferinta CompositesWorld Carbon Fiber din Salt Lake City din noiembrie 2021, consultantii din industrie Dan Pichler si Tony Roberts au remarcat incheierea iminenti a productiei platformei BMW i3 si, odat cu aceasta, o scidere semnificativa a utilizarii fibrei de carbon in industria auto. Ei au subliniat, de asemenea, ci nu exist proiecte de automobile ,anuntate” la scara larga in fibra de carbon, proiectand doar o CAGR de 2,4% pana in 2026, in principal pentru sporturi cu motor, personalizare gi platforme de nis cu volum redus. Astepta. Odata cu trecerea angro de la motoarele cu combustie interna (ICE) la sistemele motopropulsoare electrice cu baterii, economiile in masa nu vor deveni mai importante , avand in vedere greutatea suplimentara a bateriilor? Nu anunta acest lucru © cerere mare pentru fibra de carbon? Raspunsul la prima intrebare este da, reducerea masei vehiculului este inci foarte importanta. Si pentru al doilea. fibra de carbon este inca 0consideratie, dar numai daca este rentabilé. OEM-urile au mai multe moduri de a reduce greutatea componentelor auto, inclusiv inlocuirea ofelului cu aluminiu. Compozitele sunt de mare interes pentru carcasele usoare ale bateriilor din vehiculele electrice cu baterii (BEV), dupa cum a demonstrat Conferinta si Expozitia Automotive Composites (ACCE) din noiembrie Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE, Danbury, Connecticut, SUA), unde prezentari pe acest subiect , concentrat in mare parte pe carcasele din fibra de sticla, a atras cel mai mare public. Aceste carcase sunt mai usoare decat metalul si pot incorpora functiile termice, de inflamabilitate side ecranare EMI necesare la un cost competitiv. Alternativele la structurile din fibra de carbon cu fractiuni de volum mare continua si demonstreze, de asemenea, o economie favorabili. Mai multe platforme pentru camioane incorporeazi paturi compozite realizate din compus de turnare a foilor din fibra de sticli rezistenta la UV (SMC). Un proiect ACMI (Knoxville, Tenn., SUA) cu Volkswagen of American (Herndon, Va., SUA) a demonstrat un hayon SUV SMC din fibra de sticla care este cu 36% mai usor decat ofelul, cu costuri recurente cu 9% mai mici. Un alt proiect IACMI a demonstrat ca adaugarea de 10% fibra de carbon reciclata tocatdla polipropilena poate reduce greutatea partii turnate prin injectie cu 40% si costul piesei cu 30% in comparatie cu un termoplastic de inginerie PA/PPE. Acest lucru indica oportunititi nu numai pentru fibra de carbon reciclata, ci si pentru fibrele fabricate din precursori cu costuri mai mici, cum ar fi PAN textil si smoala de gudron de cirbune. Utilizarea fibrei de carbon traditionale in automobile este intr-un punct mort? Nu in totalitate, dar nu va asteptati ca vehiculele cu consum intens de fibra de carbon precum i3 si revina in productie de masa. Exist o cale ingusti pentru a obtine o structura de fibra de carbon cu 50% volum de fibre la un cost final de 10 USD/lira (22 USD/kilogram) si va necesita imbunatatiri pe tot parcursul lantului de productie. Acest lucru va deschide oportunitati discrete in componente individuale, cum ar fi stalpii B. Pe termen mai apropiat, ne putem astepta si vedem forme de fibra de carbon, poate pultrudate, folosite ca elemente de rigidizare in structuri hibride supramultate (inclusiv carcase structurale pentru baterii) in care polimerii armati cu fibra de sticli canctitia achithrnlCompozitele au un viitor mare pe piata auto, condusi de fibra de sticla, sporita de aplicatiile de nisi ale fibrei de carbon traditionale. Pentru furnizorii de fibre de carbon reciclate si fibre fabricate prin precursori alternativi, spatiul de oportunitate este considerabil mai luminos. TISTARE | FIBREDECARBON | TURNAREPRIN COMPRES | EROMCTARE/SIMULARE | UECTARE/SUPRAMULTARE Abordare optimizata pentru a prezice esecul delaminari structurile CFRTP ARRK Engineering si Mitsui Chemicals au imbunaitit precizia predictiei delaminarii pentru a ajuta la optimizarea energiei absorbite/sarcina de defectiune pentru un fascicul de protectie cu banda TAFNEX CF/PP UD supramulata in OLAF HARTMANN, LIDER DE GRUP PENTRU SIMULARE $1 CONSULTANTA MATERIALE, ARRK ENGINEERING Figura 1. Grinda barei de protecte fata gl tabla TAFNEX CF-PP UD. ARRK Engineering a optimizat 0 ind pracesul FiberForm