I-Corps: Manufacturing of seamless and structurally differentiated carbon-fiber reinforced composite materials

I-Corps：无缝和结构差异化碳纤维增强复合材料的制造

• 批准号: 1645870
• 负责人: Sean Ahlquist
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2017-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1645870&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Manufacturing; seamless; structurally; differentiated

This I-Corps project focuses on a new method of production of light-weight carbon fiber materials.Industries such as aero-space and automotive manufacturing require light weight replacements for steel components to reduce vehicle weight and increase fuel efficiency. While carbon-fiber reinforced composites are pursued as a material-technology to replace metal parts, the current cost of manufacturing those composites restricts wide adoption.Carbon-fiber reinforced composites are largely made with woven or unidirectional carbon fiber mats. The planar nature of these sheets introduces inefficiencies in the production of complex 3-dimensional parts. Expensive tooling is required to stamp the sheets into the desired non-planar shape. For complex 3D formwork, extensive person hours are needed to individually wrap each sheet around the formwork. This team developed a new method of design and manufacture of composite materials, enabling a range of integrated properties within a single seamless material. Computer numerically controlled (CNC) knitting technology is used to allow for the automated manufacturing of complex shaped 3D textiles without the need for manual post-production in cutting or sewing multiple pieces. The textiles are used as the reinforcement in the production of high performance lightweight composite materials. Through the production of knitted preforms with 3-D shaping, tailoring of fiber orientation and density, and integration of varying yarn types, a composite part can be developed with a range of structural properties.This team's methodology enables knitting with carbon fiber in various hybrid yarn compositions to overcome the brittle nature of carbon fiber and its tendency for breakage during the knitting process. This allows for the production of composite parts which embed a range of structural properties, meaning multiple components can be synthesized in a single part, reducing the number of overall parts in an assembly. Integrating capabilities for 3D knitting, the "net-shape" or final desired shape of the composite part can be accomplished with a single seamless pre-form. By designing parts to a net shape, the process minimizes time in the lay-up of the pre-form and reduce waste in the manufacturing process.The initial target for this technology is automotive manufacturing -- to reduce the weight and number of components for various assemblies within the automobile. Currently, carbon fiber composites are being used in some automotive manufacturing, but most often with low-production vehicles. This significantly limits adoption as composite manufacturing is more expensive in material costs and slow in the cycle times for manufacturing. Thinking in terms of synthesizing multiple parts and reducing the number of parts/steps for manufacturing of a whole assembly, such as the door, would reduce the increased cost by weight saved, to more acceptable standards. Such an approach can be valuable to other industries such as aerospace, sporting goods, furniture, medical devices, and a broad range of other applications.

这个I-Corps项目着重于一种新的轻质碳纤维材料生产方法。航空空间和汽车制造等工厂需要轻巧的钢组件重量替代品，以减少车辆重量并提高燃油效率。虽然将碳纤维增强复合材料作为材料技术来代替金属零件，但当前制造这些复合材料限制了广泛采用的成本。电气纤维增强复合材料主要由织造或单向碳纤维垫垫制成。这些床单的平面性质引入了复杂的3维零件的生产时效率低下。需要昂贵的工具才能将纸张盖入所需的非平面形状。对于复杂的3D模板，需要大量的人小时时间将每张纸单独包裹在模板上。该团队开发了一种新的设计和制造方法的复合材料，从而在单个无缝材料中实现了一系列集成属性。计算机控制（CNC）编织技术用于允许自动制造复杂形状的3D纺织品，而无需在切割或缝制多个零件时手动后期制作。这些纺织品被用作高性能轻质复合材料的生产中的加固。通过生产具有3-D成型的针织预成式，纤维取向和密度的剪裁以及不同纱线类型的整合，可以通过一系列结构性特性开发复合部分。该团队的方法可以在各种混合杂交中使用碳纤维编织。纱线成分以克服碳纤维的脆性及其在编织过程中破裂的趋势。这允许生产嵌入一系列结构属性的复合零件，这意味着可以在单个部分中合成多个组件，从而减少组件中的整体零件数量。可以通过单个无缝的预格式来实现3D编织，“净形状”或最终所需形状的功能。通过将零件设计成净形状，该过程可以最大程度地减少预形式的上层中的时间并减少制造过程中的废物。该技术的初始目标是汽车制造 - 以减少用于减少组件的重量和数量汽车内的各种组件。当前，碳纤维复合材料正在某些汽车制造中使用，但通常使用低生产力。这显着限制了采用，因为复合制造的材料成本更高，并且在制造周期的周期时间缓慢。考虑综合多个零件并减少整个组件制造的零件/步骤的数量，例如门，将通过节省的重量来降低成本的增加，并将其降低到更可接受的标准。这种方法对于其他行业，例如航空航天，体育用品，家具，医疗设备以及广泛的其他应用都可能很有价值。