We investigate experimentally and numerically the effect of wettability on viscous-liquid impregnation into a single layer of woven fibers confined between the parallel plates. In our experiments, special attention is paid to the flow-front behaviors and the characteristic flow fields induced by the pressure difference attempted to the mold. We change the wettability between the fiber and viscous fluid

Phase change materials (PCMs) have attracted great interest from researchers and have been widely developed in the field of solar thermal energy storage. Herein, a novel bio-based pomelo peel foam (PPF)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) composite PCM was designed and prepared via the simple impregnation process, which is further modified with low loading of MXene nanosheets for the purpose of improving its

A simple efficient and eco-friendly method was developed for improving the interfacial adhesion of bamboo fibers (BFs) reinforced poly(lactic acid) (PLA) biocomposites. A biobased monomer epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) was used to in-situ polymerize at the interface between BFs and PLA matrix for forming a polymerized ESO interfacial layer. FTIR and XPS analyses confirmed that the poly(ESO) layer was

The mutual exclusion between strength and ductility has been a long-standing problem in the field of materials science, especially in metal matrix composites (MMCs). Here we report the discovery of an unprecedented combination of high strength and high ductility within the copper matrix composites reinforced by super-aligned carbon nanotube (SACNT) films distributed with a gradient. The high strength

The oriented graphene could construct an effective heat transfer path in composites with low filler loading. However, electrical conductivity and hygroscopicity caused by functionalized graphene has been ignored, which would decay the lifetime of power devices with the composites as thermal managing materials. In this work, SiC nanowires with high thermal conductivity and hydrophobicity were introduced

Compaction deformations in a thermoplastic composite system molded from chopped prepreg platelets were analyzed to obtain statistical distributions of local distortions that define the final consolidated meso-structure. This study provides an insight into and allows quantification of the intrinsic geometric variability of the composite meso-structure that controls the variability of the effective composite

A novel processing technology based on the functionally graded and composite structured lapping and polishing plate (FG/CS-LPP) is proposed for effectively improving the material removal uniformity. The FG/CS-LPP has the characteristics of required quasi-continuous distribution of Young's modulus in the radial direction and composite structure in the longitudinal direction. Moreover, the certain variation

A selection of woven roving and woven filament yarn E-glass fabrics, equipped with different sizing and finish formulae, were tested for compatibility with maleic anhydride functionalised polypropylene (MAH-g-PP) matrices. Glass fibre-polypropylene laminates (GF-PP) were prepared at 50% fibre volume fraction via film stacking and flat panel compression moulding. The effectivity of the utilised coupling

Polymer dielectrics possess the advantages of excellent mechanical properties, high dielectric breakdown strength and good processability, their dielectric properties at elevated temperatures for energy storage need substantial improvement. Polymer nanocomposites have been configurated by integrating the merits of both polymers and ceramics to improve dielectric properties for high-temperature applications

Current models for delamination propagation prediction in fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites exhibit limitations to explain the physics underlying the mechanisms of damage formation in fatigue. In order to contribute in this field, this research focuses on the study of damage development within a single loading cycle of FRP double cantilever beam specimens under different stress ratios (R).

The use of lignocellulosic fiber in polycarbonate composites is limited due to its low thermal stability. In this study, the thermal stability of wood flour was improved by a boric acid treatment. Then, the wood flour/polycarbonate composites with an outstanding mechanical performance were obtained through melt extrusion and injection. Results showed that wood flour and polycarbonate underwent esterification

Porous conductive polymer composites (CPCs) are supposed to be the most prospective substitutes for metal-based materials in the field of electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding but are still confronted with the challenge of poor performance. To solve the dilemma, we firstly design a porous double-percolated structure in co-continuous polystyrene (PS)/polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/ MWCNT system

Automatic draping of carbon-fiber prepreg plies for the aerospace industry is a promising technique for lowering the manufacturing costs and to this end, a thorough in-process quality control is crucial. In this paper, out-of-plane defects in the layup are investigated. After draping, air pockets are occasionally encountered. The question is, if such apparent defects can be mitigated sufficiently during

In this work, the well-dispersed functionalized MWCNTs (f-MWCNTs), which was fabricated by simply decorating the polyether amine (M2070) and organosilanes (KH560) chains, has been applied as filler in preparation of the epoxy/f-MWCNTs microcellular foam through batch foaming process with supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2). Compared with acidified MWCNT (acid-MWCNTs) without decorating the organic

