Abstract
Recent innovation in production of optimized nonwoven wet laid (WL) carbon fiber (CF) mats raised the question of optimal translation of the performance and isotropy into composites formed through these dry preforms. This work explores the mechanical behavior of composites produced from WL-CF mats in conjunction with the microstructure predicted through Object Oriented Finite Element Analysis (OOF). The mats used for the composites were prepared in two dispersion regimes using 25.4 mm long CF. The mixing regimes discussed in the author’s previous work, are identified as Method 1 for the traditional processing regime and Method 2 for the innovative regime that provided optimal nonwoven WL-CF mats. Composite panels from Method 2 mats showed a normalized tensile strength increase of 52% over those from Method 1 panels. Reproducibility analysis of composites made from Method 2 mats demonstrated a standard deviation of 2% in fiber weight content, 2% in tensile modulus and 9% in tensile strength, while composites made from Method 1 mats demonstrated a standard deviation of 5% in fiber weight content, 5% in tensile modulus and 17% in tensile strength. Systematic study of the microstructure and its analysis through OOF confirmed the isotropy translation of mats produced through method 2 to the composites. This study validated the hypothesis that optimal nonwoven mats lead to a well-balanced composite with optimal performance and that non-optimal nonwoven mats do not pack into a well-balanced composite.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 124 |
| Journal | Journal of Composites Science |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2020 |
Funding
Funding: The research was funded in part by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-EE0006926. Support from the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI-The Composites Institute is gratefully acknowledged. Acknowledgments: The authors want to acknowledge and thank Stephen Langer from the Mathematical Software Group, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for providing access to the OOF software. His generous help made this work possible. This research was supported by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Advanced Manufacturing Office and used resources at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, a DOE-EERE User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. *Notice of Copyright This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE-EERE | |
| IACMI-The Composites Institute | |
| Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-EE0006926 |
| Advanced Manufacturing Office | |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
Keywords
- Carbon fiber
- Discontinuous
- Isotropic
- Tensile
- Wet laid