de la KraussMaffei gio fosie ccomporita in banda unidirectional (UD) TAFNEX fibra de carbonipolipronilena (CFIPP) supramulata cu PP armat cu bra de imaginile: ARRK Engineering, Mitsu C bara de protecte frontalé CFRTP realizatsfolos lunga (EDX#030), ambele materiale de la Mitsui Chemicals . Credit foto, toate micals Utilizarea compozitelor termoplastice armate cu fibra de carbon (CFRTP) este in crestere, deoarece companiile de mobilitate cauti piese de inalt perforant cu greutate redusi pentru a reduce consumul de energie. Un astfel de material este banda unidirectional (UD) din polipropilena (CE/PP) armata cu fibra de carbon TAFNEX, dezvoltati de Mitsui Chemicals (Tokyo, Japonia). TAENEX dispune de o noua formula PP plus o tehnologie special de interfata cu fibre, permitand benzi complet impregnate carePUL LEUULE ZLeULaLe” Leja UE LUE Ee pu LMALeLcue plasULe gL LEIA, de asemenea, o prelucrabilitate excelent’, 0 absorbtie scizuti a umidititii si timpi scurti de ciclu. TAFNEX imbunatiteste, de asemenea, sustenabilitatea prin temperaturi scazute ale procesului, proprietiti bune de reciclare si un potential ridicat pentru componentele structurale cu o amprenti de carbon mai mica. ARRK Engineering (Miinchen, Germania) a colaborat cu Mitsui Chemicals pentru a investiga metodele de simulare folosind 0 bari de protectie auto realizati cu TAFNEX. O problema cheie pentru astfel de componente relevante pentru siguranta este predictia precist a delaminarii in materialele compozite. Aceasti analizi este necesara deoarece delaminarea poate reduce semnificativ rezistenta si poate oferi un mod de esec timpuriu. Cu toate acestea, predictia delaminarii nu este posibil cu modelarea standard cu elemente finite (FEM), deoarece se bazeazi pe modelarea structurilor ca invelis sau suprafete, fara grosime. itu Vile aaation ‘oa © Component Optimsation Component elation Component, = SQ 6 [ARR Engineering a folosit o combinate de teste de simulare 9 valida fizca pentru a optimiza un fascicul de protectie CFRTP, permitand predictia precisa a delaminatl minimizand in acelagl timp timpul de rulare,impul de dezvotiare gi cost. Modelarea invelisului stivuit este 0 abordare folosita pentru a prezice foarte precis delaminarea. De obicei, fiecare strat dintr-un laminat compozit este modelat ca o invelis in stiva. Cu toate acestea, numarul mare de suprafete stivuite care rezulta necesita timp de rulare excesiv si costuri mari de calcul. Astfel, aplicatia sa a fost limitata si nu este accesibila pentru a fi utilizat’ pentru simulri complete de vehicule. Pentru a evalua corect delaminarea compozitelor, pistrand in acelagi timp 0 performanta bund de rulare a simulirii, ARRK Engineering a dezvoltat modelare redusa de shell stivuite folosindsoftware-ul LS-DYNA de la Ansys (Canonsburg, Pa., SUA). Aceasti abordare a fost utilizata pentru a prezice delaminarea in fasciculul barei de protectie TAFNEX si pentru a efectua 0 simulare completa a accidentului vehiculului. Grinda barei de protectie fata a fost realizati folosind procesul FiberForm de la KraussMaffei (Miinchen, Germania), unde o foaie TAFNEX CF/PP. UD — produsa de Van Wees UD si Crossply Technology (Tilburg, Olanda) — a fost termoformata si apoi supramulati cu Mitsui Chemicals. 30% PP armat cu fibra de sticla lunga (EDX4030). Modelare redusa a carcasei stivuite ARRK Engineering a creat un model conventional de n ent ———— bh —/ simulare a unei singure ‘ re a ih! 9 carcasi si un model de ome carcasa stivuita. Numarul de Figura 2. Modelare redusa de shell a stivuite, Aceasta abordare a distribuit fost optimizat pentru a straturile laminate compozite CFRTP pe trei limita cantitatea de straturi intr-un mod simetric. Conexiunea elemente si suprafete de dintre straturi a fost realizata utilizand elemente coezive Intt-un singur model si contact, dar au posibilitatea —siemente de fascicul ca model alternativ cu de delaminare pe ambele noduri de partajare a elementelor in plan si parti ale planului in afara planului intermediar al laminatului. S-au gisit rezultate optime atunci cand se utilizeaza trei straturi, deoarece rezultatele au convergit in mare masura in acest punct; straturi suplimentare au produs rezultate similare dar cu un cost de calcul mai mare. straturi de invelis stivuite a Astfel, pentru