Experimental characterization of voids in high fibre volume fraction composites processed by high injection pressure RTM

Replacing autoclave processes is a well-known industry drive in the composites community. One of the most recognized candidates for this replacement is high injection pressure resin transfer moulding (HIPRTM), because it is both an out of autoclave process and because the high processing pressures can, hypothetically, reduce the size of voids, thereby reducing void content. In order to clarify this issue, this paper presents our results on the size distribution and total void fraction of composites containing high fibre volume fractions (>60%) composites produced by HIPRTM. To substantiate this work we present a comparative study considering both autoclave and RTM at lower pressure/fibre volume fractions. Results show that HIPRTM is able to produce high fibre volume fraction parts at very low void content (<0.05%) and is comparable to autoclave results. Future work should study the mechanical properties of these laminates in order to clarify further the limits of HIPRTM.     

Heat Transfer Characteristics of an Innovative Thermal Protection System Based on Photonic Crystals

In order to protect the internal components of an aircraft from the damage caused by high temperature and heat flux, an effective thermal protection structure must be designed and developed. In this paper, heat transfer characteristics for an innovative thermal protection coating structure are investigated, based on three-dimensional photonic crystals (SiC-3D PCs). The actual system with coating material, containing photonic crystals, is simplified as a macroscopic model of one-dimensional coupled conduction–radiation heat transfer among three layers composed of semitransparent media. Moreover, according to preliminary physical parameters, heat transfer profiles and thermal protection efficiency for the whole system are estimated. In addition, the effect of the photonic crystals part is analyzed.     

Process parameters design of a three-dimensional and five-directional braided composite joint based on finite element analysis

This paper presents an analytical method for designing the configuration of composite joint with three-dimensional (3D) five-directional braided composites. Based on the analysis of 3D braided structure characteristics, the elastic properties of the 3D five-directional braided composites were determined by the volume averaging method. The effects of the braiding angle and fiber volume fraction on the elastic constants of the braided composites were also discussed. Finite element analysis on the load capacity of the 3D five-directional braided composite joint was implemented using the software ANSYS Workbench 14.0. The influence of braiding angle on the stress, strain and deformation of the composite joint under tensile loading were calculated. The results show that when the fiber volume fraction of the 3D five-directional braided preform is given, the equivalent stress of the composite joint decreases monotonically as the braiding angle increases, while the normal stress, maximum principal stress and total deformation firstly decreases and then increases. Based on the finite element analysis, we found that at the fiber volume fraction of 60%, the braiding angle within the range of 30–35° are the optimum processing parameters for the 3D five-directional braided composite joint structure that used in the tensile load 320 N condition.     

Effect of lubricants on warm compaction process of Cu-based composite

The use of lubricant is the key of warm compaction technology. Because of admixed different lubricants, the optimal parameters of warm compaction process were also different. This paper investigated the effect of two kind of lubricants (zinc stearate and polystyrene) on the parameters of warm compaction process by compared properties of Cu-based composite. It was shown that with the rise of compacting pressure, the density and hardness of the Cu-based composite increased, but the resistivity and gaining weight reduced. With increasing compacting temperature, the density and hardness first increased and then decreased, but the trend of resistivity and gaining weight just reversed. For the samples admixed zinc stearate (ZS), the optimal admixed concentration was 0.4 wt%, and the sample prepared at 120 °C and 650 MPa had the highest density and hardness, the lowest resistivity and gaining weight. For the samples admixed polystyrene (PS), these parameters were 0.7 wt%, 140 °C and 650 MPa, respectively. The properties of samples admixed PS were superior to that of admixed ZS.     

