Next generation of high-performance impact resistant composites with visibility of damage
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Engineering
Abstract
Composites are truly the materials of the future, due to their excellent properties such as high strength to weight ratio, and their use is rising exponentially, continuing to replace or augment traditional materials in different sectors such as aerospace, automotive, wind turbine blades, civil engineering infrastructure and sporting goods. A good example is the construction of large aircraft such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 which are 53% and 50% composite by weight, respectively. However, while the fibre dominant properties guarantee excellent in-plane load-bearing characteristics, traditional composite materials exhibit weak resistance to out-of-plane loads, making them susceptible to barely visible impact damage (BVID) under impact loads that can happen during manufacturing or in service. BVID can drastically reduce the strength, without any visible warning. Structures that look fine can fail suddenly at loads much lower than expected. This weak impact resistance together with the complexity of the failure mechanisms typical of composite systems led in the past decade to complex and expensive maintenance/inspection procedures. Therefore, a significantly greater safety margin than other materials leads to conservative design in composite structures. Based on these premises, the need is clear for a comprehensive solution that matches the requirements of lightweight structures with the need for high impact resistance and ease of inspection. This project is aimed at the design and development of next generation of high-performance impact resistant composites with visibility of damage and improved compression after impact strength. These exceptional properties are caused with ability to visualise and control failure modes to happen in an optimised way. Energy would be absorbed by gradual and sacrificial damage, strength would be maintained, and there would be visible evidence of damage. This would eliminate the need for very low design strains to cater for BVID, providing a step change in composite performance, leading to greater reliability and safety, together with reduced design and maintenance requirements, and longer service life. This is an exciting opportunity to develop this novel proposed technology with my extensive industrial partners, a potentially transformative prospect for the UK composites research and industry.
Organisations
- University of Glasgow (Lead Research Organisation)
- Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland (Project Partner)
- The Welding Institute (Project Partner)
- Hexcel (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Compoestructuras SAS (Project Partner)
- Randon Technology Center (Project Partner)
- Crack Map LTD (Project Partner)
- National Manufacturing Inst Scotland (Project Partner)
- BAE Systems (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- National Composites Centre (Project Partner)
Publications
Gholizadeh A
(2021)
Applying Acoustic Emission Technique for Detecting Various Damages Occurred in PCL Nanomodified Composite Laminates.
in Polymers
Fotouhi S
(2021)
Achieving robust acoustic emission-based damage characterization of scaled laminated composites under indentation
in Express Polymer Letters
Fotouhi S
(2021)
Autonomous damage recognition in visual inspection of laminated composite structures using deep learning
in Composite Structures
Boaretto J
(2021)
Biomimetics and Composite Materials toward Efficient Mobility: A Review
in Journal of Composites Science
Ahmadi M
(2021)
Damage behavior analysis of Al/TiC particulate composite by acoustic emission monitoring and peridynamic modeling
in Composites Part C: Open Access
Akrami R
(2021)
Investigating the Effect of Interface Morphology in Adhesively Bonded Composite Wavy-Lap Joints
in Journal of Composites Science
Fotouhi S
(2021)
Detection of Barely Visible Impact Damage in Polymeric Laminated Composites Using a Biomimetic Tactile Whisker.
in Polymers
Fotouhi M
(2022)
Investigating the fatigue behaviour of quasi-isotropic pseudo-ductile thin-ply carbon/glass epoxy hybrid composites
in Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Fotouhi S.
(2022)
INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF INTERFACE ANGLE AND PLY THICKNESS ON MODE II DELAMINATION BEHAVIOUR OF CARBON/EPOXY LAMINATED COMPOSITES
in ECCM 2022 - Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Composite Materials: Composites Meet Sustainability
Tabatabaeian A
(2022)
A review on self-reporting mechanochromic composites: An emerging technology for structural health monitoring
in Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Tabatabaeian A.
(2022)
ON THE OPTIMAL DESIGN OF SMART COMPOSITE SENSORS FOR IMPACT DAMAGE DETECTION
in ECCM 2022 - Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Composite Materials: Composites Meet Sustainability
Tabatabaeian A
(2023)
Barely visible impact damage detection in composite structures using deep learning networks with varying complexities
in Composites Part B: Engineering
Fotouhi S
(2023)
Smart hybrid composite sensor technology to enhance the detection of low energy impact damage in composite structures
in Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Mohammadi R
(2023)
Polysulfone nanofiber-modified composite laminates: Investigation of mode-I fatigue behavior and damage mechanisms
in Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics
Description | This project developed novel structural health monitoring (SHM) sensors to improve the detection of low energy impact damage in laminated composites. The sensors were designed and experimentally tested and the results indicate that the sensors functioned satisfactorily and provided direct correlations between visible and internal hidden damage detected by C-scan. The sensor needs to be optimized by selecting appropriate material properties and adjusting it to the in-plane dimensions of the substrate, which provide further challenges in modelling and a better understanding of how the sensors operate and can be optimized and calibrated to fit the applications such as aerospace, wind and civil. |
Exploitation Route | We have demonstrated that novel sensors perform satisfactorily for detecting impact damage, enabling the identification of the impact location visually, and we have established direct correlations between visible and internal hidden damage detected by C-scan. These hybrid sensing layers serve as both load-bearing components and damage indicators and are entirely wireless, providing cost-effective and straightforward solutions for damage detection. We believe that our findings will offer new insights into the development of SHM systems for impact damage detection in composite structures, and we anticipate that they will be of significant interest to both the academic and industrial communities. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Construction Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
Description | Autonomous VIsion tAcTile rObots foR inspection of laminated composites (AVIATOR) |
Amount | € 849,211 (EUR) |
Organisation | Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Netherlands |
Start | 01/2024 |
End | 06/2028 |