Affiliation:
1. Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
Abstract
Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are increasingly used in the aerospace industry because of their robust mechanical properties and strength to weight ratio. A significant drawback of CFRPs is their resistance to formability when drawing continuous CFRPs into complex shapes as it tends to bridge, resulting in various defects in the final product. However, CFRP made from Stretch Broken Carbon Fiber (SBCF) aims to solve this issue by demonstrating superior formability compared to conventional continuous CFRPs. To study and validate the performance of SBCF, a statistical design of the experiment was conducted using three different types of CFRPs in tow/tape form. Hexcel (Stamford, CT, USA) IM7-G continuous carbon fiber impregnated with Huntsman (The Woodlands, TX, USA) RDM 2019-053 resin system, Hexcel SBCF impregnated with RDM2019-053 resin, and Montana State University manufactured SBCF impregnated with Huntsman RDM 2019-053 resin were tested in a multitude of forming trials and the data were analyzed using a statistical model to evaluate the forming behavior of each fiber type. The results show that for continuous fiber CFRP tows forming, Fmax and Δmax do not show statistical significance based on temperature fluctuations; however, in SBCF CFRP tows forming, Fmax and Δmax is dominated by the temperature and geometry has a low statistical influence on the Fmax. The lower dependence on tool geometry at higher temperatures indicates possibly superior formability of MSU SBCF. Overall findings from this research help define practical testing methods to compare different CFRPs and provide a repeatable approach to creating a statistical model for measuring results from the formability trials.
Funder
US Department of the Army
Subject
Engineering (miscellaneous),Ceramics and Composites
Reference22 articles.
1. Herbeck, L., Wilmes, H., Kolesnikov, B., and Kleineberg, M. (October, January 29). Technology and design development for a CFRP fuselage. Proceedings of the SAMPE Europe Conference, Paris, France.
2. Jacobsen, G. (2007, January 3–7). Process and Performance Characterization of Stretch Broken Carbon Fiber Material. Proceedings of the SAMPE ‘07: M and P—From Coast to Coast and Around the World, Baltimore, MD, USA.
3. Gauge length and temperature influence on the tensile properties of stretch broken carbon fiber tow;Janicki;Compos. Part A Appl. Sci. Manuf.,2021
4. Numerical forming of continuous fibre reinforced composite material: A Review;Bussetta;Compos. Part A,2018
5. Park, S. (2015). Carbon Fibers, Springer.