aceasta abordare redusa a carcasei stivuite, straturi au fost distribuite pe trei straturi intr-un mod simetric (Fig. 2). in plus, legitura dintre straturi a fost realizata folosind elemente coezive (de exemplu, utilizate pentru modelarea imbinarilor adezive) intr-un singur model si elemente de grinzi ca alternativa. Motivatia pentru aceasta modelare alternativi a fost reducerea in continuare a timpului de rulare, permitand in acelasi timp utilizarea unor modele de materiale mai sofisticate. Crearea si validarea cardului de material Modelele de materiale virtuale au fost create in LS-DYNA pe baza unor teste extinse efectuate la ARRK Engineering, incluzind tensiune, compresie, forfecare, incovoiere, forfecare interlaminar, grinda dubli in consol si indoire cu crestaturi lacapit. Doi modele de materiale separate au fost pregitite pentru proprietitile in plan si in afara planului foii TAFNEX, in timp ce 0 abordare micromecanica a fost utilizat’ pentru compusul de supraturlare cu fibra lungi de sticli EDX4030 folosind MAT_215 in LS-DYNA. Pentru a valida aceste modele de materiale, au fost finalizate teste fizice si simuliri sub forma de indoire cvasi-statica si dinamica a barei de protectie frontala cu un impactor cilindric, Cardurile de materiale au fost validate folosind teste de indoire cvasi-statica si dinamica a barei de protectie cu un element de lovire cilindric. comparabil cu un caz de incarcare a unui stalp central. O comparatie a curbelor forti-deplasare sia modurilor de defectiune poate fi gisita in Fig. 3. Rezultatele au aratat ci modelul cu o singura carcasa a supraprevizat sarcina de avarie la un maxim =8,5 kilonewtoni, in timp ce modelul redus de carcasa stivuitd a esuat mai aproape de 7 kilonewtoni gi a afisat delaminare in peretii laterali ai barei de protectie. Cu o dimensiune a ochiurilor de plasi de 4 milimetri si folosind 20 de procesoare, durata de rulare redusa a modelrii shell-ului a crescut cu 40% fat de modelarea cu un singur shell. Cu toate acestea, Figura 3. Comparatia curbelor forta- deplasare $i comportamentul egecului intre test si simulare. Curbele de fort’- deplasare pentru Indoirea ovasi-statica a barei de protectie CF90 araté cd modelarea cu o singura carcasa (albastru) suprapredice sarcina de defectiune in comparatie cu modelarea redusa a carcasei stivuite (rosu) . Testele fizice arata c& defectiunea peretilor laterali a fascicululul este dominata de delaminare (stanga) . In timp ce modelul de carcasai stivuita redusa cu grinzi (dreapta) arata un nivel comparabil de delaminare ca si in test, modelele cu 0 singura carcasa (centru) nu se pot separa fizic in directia in afara planului aceasta este mai mici decat modelarea tipica a carcasei stivuite si a prezis cu exactitate atat mecanismul de defectiune, cat si sarcina.Optimizare structural laminata;, evaluare completa a vehiculului Dupa finalizarea validarii, fasciculul barei de protectie fata a fost evaluat practic intr-o configuratie complet a vehiculului, in conformitate cu regulamentul FMVSS-US Part 581. Aceasta simulare a ariitat ci fasciculul avea 0 absorbtie insuficienti de energie, ceea ce a dus lao intruziune semnificativa si o deteriorare a radiatorului vehiculului, Pe baza tintei energetice din simularea la Cary OE CSBIROICNSTWOON Ste tine 0.050 completa a vehiculului, ARRK a efectuat un studiu parametric pentru a O simulare completa a vehiculului a . . fasciculului barei de protectie CFRTP clarifica corelatia dintre supramulat cu laminat TAFNEX optimizat a rigiditatea laminatului si aratat 0 dublare a energiei absorbite, un numar redus de elemente defectate si o scadere semnificativa a patrunderil fasciculului in vehicul in timpul accidentului energia absorbita. Rezultatele au fost folosite pentru a dezvolta o tint’ optimizata de rigiditate si un strat compozit pentru a realiza acest lucru. Noile grinzi pentru bara de protectie fata au fost testate cu acest layup imbunatitit. Rezultatele testelor au aratat ca nivelul de incarcare si rigiditatea barei de protectie au fost imbunatatite conform predictiilor. Fasciculul optimizat a fost apoi reevaluat intr-o simulare completi a vehiculului. Fora de contact si energia absorbita au fost dublate cu un numir redus de elemente defectate si a scaizut semnificativ patrunderea fasciculului