Quantitative evaluation of interfacial adhesion between fiber and resin in carbon fiber/epoxy composite cured by semiconductor microwave device

Interfacial adhesion between carbon fiber (CF) and epoxy resin in carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite, which was prepared by different heating process such as semiconductor microwave (MW) device and conventional electric oven, has been evaluated quantitatively. The interfacial shear strength (IFSS) between CF and epoxy resin, which was an indicator of adhesion on the interface, was measured by a single fiber fragmentation test. The single fiber fragmentation test showed that the IFSSs of the prepared specimens were different by heating methods. In the case of MW process, the curing reaction of epoxy resin on the CF interface would be progressed preferentially due to the selective heating of CF, resulting that the IFSSs of specimens prepared by MW irradiation were increased by enhancing the output power of MW. However, the IFSSs of the specimens were decreased by excessively high output power because the matrix resin on the CF interface was thermally degraded. As results, by optimizing the MW conditions of output power and irradiation time, the IFSS of the sample cured by MW was increased by 21% as compared to oven-heated one. It was found that the interfacial adhesion between CF and epoxy resin would be improved by the MW-assisted curing reaction on the surface of CF.     

Effect of micro-arc oxidation treatment on laser joint microstructures of Ti-6Al-4V alloy/CFRP

Resin-based carbon fibre reinforced composite (CFRP) with excellent properties has been widely applied in aerospace industry. In this study, polyether ether ketone enforced composite (PEEK-CFRP) and Ti-6V-4V titanium alloy had been joined by laser welding process. Micro-arc oxidation (MAO) process was conducted on the surface of titanium alloy to improve the joint property. Fractures and mechanical properties of joints were analysed. Interfacial microstructures of the joints had been investigated, and the formation mechanism of joint had been figured out. The results showed that after MAO treatment, the joint strength had been greatly improved and the shear strength reached to 42.3 MPa compared with pretreated sample. The wettability of CFRP on titanium alloy was rising with the contact angle of 68.8°. Fracture showed that cohesive failure contributed to the main fracture mode. As joints were formed by both mechanical bonding and chemical bonding, ‘anchor-shaped’ structures were found in the joint to enhance the mechanical bonding effects due to the flowing of the melted resin. (−OH) bonds were identified at the surface of MAO-treated titanium alloy that provided conditions for hydrogen bond interaction. TiO₂, TiO and Ti–V–C phase were found at interface, whereas Ti–F and Ti–O–F bonds were generated during the welding process, which made great contribution to the chemical bonds between titanium alloy and CFRP.     

Stability analysis of CFRP-wrapped concrete columns strengthened with external longitudinal CFRP sheets

The external confinement by CFRP wrappings is a very efficient method to increase the load-carrying capacity of round concrete columns. Nevertheless, the serviceability of such columns under loads exceeding the strength of unconfined concrete is limited by different factors. One of them is the reduced stability of the columns due to the significantly reduced tangent elastic modulus inactive loading. To increase the critical load of buckling instability of concrete columns, an additional longitudinal composite reinforcement can be used. In this paper, the stability and strength of concrete columns confined by circumferential wrappings and strengthened with a longitudinal external CFRP reinforcement are studied. Plain and confined columns of length 300 and 1500 mm were tested. Theoretical predictions show that the additional longitudinal reinforcement is efficient in improving the stability of confined columns in the region of moderate slenderness. The prediction for the ultimate strength and stability of the columns coincides rather well with experimental results. __________ Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 295–308, May–June, 2005.     

The Contact Problem for an Elastic Orthotropic Plate Supported by Periodically Located Bars of Equal Resistance

The contact problem of the plane theory of elasticity is studied for an elastic orthotropic half-plane supported by periodically located (infinitely many) stringers of equal resistance. Using the methods of the theory of a complex variable, the problem is reduced to the Keldysh-Sedov type problem for a circle. The solution of the problem is constructed.     

Carbon fiber/epoxy composite materials cured thermally and with microwave irradiation

In this paper, composite materials of short carbon fibers (CFs) and a thermosetting epoxy were prepared in three different ways: without curing, thermal curing, and thermal curing followed by microwave irradiation. Mechanical properties of the three kinds of CF reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites were studied to explore the effect of microwave irradiation. Microscopic study with the aid of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was performed on fractured composite surfaces to identify the principle features of failure. Degree of polymerization of the epoxy resin in the three CFRP composites was evaluated by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The microwave irradiated CFRP exhibited mechanically ductile behavior even though its highest degree of polymerization. Use of microwaves and resultant stronger physico-chemical linkage at the interface between CF and epoxy resin are the main feature of this study.     

