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Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci 2022 Sep 1;380(2232):20210340. Epub 2022 Aug 1.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK.

The present paper investigates the impact behaviour of both pristine carbon-fibre-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composite laminates and repaired CFRP laminates. For the patch-repaired CFRP specimen, the pristine CFRP panel specimen has been damaged by cutting out a central disc of the CFRP material and then repaired using an adhesively bonded patch of CFRP to cover the hole. Drop-weight, impact tests are performed on these two types of specimens and a numerical elastic-plastic, three-dimensional damage model is developed and employed to simulate the impact behaviour of both types of specimen. Read More

Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci 2022 Sep 1;380(2232):20210336. Epub 2022 Aug 1.

School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia.

The use of lightweight carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites in transportation vehicles has necessitated the need to guarantee that these new materials and their structures are able to deliver a sufficient level of crashworthiness to ensure passenger safety. Unlike their metallic counterparts, which absorb energy primarily through plastic deformation, CFRPs absorb energy through a complex interaction of damage mechanisms involving matrix (polymer) cracking, fibre/matrix debonding, fibre pull-out/kinking/fracture, delamination and inter/intralaminar friction. CFRP is primarily deployed as a laminate and can potentially deliver a higher specific energy absorption than metals. Read More

Materials (Basel) 2022 Jul 22;15(15). Epub 2022 Jul 22.

Association for Science and Technology of Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.

Considerable uncertainties in the mechanical properties of composites not only prevent them from having efficient applications but also threaten the safety and reliability of structures. In order to determine the uncertainty in the elastic properties of unidirectional CFRP composites, this paper develops a probabilistic analysis method based on a micromechanics theoretical model and the Monte Carlo simulation. Firstly, four commonly used theoretical models are investigated by calculating the deterministic elastic parameters of three unidirectional CFRP composites, which are compared with experimental outcomes. Read More

Polymers (Basel) 2022 Jul 19;14(14). Epub 2022 Jul 19.

Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Wołoska 141 Street, 02-507 Warsaw, Poland.

This work is devoted to evaluating the effectiveness of the recovery of carbon fibers from end-of-life wind turbine blades in the pyrolysis process, and the use of those fibers in the production of flat composite panels. The recovery of carbon fibers from wind turbine blades uses a pyrolysis process at 500-600 °C in a non-oxidizing atmosphere, in such a way that makes it possible to preserve the shape and dimensions of the fibers. Using recycled carbon fibers, flat CFRP sheets with epoxy resin matrix were produced by pressing. Read More

Polymers (Basel) 2022 Jul 11;14(14). Epub 2022 Jul 11.

National Key Laboratory of Transit Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.

The application of composites is increasingly extensive due to their advanced properties while the analysis still remains complex on different scales. In this article, carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) is modeled via asymptotic homogenization employing a representative volume element (RVE) with periodic boundary conditions. A multiscale mechanical model of CFRP is established to bridge the microscopic model, mesoscopic model, and macroscopic model. Read More