in vehicul. Aplicatie si perspective ARRK Engineering a aratat ci modelarea redusa a carcasei stivuite poate fi utilizata pentru a prezice cu precizie delaminarea intr-o component CFRTP. Aceasti abordare ofer’ o capacitate robust de predictie, pastrand in acelasi timp o performanti eficienta atumpului de rulare si permite simulari complete ale vehiculelor care reduc timpul si costurile de dezvoltare. in timp ce alte studii realizate de [1] si [2] au aritat, de asemenea, aplicarea carcaselor stivuite pentru a evalua delaminarea in compozite, aceast nous abordare a ARRK Engineering s-a concentrat pe mentinerea performantei de calcul pentru a putea integra aceasti modelare in simularile complete ale vehiculului. Acest lucru a fost realizat prin calibrarea materialului la o dimensiune a ochiurilor de 4 milimetri si prin reducerea formulirii elementului integrat, reducand in acelasi timp stiva la trei straturi cu straturi multiple in fiecare strat. Referinte: 1 Shi D., (2016) ,,A Robust Crash Simulation Model for Composite Structures”. (Teza de doctorat) Universitatea de Stat din Michigan. 2 Labeas, G., Fotopoulos, K., (2015, octombrie) ,Calcul de tensiuni interlaminare folosind 0 abordare de modelare a elementelor finite cu invelis stivuit.” Jurnalul International de Mecanica Aplicata . Despre autor Olaf Hartmann Olaf Hartmann este lider de grup pentru simularea materialelor si consultanta la ARRK Engineering, (Miinchen, Germania). El se concentreaza pe aducerea modelitii eficiente si predictive in dezvoltarea de serie in aplicatii auto si aerospatiale. In ultimii 10 ani, el a conceput si condus numeroase proiecte care leagt industria japoneza si german, Olaf Hartmann dejine un M.Sc. in stiinta materialelor de la Priedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nirnberg. THBREDE-CARBON | AEROSPATIAL | INRUZIE Publica 25.09.2023, Paleta motorului demonstreaza potentialul pentru fibre uscate, unidirectionale, pentru perfuzie GKN Aerospace si parteneri sai au dezvoltat o component demonstrativa a aeronavei realizaté cu cel mai recent material Gapped UD de la eXtreme, dovedind o banda uscata, infuzibilé menita sa se compare in performanta cu UD prepreg ‘tworkinprogress HAMAS fi Editor tehne, ComposiesWordAs sectors of the aerospace industry look to adopt composite materials for more programs — and programs with high volume requirements, especially — replacing traditional prepreg layup and autoclave cure with lower cost, faster processing methods like resin infusion is increasingly attractive — that is, if the same quality standards can be achieved. In recent years, a number of materials and equipment suppliers have introduced products and solutions that aim to balance high performance with high volume processability such as in automated resin transfer molding (RTM) systems, One relatively new product is a dry, unidirectional (UD), spread- tow tape called TeXtreme Gapped UD, developed by TeXtreme (Boras, Sweden), a registered trademark of spread-tow carbon fiber material developer Oxeon AB. As debuted at JEC World Demonstrating high infusibility with high performance. This aircraft engine guide vane demonstrator, built by GKN Aerospace and partners, was developed to test ‘TeXtreme Gapped UD, a unidirectional (UD) spread-tow carbon fiber product from Oxeon {AB that shows potential for UD prepreg-ike properties in an infusible fabric. Photo Credit, all images: TeXtreme 2023 in Paris, France, TeXtreme Gapped UD is being used as part of an ongoing demonstrator project with GKN Aerospace (Solihull, U.K) targeting the aerospace composites market. What is spread-tow? “Spread tow” refers to the practice of spreading a fiber into a thinner, flatter reinforcement. Read The spread of spread tow for more on this process. Doveloping TeXtreme Gapped UD Oxeon first introduced its TeXtreme spread-tow carbon fiber fabrics in 2005. For these materials, UD carbon fiber tows are Konraad” inta a thinner flatter farm racniting ino liehtaropleau wky a UunUIeL, HELeL LU, LeouLUNg ata gst material with straighter fibers and greater impact resistance. These tapes can then be used in automated tape laying (ATL) or automated fiber placement (AFP) processes, or to produce woven fabrics or noncrimp fabrics (NCF). Andreas Martsman, cofounder