It is commonly assumed that a higher oxygenated content on the surface of carbon fibers will lead to high interfacial adhesion. Thus, carbon fibers are exposed to oxidizing treatments to increase surface polarity. Here, we examine the interfacial interactions of a range of thermoset and thermoplastic polymers with carbon fibers that have a grafted polyethylene oxide (PEO) chains to their surface. This

Current production trends and demands for Fibre Reinforced Plastics are exceeding the capabilities of classical, recognised inspection and test methods, especially their capabilities to monitor the mass production of carbon fibre reinforced plastic parts. Novel non-destructive measurement methods to efficiently perform quality assurance within industrial mass production are required. This research

In this study, graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs), known as a thermally conductive and anisotropic carbon material, was used with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as matrix, which is a hydrophilic and biodegradable polymer. In order to expect enhanced thermal conductivity, silver nanoparticle-decorated graphite nanoplatelets (Ag-GNPs) were fabricated by adding silver acetate as a precursor using ‘mix-and-heat’ method

Transverse compression tests on a unidirectional composite were performed under quasi-static and high-rate loading conditions using servo-hydraulic machines as well as a direct impact Hopkinson bar. Aside the expected increase of compressive strength with increasing loading rate, a change of fracture plane orientation was observed. For quasi-static loading conditions, the fracture angle was 54.5°,

Failure of composite laminates, in load cases where transverse shear prevail, involves shear cracks and delaminations, and yet it is unclear which damage mechanism triggers the other or how it depends on ply-thickness. Combining interrupted interlaminar shear strength tests with X-ray tomography inspections, we compared the damage sequence of [45°/0°/-45°/90°]ns short-beam specimens manufactured with

The effects of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on the mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTPs) made with in situ polymerizable polyamide 6 (PA6), which are derived through the polymerization of ε-caprolactam, were discussed. Although it is difficult to disperse CNFs in solvents, including molten polymers, ε-caprolactam was successfully obtained with good CNF dispersibility

A super strong poly (vinyl alcohol)/poly (acrylic acid) (PVA/PAA) anti-freezing hydrogel fiber has been successfully constructed and studied. The introduction of PVA chains significantly improves tensile strength and toughness to 3.8 MPa and 13.7 MJ/m3, respectively. In addition, glycerol in the hydrogel fiber ensures its good flexibility even in −15 °C. We coat hydrogel fiber with multi-walled carbon

A way to model properties of nanomaterials consists of applying well-established approaches based on a macroscopic view of matter, therefore ignoring any peculiar features due to the smallness of these materials. In this work, we inspect the capability of a simple micromechanical model, the inverse rule of mixtures, to predict the elastic modulus of multi-component composites, e.g. cellulose nano fibrils

In the current study, the mechanical characteristics of a new generation of thermoplastic fiber metal laminates (FMLs) manufactured by vacuum-assisted resin infusion (VARI) at room temperature are investigated. For this end, Ti-6Al-4V alloy sheets, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric, carbon fabric, and two hybrid laminates with different layups are manufactured by a novel liquid

The advanced thermal management material with high mechanical strength and low thermal conductivity have an extremely important position in thermal insulation. Herein, we successfully prepared a green sustainable and low-cost composite aerogel with attapulgite and gelatin as the main components, and then obtained by chemical crosslinking and freeze-drying. Dopamine was used to functionalize attapulgite

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets normally possess large specific surface area, good electrical conductivity, and low density, but their unsatisfactory intrinsic complex permittivity and poor impedance matching severely hinder the further application in microwave adsorption. In this work, borophene nanosheets (BNS), the lightest 2D material, are proposed as an efficient activator to improve the

A novel manufacturing technique called long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (LFT) is proposed to produce continuous flexible composite carbon fibers and fabrics. During the process, a polyester hot-melt adhesive (MPTU) is added to thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to form TPU blends that can improve the interfacial-bonding level. The TPU blends are extruded to enwrap carbon fibers and form an outer layer

To investigate the compression performance of laminated bamboo, 210 laminated bamboo specimens were tested using seven different lamination angles. Six failure types were classified. All the specimens experienced elastic stage at the beginning of the loading process and then elastic-plastic stage. At the end of the elastic-plastic stage, specimens of 15°, 30° and 45° immediately reached the ultimate

