Durability study on the interlaminar shear behavior of glass-fibre reinforced polypropylene (GFRPP) bars for marine applications

The reduction of both energy consumption and production/maintenance costs in the industry requires the use of advanced engineering materials with remarkable features, including lightweight and long-term service life. As one of the advanced engineering materials, composites are widely applied in industry and civilian daily life. Nevertheless, there are some mechanical factors such as tensile strength restricting the application of such a material. To this end, this study is aimed to comprehensively review the recent research on the effects of fabrication characteristics on the tensile resistance of GFRP, CFRP, and AFRP composites. As revealed by recent progress, the epoxy resin is an advisable option for the production of high-performance polymeric composites due to the remarkable tensility, compression, and corrosion resistance. However, the high cost of epoxy resin is not favorable for mass production. In hybrid composites, stacking sequence is a vital factor that determines the ultimate tensile strength. In terms of higher mechanical performance, some researchers suggested using Kevlar fibers with woven orientation alongside the Carbon as axial fibers. At the same time, it is essential to carefully establish the value of fiber volume fraction. Otherwise, this can lead to dramatic internal defects such as agglomeration. In general, this review article was performed to investigate the impacts of composite fabrication characteristics such as fabrication method, reinforcing fibers orientation, fiber type, matrix phase type, and volume fraction of reinforcing phase on the tensile properties of composites used in aerospace, military, civil constructions, and automotive applications. In addition, the authors tried their best to make this research a credible source in the field of mechanical properties of CFRP, GFRP, and AFRP composites for future studies of other researchers. 

A review on fabrication techniques and tensile properties of glass, carbon, and Kevlar fiber reinforced rolymer composites

Water droplet bouncing on pre-frosted superhydrophobic carbon soot — A step forward in designing passive icephobic surfaces

Researchers successfully design materials with extremely low ice adhesion. Ice accretion has a negative impact on critical infrastructure, as well as a range of commercial and residential activities. Icephobic surfaces are defined by an ice adhesion strength τice < 100 kPa. However, the passive removal of ice requires much lower values of τice, such as on airplane wings or power lines (τice < 20 kPa). Such low τice values are scarcely reported, and robust coatings that maintain these low values have not been reported previously. We show that, irrespective of material chemistry, by tailoring the cross-link density of different elastomeric coatings and by enabling interfacial slippage, it is possible to systematically design coatings with extremely low ice adhesion (τice < 0.2 kPa). These newfound mechanisms allow for the rational design of icephobic coatings with virtually any desired ice adhesion strength. By using these mechanisms, we fabricate extremely durable coatings that maintain τice < 10 kPa after severe mechanical abrasion, acid/base exposure, 100 icing/deicing cycles, thermal cycling, accelerated corrosion, and exposure to Michigan wintery conditions over several months.

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Designing Durable Icephobic Surfaces

The thermoplastic composite fasteners (TPCF) are applied to join the composite sheets with interference-fit in the present study, aiming at producing a lightweight and high-strength composite joint. The interference-fit installation process and tensile process of TPCF joint are analysed by experimental and numerical methods. For the interference size of 0.55% and 1.04%, the interference induces uniform pre-compression stress at the hole wall, the damage of the hole wall and the TPCF is acceptable. As the interference size raises to 2.06%, the damage is catastrophic, the radial stress of the hole wall becomes uneven. The ultimate strength of TPCF joint increases first and then decreases as the interference size increases. The ultimate strength reaches the maximum value of 363 MPa when interference size is 1.04%, which increases by 19% compared to clearance-fit joint. The specific strength of TPCF joint is over three times higher than that of titanium bolted joint. 

Lightweight and high-strength interference-fit composite joint reinforced by thermoplastic composite fastener

Influence of surface-modified glass fibers on interfacial properties of GF/PEEK composites using molecular dynamics

In this study, novel carbon fiber/epoxy (CF/EP) composites with anti-icing properties were made using a combination of octadecylamine modification and hard templating. First, the octadecylamine-modified epoxy resin was sprayed on the surface of CF/EP prepreg. Hierarchical micro/nanostructures were formed on the surfaces of the composites through hot pressing with aluminum templates that had been modified by sandblasting and anodizing. The resulting composites were superhydrophobic, with static contact angles of up to 155° and sliding angles as low as 8°. Superhydrophobicity was maintained after abrading with 400 grit SiC sandpaper. The anti-icing properties of the composites were quantified by measuring droplet freezing time and ice adhesion force. Compared to untreated CF/EP, the surface treatments used here increased the time to freeze a 5 μL surface droplet from 76 to 640 s at − 20 °C, and reduced ice adhesion strength from roughly 74 kPa to 50 kPa.

Menglin Wang

Papers

Influence of surface-modified glass fibers on interfacial properties of GF/PEEK composites using molecular dynamics

Novel superhydrophobic carbon fiber/epoxy composites with anti-icing properties

Experimental and numerical simulation study on impact response of TC4/PEEK/Cf laminates under different mass impactors