and VP of marketing and sales at TeXtreme, explains that TeXtreme Gapped UD was developed in response to requests from customers in the aerospace sector who wanted to replace UD prepreg with infusible materials. “We started by experimenting with infusion of our regular spread-tow tapes, but when you spread out the fibers like this, you also close everything up and there's a very high fiber volume content,” Martsman says. “This is a bit of a drawback when you're trying to infuse it with resin.” TeXtreme’s team went to the drawing board to develop a dry, spread-tow UD tape specifically suited for infusion, but with the high performance that comes from straight, UD fibers. “The answer was creating Gapped UD tape. TeXtreme claims precise gays in the material for control of gap width and frequency within its UD tape product. The company also offers woven fabrics made with gaps for better Martsman says, “but that esi permoabiiy was also a challenge. How resin to infuse into,” big do the gaps need to be? How do you keep them uniform and maintained over different surfaces? So, we had to create an architecture that was robust and stable enough to ensure quality and control during infusion and in service.” He explains that to do this, TeXtreme uses an in-line vision system during manufacture of the tapes for the highest possible control of gap width and frequency. Typical gaps are 0.3 to 0.4 millimeter in width, but TeXtreme can tailor the width and frequency to enable slower or faster permeability as needed. After a 5-year development process, the resulting TeXtreme Gapped UD product was officially released at JEC World 2023. It is available in a variety of sizes and fiber weights — and as woven fabrics, if desired — and is said to enable easy handling and resin permeability with fiber volume fractions (FVF) of up to 60%.Martsman adds that the tapes can be customized to fit a customer’s needs, as they are able to be produced from a wide variety of fibers (various grades of carbon fiber, glass fiber or aramids) and resins (epoxies, various thermosets, even thermoplastic resins). “You can also slice the tapes down to narrower widths, maybe with just one gap in the middle, for example, and then use it for AFP layup,” he says. Since its launch in spring 2022, Martsman reports that TeXtreme has begun selling material to sporting goods and industrial customers, with a few sports applications made with the material already in production. Working toward commercial applications in the aerospace market, earlier this year TeXtreme debuted the first results of its ongoing demonstrator program with GKN Aerospace incorporating the Gapped UD composite material. First aerospace demonstrator: GKN Aerospace engine guide vane “We have worked with GKN Aerospace for several years on different types of materials and development projects, and when they began looking into new materials for use in RTM [resin transfer molding], we introduced the Gapped UD tape we had been working on,” Martsman says. Previously, the company had worked with typical infusible materials like dry NCF or dry woven fabrics. However, Fredrik Ohlsson, product development director at TeXtreme, explains that any kind of weft-direction stitching in a dry fabric, even the relatively minimal stitching threads in an NCF fabric, “creates a small kink in the warp direction tow, where it is interrupted by the stitch. In compression, that little deviation from the perfectly straight fiber initiates a point where the structure becomes weaker.” He explains that to account for this weakness, parts made from infused NCF have to be overdesigned, with additional plies and therefore increased thickness and weight to the part. “With our materials, on the other hand, you have absolutely no deviation both in and out of plane, and you can therefore optimize both the material use and weight,” Ohlsson says. Why not use a UD prepreg? “With a UD prepreg you have the absolute straightness of the filaments and you have the resin there exactly as you want it, but you also have drawbacks with rasnert ta antaclave enring and lagisties euch as cnld trancnortoo and shelf life, which are especially problematic when you're trying to scale up production,” Ohlsson explains. “So, many companies want to