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Experimental Investigations on Material- and Failure Behavior of Foldable Thermoplastic Composites
For the design of foldable structures such as deployable space structures or biomedical devices, the material behaviour of thermoplastic ultra-thin composite structures has to be investigated in bending and compared to state-of-the-art thermoset solutions.
Keywords: Foldable Composites, Foldable Structures, Testing, Failure, Digital Image Correlation
Due to their high specific strength and stiffness, fiber reinforced structures are commonly used in high-performance applications. Their ability to be manufactured in thicknesses below 100μm makes them especially interesting in the field of deployable structures. Modern deployable structures are mainly used for the folding and deployment of satellites to reduce the stowage volume in a launcher vehicle. However these structures also get a rising interest in medical application for example in the field of heart stents. Fulfilling certain folding schemes requires very small radii of curvature in the folded structure. The fiber as well as matrix behavior as well as their influence on the failure in such thin materials is only poorly understood and requires additional investigations to design structures which can show the highest level of specific stiffness at the minimum possible packaging volume.
Following the development of ultra-thin biocompatible composites at CMASLab and the creation of an analytical model to predict the failure in such structures, this model now has to be verified experimentally exploring different parameters in the failure behavior of such composites. This includes especially the influence of fiber waviness, structure thickness as well as matrix strength and modulus. Additionally, an important aspect is the comparison of the developed new material with state-of-the-art materials used for high performance applications (satellite structures).
Due to their high specific strength and stiffness, fiber reinforced structures are commonly used in high-performance applications. Their ability to be manufactured in thicknesses below 100μm makes them especially interesting in the field of deployable structures. Modern deployable structures are mainly used for the folding and deployment of satellites to reduce the stowage volume in a launcher vehicle. However these structures also get a rising interest in medical application for example in the field of heart stents. Fulfilling certain folding schemes requires very small radii of curvature in the folded structure. The fiber as well as matrix behavior as well as their influence on the failure in such thin materials is only poorly understood and requires additional investigations to design structures which can show the highest level of specific stiffness at the minimum possible packaging volume. Following the development of ultra-thin biocompatible composites at CMASLab and the creation of an analytical model to predict the failure in such structures, this model now has to be verified experimentally exploring different parameters in the failure behavior of such composites. This includes especially the influence of fiber waviness, structure thickness as well as matrix strength and modulus. Additionally, an important aspect is the comparison of the developed new material with state-of-the-art materials used for high performance applications (satellite structures).
• Literature research on thin-ply composites, high strain foldable structures, thermoplastic composites, composite processing
• Familiarization with developed failure model, manufacturing methods of thermoset and thermoplastic composites and existing material testing techniques
• Manufacturing of thermoset and thermoplastic ultra-thin specimen controlling fiber volume content and thickness.
• Perform folding material tests on the manufactured specimen measuring strain distribution, curvature and folding forces
• Compare analytical predictions to experiments
• Compare different matrix systems based on experimental results and predictions
• Optional: Compare different Fiber Types
• Literature research on thin-ply composites, high strain foldable structures, thermoplastic composites, composite processing • Familiarization with developed failure model, manufacturing methods of thermoset and thermoplastic composites and existing material testing techniques
• Manufacturing of thermoset and thermoplastic ultra-thin specimen controlling fiber volume content and thickness.
• Perform folding material tests on the manufactured specimen measuring strain distribution, curvature and folding forces
• Compare analytical predictions to experiments
• Compare different matrix systems based on experimental results and predictions