With the development of highly integrated electronic devices, there are growing demands for high performance thermal management materials with high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation. Herein, we report thermal properties of epoxy-based SiC aerofoam composites. A novel three-dimensional structure of covalently interconnected porous SiC (3D-SiC) aerofoam is successfully fabricated using 3D

Thermal-conductive yet electrical-insulating polymer composites with outstanding mechanical properties have attracted increasing attention in the electronic field. Herein, three-dimensional (3D) thermal-conductive networks were built in PVDF matrix via electrostatic repulsion of positively charged hexagonal boron nitride (m-hBN) and bridging of silica-coated carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-SiO2). The results

Carbon Fiber (CF) electrode has a wide range of applications as an electric field sensor. However, its use is limited because of its poor stability. In this paper, the CF was pretreated by thermal oxidation (400 °C, 1 h) to remove surface impurities, resulting in 2.3% mass reduction, which means the increase of effective specific surface area. XRD and EDS confirmed the nano-silver coating was chemically

This work shows how to improve the energy dissipation of open-cell polyurethane (PU) foams by creating multilayered graphene oxide (GO) nano-architectures onto the struts via a modified dip-coating process. Pristine PU foams are alternately dip-coated with GO coatings and water-based polyurethane dispersions (PUD) for a given number of times. The GO coating morphologies are carefully adjusted and the

Digital Volume Correlation (DVC), in concert with in situ Synchrotron Radiation Computed Tomography (SRCT), has been applied to Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs) under quasi-static tensile loading. DVC represents a relatively novel tool for quantifying full-field volumetric displacements and implicit strain fields. The highly anisotropic and somewhat regular/self-similar microstructures found

Porous all-cellulose composites were prepared from pulps dissolved in 8 wt-% NaOH-water and dispersed softwood kraft fibers. Freeze-drying and drying with supercritical CO2 were used to vary the morphology of the composites. As cellulose dissolution in NaOH-water is known to be limited by pulp degree of polymerization, the latter was varied to obtain different amounts of non-dissolved fractions in

This work aims at assessing the effect of the stacking sequence of hybrid laminates on the 3D void formation through a statistical approach. For that purpose, a three-dimensional microstructure is created from multiple two-dimensional microscopy images. Weibull approach shows a poorer fit for carbon fiber composite, while the presence of glass fiber creates homogenization in porosity variation, also

The forming process of thermoplastic composites inevitably leads to the development of residual stresses. This study proposes a model to predict the residual stresses at the ply scale of a thermoplastic composite laminate. It accounts for the heat transfer, crystallization kinetics and mechanical behaviour of the laminate. The model is applied to the cooling of a polyamide 66 (PA66) matrix reinforced

A research study was performed during which a hat-stiffened composite panel was manufactured and tested in order to assess the abilities of four advanced diagnostic tools to characterize skin-to-stringer separation growth in post-buckled conditions. Teflon film was inserted between the hat flanges and the skin to create an initially disbonded region. The four diagnostic tools included a hand-held ultrasonic

Simultaneous improvement on the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and flame retardancy of polymer composites is dependent on the controllable distribution of functional fillers. Herein, a facile method to control distribution of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and flame retardants in poly (butylene succinate)/thermoplastic polyurethane blends by constructing segregated structure was

Carbon fibre reinforced poly-etherether-ketone (PEEK) and poly-phenylene-sulfide (PPS) composites were rapidly surface-treated by high-power UV light, and then adhesively bonded to aluminium 2024-T3 and carbon fibre/epoxy composites. The results of a single lap-shear joint test demonstrated that a UV-treatment lasting for 5 s was sufficient to prevent joint failure occurring at the composite/adhesive

The certification and quality control of large aerostructures relies on testing of small-scale coupons, which may be unrepresentative of the final product. Edge effects, which are either non-existent or less significant in large aerospace components, cause coupon failure and often lead to considerable strength underpredictions. In this work, a resin treatment is applied to the edges of short beam specimens

The size effects in centre-notched quasi-isotropic carbon/epoxy laminates under compression were investigated. The in-plane dimensions of the baseline specimen were scaled up by a factor of up to 14. The centre-notched specimens were compared to open-hole specimens of the same dimensions. It was found that compressive strength of the small centre-notched specimen is similar to that of the open-hole

