2-D Forming of Steered-fibre Laminates
By 2020, the advanced composite market is predicted to be worth around £17 billion, with automotive the second largest growth sector (after wind energy) but still falling far short of its enormous growth potential; the high cost of production for advanced composite products is still a major obstacle to their wider exploitation. Government legislation on the reduction of emissions is an important driver across the transport sector and one way to achieve prescribed targets is through the substitution of relatively heavy metallic components with highly optimised light-weight advanced polymer composite parts. Consequently, there is an urgent need to address the economic viability of manufacturing with advanced polymer composites and realise their full weight and fuel saving potential. The proposed project aims to contribute to this overarching goal by introducing an ambitious low-cost route to manufacturing highly optimised advanced composite structures.
The ability to produce 'steered-fibre laminates' containing non-linear fibre paths, creates a step change in the design space for advanced composite structures. The designer is able to reposition stress concentrations away from holes and inserts, improve a laminate's resistance to buckling and failure, and to enhance a laminate's dynamic response to vibrations. Ultimately this can lead to lighter, more optimised structures for use in the aerospace and automotive sectors, enhancing fuel efficiency and contributing to the broader goals of reduced cost and lower emissions across the transport sector. The aim of the proposed project is to implement and demonstrate a novel and disruptive manufacture process that can produce low-cost high-quality steered-fibre laminates, without use of expensive, capital intensive automated fibre placement machines (the current solution). The new process is best described as 2-D forming; in order to support this novel manufacture process, a custom-designed suite of computer aided design a manufacture software will be developed. Computational tools for digital manufacturing are essential if 2-D forming is to be successfully achieved without inducing severe wrinkling and buckling of the deforming biaxial sheet. Reducing cost will effectively bring fibre-steering technology to a broader range of applications, increasing its economic impact and bringing new manufacturing capabilities to a wider industrial base, with the UK leading the way in this important area of manufacturing.
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Key people:
Dr. Philip Harrison (PI) in University of Glasgow
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Prof. Kevin Potter (CI) in University of Bristol
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Prof. Prasad Potluri (CI) in University of Manchester
Prasad.Potluri@manchester.ac.uk
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Dr. Byung Chul (Eric) Kim (CI) in University of Bristol
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Dr. Zhaofei Xiao (Researcher) in University of Glasgow
Partners
Publication lists
Fabric steering technology for variable stiffness panels: Manufacture and mechanical testing
Xiao, Z., and Harrison, P.
Composites Part B: Engineering Volume 223, 2021, 109105 (doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2021.109105)
Design of buckling and damage resistant steered fibre composite laminates using trellis shear kinematics
Xiao, Z., and Harrison, P.
Composite Structures 260, 2021, 113526 (doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.113526)
Manual 2-dimensional fabric steering, for manufacture of variable stiffness panels
Xiao, Z., Ackermann, A., and Harrison, P.
23rd International Conference on Material Forming (ESAFORM 2020), Procedia Manufacturing.
Buckling Analysis of Variable Stiffness Panels Manufactured by Fabric Steering Technology
Xiao, Z. and Harrison, P.
In: 22nd International Conference on Composites Materials (ICCM22), Melbourne, Australia, 11-19 Aug 2019
Development of a Novel Design Tool and Manufacturing Process for Steered-fibre Laminate Composite Panels
Euromech Colloquium 602 – Composite Manufacturing Processes. Analysis, Modelling and Simulations, Lyon, France, 13-15 Mar 2019
Wrinkling in engineering fabrics: a comparison between two different comprehensive modelling approaches
Giorgio, I., Harrison, P. , dell’Isola, F., Alsayednoor, J. and Turco, E
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 474(2216), 2018
(doi: 10.1098/rspa.2018.0063)
Improving the accuracy of the uniaxial bias extension test on engineering fabrics using a simple wrinkle mitigation technique
Harrison, P. , Taylor, E. and Alsayednoor, J.
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 108, pp. 53-61. 2018. (doi: 10.1016/j.compositesa.2018.02.025)