Hybrid Structures; metal fibres, yarns and textiles for polymer composite structures
Project leaders
dr.ir. Harald Bersee
prof.ir. A. Beukers
PhD. student
Tahira Ahmed MEng
MSc. student
vacant
Contactperson
Tahira Ahmed MEng
Summary
In current design and manufacturing of lightweight composite (fibre reinforced polymer) structures the designer/ analyst is not only designing the shape and functionalities of the structure but also the mechanical behaviour or response to mechanical loads within an envelope of sufficient resistance to temperatures, chemical and physical degradation. The structure design nowadays is limited to mechanical and environmental loading and the design envelope needs an extension to parameters with respect to tuneable electric and magnetic properties, thermal conduction, thermal expansion behaviour and last but not least tuneable ductility when appropriate. The contemporary families of organic and an-organic fibres do not offer those possibilities unless they are mingled with metallic fibres. When metal fibres of any nature and morphology and selected with respect to mechanical and physical properties become available, a new range of materials and structure design possibilities come insight. By mingling fibres or commingling bundles of fibres (yarns) of different but compatible nature, we extend the possibilities to alloy metals and to blend polymers on a micro scale with the composition of material properties and material behaviour on a macro scale. Even plasticity and ductility can be introduced in composite materials and structures where necessary. When metal fibres can be transferred into textile structures, a very broad range of new manufacturing techniques becomes available from thermoforming of small parts (e.g. instrument/camera housings) to vacuum infusion of big integral structures for yacht building or aerospace structures. In addition, the "structural" metal fibres can be used as a processing aid during the manufacturing of these structures, e.g. by electromagnetic heating of the composite plies during thermoforming or for curing of the resin during vacuum forming. So the most important aim is to study the feasibility of metallic fibres in composite structures, to determine the added value and to proof the fore mentioned principles for a new generation of composite materials and structures applied in aerospace, ship building and automotive industry.