Polymer-based dielectric nanocomposites with high dielectric constant and low loss have been widely used for energy storage applications in power electronics and power delivery systems. However, there are still changes in preparing polymer-based dielectric nanocomposites with the suppressed loss (tan δ) and maintain breakdown strength (Eb) through simple compound method. In this work, a simple approach

A novel tape termination method for tapering the ply end and removing the fibre discontinuity owing to a dropped ply in a tapered composite was demonstrated. The forces required for this process - referred to as scarfing - were experimentally investigated with respect to blade speed, scarfing ratio, tape thickness and width. Tensile tests were conducted on unidirectional laminate specimens with a scarfed

Among several self-healing approaches to improve the durability of polymer-based materials during service, the addition of thermoplastics to a thermoset matrix has emerged as a promising self-healing alternative. In this study, poly (ethylene-co-methacrylic acid) (EMAA) was added to the mid-plane of carbon fiber-epoxy composite laminates to produce a self-healing system. Composite plates were manufactured

This research focused on fracture and fatigue response of carbon/epoxy laminates modified with electrospun nylon 66 nanofibers. For this purpose, AS4/8552 composite laminates interleaved by nanofibrous mat were considered under mode-I quasi-static and fatigue loading conditions. According to test outcomes, the fracture toughness increased about 133% under quasi-static tests. On the other hand, the

To restrain dielectric loss while still simultaneously harvesting high dielectric constant (k) and thermal conductivity (TC) in polymer composites, β-silicon carbide whiskers (β-SiCw) were encapsulated by a thin insulating oxidation layer (SiO2) via calcination under air, and the obtained core-shell β-SiCw@SiO2 was incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) composites. The k can be significantly

It is challenging to recover the strength of fiber-reinforced laminates after they have suffered severe damage that normally results in fiber rupture. Most non-invasive repairs can only effectively mend delamination and matrix cracks. Instead of attempting to heal the damaged fiber, this study presents a bioinspired laminate design that diverts fiber damage into matrix split to facilitate recovery

This paper presents a non-linear, large strain constitutive approach to modelling the mechanics of fibrous tows. The isotropic and linear St. Venant hyperelastic model was modified to extend its applicability to a transversely isotropic continuum. From this model, a set of large-strain material parameters which resemble the linear-elastic moduli was derived. The non-linear constitutive response of

This work presents an experimental and numerical study of process-induced deformation (PID) in flat sandwich panels with in-homogeneous ply layups. An over-expanded Nomex honeycomb core and aerospace-grade prepreg was used to manufacture sandwich panels using the autoclave technique. Process-induced spring-in and warpage at different locations were measured. A 3D FE analysis was performed for the full

Creating covalent bonds between inorganic fillers and polymer matrix is an effective method to enhance the thermal conductivity (TC) of composite materials, while the detailed mechanism is still not clear. By introducing different silane coupling agents (SCAs) bonding poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and functionalized boron nitride (fBN), intrinsic relationship between molecular structure of silane crosslinkers

Composite materials are often subjected to mechanical impact causing delamination. For quasi-static loading, measuring the mode II fracture toughness has been standardized. However, for high-rate loading, additional challenges arise. Consequently, no standard test has yet been defined for measuring the mode II fracture toughness under high rates of loading. This article therefore reviews candidate

Formation of resin matrix defects is common during composites manufacturing. The mechanisms behind these defects depend on the state of the resin at the time of their formation. Process-induced matrix defects are commonly studied in the form of porosity before gelation, or matrix cracking after vitrification. The present study investigates defect formation when the thermoset resin is between gelation

Nanofibers have attracted extensive attention and been applied in various fields due to their high aspect ratio, high specific surface area, flexibility, structural abundance, etc. The electrospinning method is one of the most promising and effective ways to produce nanofibers. The electrospun nanofibers-based films and membranes have already been demonstrated to possess small pore sizes, larges specific

The mechanical brittleness and structure collapse of three-dimensional (3D) graphene composite construction is still an enormous issue in flexible performance of complex. In addition, low temperature and efficient process become increasingly significant and noticeable in field of semiconductor device to prevent from huge resource waste and energy consumption. Herein, we report a special method to prepare

Substrates with high thermal conductivity (TC), outstanding mechanical strength, and low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and dielectric constant are ideal materials for electronic packaging. The preparation of ceramic/polymer composites is a feasible method to meet the above requirements. Herein, a kind of reticulated porous alumina ceramics (RPCs) was introduced into epoxy resin (EP) doped