Analysis and modelling of the cohesion strength of concrete at high strain-rates

With the exponential increase of computational power, numerical simulations are more and more used to model the response of concrete structures subjected to dynamic loadings such as detonation near a concrete structural element or projectile-impact. Such loadings lead to intense damage modes resulting from high strain-rate tensile loadings in the concrete structure. However, the modelling of the post-peak tensile response of concrete still remains difficult due to the lack of experimental data at high strain-rates. This work aims at improving the modelling of the softening behaviour of concrete based on the following statement: despite the propagation of unstable cracks in the tested specimen cohesion strength exists in the vicinity of triggered cracks and is driving the whole softening behaviour of concrete. This statement is justified in the present work by means of experiments and Monte-Carlo calculations: firstly, concrete samples have been subjected to a dynamic tensile loading by means of spalling experiments. Several specimens have been recovered in a damaged but unbroken state and have been subsequently loaded in quasi-static tensile experiments to characterise the residual strength and damage level in the sample. In addition, Monte-Carlo simulations have been conducted to clarify the possible influence of cohesion strength in the vicinity of cracks. Finally, the DFH (Denoual–Forquin–Hild) anisotropic damage model has been adapted to take into account the cohesion strength in the damaged zone and to describe the softening behaviour of concrete. Numerical simulations of experiments conducted on dry and saturated samples at different levels of loading-rate illustrate the new capability of the model.     

Improved non-destructive testing of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites using pulsed thermograph

Pulsed thermography (PT) is a popular non-destructive testing (NDT) technique for defect detection in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. However, non-uniform backgrounds commonly observed in thermal images often reduce the detection power of PT. For background removal, mathematical morphology (MM), originally proposed for the analysis of geometrical structures, is adopted in this paper. After noise reduction, the non-uniform backgrounds in each image are conveniently constructed by MM. By subtracting the backgrounds from the original data, improved NDT is achieved. Experiment results show the effectiveness of the proposed method, where the defects in the CFRP specimen are more clearly identified.     

Femtosecond Laser Drilling of Cylindrical Holes for Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) Composites

Ultrafast laser drilling has been proven to effectively reduce the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. However, previous research mainly focused on the effects of picosecond laser parameters on CFRP drilling. Compared with a picosecond laser, a femtosecond laser can achieve higher quality CFRP drilling due to its smaller pulse width, but there are few studies on the effects of femtosecond laser parameters on CFRP drilling. Moreover, the cross-sectional taper of CFRP produced by laser drilling is very large. This paper introduces the use of the femtosecond laser to drill cylindrical holes in CFRP. The effect of laser power, rotational speed of the laser, and number of spiral passes on HAZ and ablation depth in circular laser drilling and spiral laser drilling mode was studied, respectively. It also analyzed the forming process of the drilling depth in the spiral drilling mode and studied the influence of laser energy and drilling feed depth on the holes’ diameters and the taper. The experimental results show that the cylindrical hole of CFRP with a depth-to-diameter ratio of about 3:1 (taper < 0.32°, HAZ < 10 μm) was obtained by using femtosecond laser and a spiral drilling apparatus.     

MIXED MODES INTERLAMINAR FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF CFRP LAMINATES TOUGHENED WITH CNF INTERLAYER

In the present paper, the influence of carbon nanofiber on interlaminar fracture toughness of CFRP investigated using MMB(Mixed Mode Bending) tests. Vapor grown carbon fiber VGCF and VGCF-S, and multi-walled carbon nanotube MWNT-7 has been employed for the toughener of the interlayer on the CFRP laminates. In order to evaluate the fracture toughness and mixed mode ratio of it, double cantilever beam (DCB) tests, end notched fracture (ENF) tests and mixed mode bending (MMB) tests have been carried out. Boundary element analysis was applied to the CFRP model to compute the interlaminar fracture toughness, where extrapolation method was used to determine the fracture toughness and mixed mode ratio. The interlaminar fracture toughness and mixed mode ratio can be extrapolated by stress distribution in the vicinity of the crack tip of the CFRP laminate. It was found that the interlaminar fracture toughness of the CFRP laminates was improved inserting the interlayer made by carbon nanofiber especially in the region where shear mode deformation is dominant.     

碳纤维增强铝合金板的抗冲击性能

采用ABAQUS/Explicit有限元分析软件对碳纤维增强铝合金层合板(CARAL)受低速冲击进行 数值模拟,研究其在承载过程中的动力响应及损伤。首先通过具体算例与文献中的结果相比较,验证了方法 的有效性;其次从试件的脱层和吸能等抗冲击角度对CARAL 进行分析,并与传统的纯碳/环氧树脂胶片 (CFRP)进行抗冲击对比分析,结果表明,CARAL具有较好的抗冲击性能。