DESIGNING AND OPTIMISING A NOVEL BIOMIMETIC FIBRE-HYBRID 3D WOVEN COMPOSITE

A Weatherburn, E Archer, Calvin Ralph, Callum Montgomery, S Giani, A Reinarz, B Elsaied, S Szyniszewski

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractpeer-review

Abstract

A novel biomimetic fibre-hybrid 3D woven composite design is proposed in this work. Fibre-hybrid 3D woven composites are defined as 3D woven composites with more than one fibre type. The design for this material is inspired by the internal structure of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, see Figure 1. The combination of stiff carbon fibre with soft polymer fibres arranged in a staggered layout within a 3D woven composite replicates this internal structure with the intention of increasing the fracture toughness of pure carbon fibre 3D woven composites. The relative stiffness values of the soft and stiff fibres were chosen to replicate the stiffness ratio seen in nacre. Experimental results have found that a fibre-hybrid 3D woven composite with a layer-to-layer weave architecture can absorb approximately 28% more energy on impact in both warp and weft directions
during a Charpy impact test than a pure carbon fibre 3D woven composite with the same weave architecture. The Young’s modulus of the fibre-hybrid 3D woven composite in both warp and weft directions was approximately 60% compared to the pure carbon 3D woven composite with 15% of the carbon fibres replaced by polypropylene fibres. Both the fibre-hybrid and the pure carbon fibre samples
were woven on a dobby computer-controlled loom using Toray T700s 50c 24k carbon fibre and infused with GURIT Prime 37 resin. Manufacture and experimental testing of 3D woven composites is time-consuming and expensive,
therefore for further investigation, computational models of the material are required. In this work, the University of Bristol SimTex (Simulation of Textile Composites) software [1] was utilised to create a finite element model of the material to predict the material properties and model the fracture behaviour
of the design. The finite element models will also form the basis of an optimisation process which will refine the material design in order to optimise selected material properties, such as stiffness or density. This work proposes a novel fibre-hybrid 3D woven composite design inspired by nature and a novel methodology for modelling and optimising fibre-hybrid 3D woven composite designs.

This work was conducted under the Aura Centre for Doctoral Training in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment. The authors would like to thank EPSRC and NERC [Grant number: EP/S023763/1, Project Reference: 2744497] for providing financial support for this project
Original languageEnglish
Pages107-107
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 11 Sept 2024
EventTexComp-15 2024 - KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Duration: 11 Sept 202413 Sept 2024

Conference

ConferenceTexComp-15 2024
Country/TerritoryBelgium
CityLeuven
Period11/09/2413/09/24

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