move toward infusion, and we want to aid this process with our material. We're aiming at prepreg properties with an infusible material. It’s all reflected by the FVF we can reach using our materials. Infusible materials normally have very open structures to allow for infusion of the resin and air evacuation, but this means a relatively low FVF. With our material, we have very precise, designated flow channels for introduction of the resin and to evacuate air for that low void content, but the material is tight enough to also reach an FVF up to 60% for the higher mechanical properties possible with more fiber.” In collaboration with testing and demo specialist Produktionstekniskt Centrum (PTC, Trollhattan, Sweden) and with financial support from Tillvaxtverket (The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth) and regional council Vastra Gétalandsregionen, GKN Aerospace and TeXtreme began a demonstrator project at GKN’s Trollhattan, Sweden facility. An engine guide vane — a curved panel for directing gas, water or air within a turbine — was selected as the demonstrator component, based on a typical customer design from GKN. “It has a complex geometry with double curvatures, and is fairly thick compared to, say, your typical single-ply, flat test panel, which is good for demonstrating infusibility of the material over differing thicknesses and over curves,” Ohlsson explains. “The load case is also very complex, so performance, especially in compression, is critical for a part like this.”The part was designed as a multi-ply, rectangular structure with varying thickness along the part, up to 10 millimeters thick in the center section. For this project, an intermediate modulus carbon fiber and Hexcel (Stamford, Conn., U.S.) RTM6 epoxy were used. “We wanted to start with materials most similar to what GKN had been using previously, to give an apples-to-apples comparison,” Ohlsson says. pees TO manufacture the demonstrator part, the plies were cut via a Ziind (Altstatten, Switzerland) automated cutting system. > The goal was to simulate use of the material in a high- Guided layup. For the GKN guide vane volume, automation-driven demonstrator, multiple plies of TeXtreme Gapped UD were laid up at varying orientations for the desired thickness and Guillaume Moreau, project curvature. manager for product development at TeXtreme, and to show that the material handles production process, explains well with GKN’s automated equipment. “Unlike a typical dry fabric, there is no fraying at the edges when it’s cut,” he adds. Guided by a laser projector, technicians then laid up the plies onto a mold and debulked under a vacuum bag to create the preform. The preform was then transferred to a closed mold, Inte the press. The GKN demonstrator guide vane is infused with resin under pressure and heat. and loaded into a Langzauner (Lambrechton, Austria) compression press, where resin was injected under heat and pressure to complete the RTM process. The first demonstrator parts were completed in late 2022 and displayed in April 2023 at JEC World. Ohlsson explains that after this initial success, the teams are continuing to work on adjusting process parameters and material characteristics for an optimized final product. Next, the teams also plan to evaluate additional materials, such as alternative fiber configurations and tougherepoxies, with the same part, aiming for mechanical testing to compare the properties of various Gapped UD guide vanes with each other and with traditional NCF composite versions. Ultimately, the goal is to optimize the materials and process for adoption by GKN Aerospace for use on a production part, and for TeXtreme, the learnings gained from this first program will help guide its development of Gapped UD materials for other customers and end markets. “There’s a lot of work to do, but there's a lot of potential for a UD infused fabric, both in aerospace and in markets like marine, wind and more,” Ohlsson says. Continuing developments. The erginal guide vane demonstrators were showcased at JEC Word 2023, followed by continued work throughout this yearby the TeXtreme and GKN Aerospace teams to optimize the materials and process. TRENDING world record Camnasite nrafias brina consistent‘qualty to AnLX drones