Cooling rate effects on the microstructure evolution in the βo zones of cast Ti–45Al–8.5Nb–(W,B, Y) alloy

The cooling rate effects on the β_o → ω_o phase transformation in Ti–45Al–8.5Nb–(W, B, Y) (at.%) alloy were investigated by annealing the alloy at 950 °C followed by different cooling methods. The morphology and the distribution of the ω-related phases were analyzed by TEM. The amount and morphology of the ω-related phases are very sensitive to the cooling rate. The ω-related phases could not be resolved in the water-quenched sample whereas it grew into nano-particles in the air-cooled sample. In the furnace-cooled sample, the ω_o phase with B8₂ structure grew into micron-sized particles and occupied the whole β_o area. The nucleation of the ordered ω embryos can be explained by the well accepted displacive mechanism because of the instability of the β_o(B2) structure, accompanied by a short-range diffusion process between neighboring {111}_βo planes. However, the growth of the ω-related phases is controlled by a long-range diffusion process. Due to ready nucleation and growth, the ordered ω formation is bound to occur in as-cast and heat-treated high Nb–TiAl alloys.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of duplex stainless steel subjected to hydrostatic extrusion

The nanostructure and mechanical properties of ferritic-austenitic duplex stainless steel subjected to hydrostatic extrusion were examined. The refinement of the structure in the initial state and in the two deformation states (ε = 1.4 and ε = 3.8) was observed in an optical microscope (OM) and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results indicate that the structure evolved from microcrystalline with a grain size of about 4 μm to nanocrystalline with a grain size of about 150 nm in ferrite and 70 nm in austenite. The material was characterized mechanically by tensile tests performed in the two deformation states. The ultimate strength appeared to increase significantly compared to that in the initial deformation stages, which can be attributed to the grain refinement and plastic deformation. The heterogeneity observed in microregions results from the dual-phase structure of the steel. The results indicate that hydrostatic extrusion is a highly potential technology suitable for improving the properties of duplex steels.     

Compressive mechanical properties of closed-cell aluminum foam–polymer composites

The compressive mechanical properties of two kinds of closed-cell aluminum foam–polymer composites (aluminum–epoxy, aluminum–polyurethane) were studied. The nonhomogeneous deformation features of the composites are presented based on the deformation distributions measured by the digital image correlation (DIC) method. The strain fluctuations rapidly grow with an increase in the compressive load. The uneven level of the deformation for the aluminum–polyurethane composite is lower than that for the aluminum–epoxy composite. The region of the preferentially fractured aluminum cell wall can be predicted by the strain distributions in two directions. The mechanical properties of the composites are investigated and compared to those of the aluminum foams. The enhancement effect of the epoxy resin on the Young’s modulus, the Poisson’s ratio and the compressive strength of the aluminum foams is greater than that of the polyurethane resin.     

Spring-in behavior of curved composites manufactured by Flexible Injection

This paper investigates the manufacturing distortion of curved composite parts manufactured by a new Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) process called Flexible Injection (FI). This technique uses a deformable tool to speed up the fabrication but may generate manufacturing defects when strongly curved shapes are processed. The goal of the study is to evaluate the impact of such heterogeneities on the dimensional stability of the product. Curved components were first manufactured with varying processing conditions to achieve a wide range of layup quality. The shape stability of the samples was then recorded as a function of temperature to measure the thermoelastic component of distortion and experimental results were compared with predictions made by two modeling techniques. Under certain conditions, manufacturing defects can significantly affect the distortion behavior. This suggests that a robust preforming procedure is of primary importance to produce curved parts by Flexible Injection with a high level of repeatability.     

Design of the PIXIE cryogenic system

The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is a proposed mission to study the polarization of the remnant cosmic microwave background with the goal of finding and understanding primordial gravity waves. The instrument has been designed to capture this information across the entire sky by rejecting foreground signals and suppressing systematic error by multiple differencing methods. The instrument operates at a temperature very close to the cosmic microwave background of 2.7 K, while the detectors operate at 0.1 K. The PIXIE cryogenic system provides this in low Earth orbit by making use of three subsystems. Lightweight, simply deployed shields provide protection against the Earth and Sun while passively cooling wiring and instrument supports at 150 K. A mechanical cryocooler precools wires and supports at 68, 17, and 4.5 K while its compressors operate at room temperature. And finally two adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators cool the instrument from 4.5 to 2.7 K and cool the detectors to 0.1 K. Staged cooling in this manner allows a thermodynamically efficient use of relatively mature technologies that can be fully demonstrated before flight.