Repair of thermoplastic composite structures by induction heating

通过感应加热修复热塑性复合材料结构

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-03738
• 负责人: Dubé, Martine
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: École de technologie supérieure
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754432
• 关键词: Repair; thermoplastic; composite; structures; induction

To successfully achieve cost and weight reduction in the next generations of business and commercial airplanes, new advanced structural materials and processes must be developed. In the past decade, a class of fibre composite materials, i.e., thermoplastic composites, have been constantly gaining market share in the aerospace industry. Thermoplastic composites have some important advantages over the more conventional thermosetting composites among which their ability to be re-processed which allows them to be joined by welding (as opposed to mechanical fastening or adhesive bonding).Induction welding was identified as a promising welding process for thermoplastic composites. Induction heating is based on a high-frequency alternating electrical current circulating in a coil, which generates a time-variable magnetic field of the same frequency as the current. When an electrical conductor is placed in the vicinity of the coil, eddy currents are induced, creating heat by Joule losses. This principle is used to weld thermoplastic composites. In this case, an electromagnetic or electrically-conductive susceptor may be placed between the two adherends to be welded to localize heating at the weld interface. When the susceptor heats up, the temperature of the polymer located in its vicinity increases and when a pre-determined processing temperature is reached, the current is switched off and the weld interface cools down, under the application of pressure, resulting in a welded joint. In the current research program, I propose to develop further this process and use it to repair thermoplastic composite structures after they have been damaged. In effect, repair methods were developed for the more conventional thermosetting composites but never for thermoplastic composites, constraining the industry to replace the damaged components instead of repairing them, with associated negative cost and environmental impacts.Through modelling and experimental work, we intend to develop further the induction heating process and apply it to the repair of thermoplastic composite structures. Three research axes are proposed: (1) the development of new, more efficient, nanocomposite susceptors which will be used for repairing welded joints, (2) the development of repair methods for damaged carbon fibre thermoplastic composite structures by taking advantage of induction heating and (3) the development of a multi-physics model of the induction heating in order to predict the repair process.It is believed that this innovative research program and the associated training of highly qualified personnel will benefit the Canadian aerospace industry and ensure that it is ready to address the unique challenges of thermoplastic composites and compete in the global market.

为了成功实现下一代商业和商业飞机的成本和体重降低，必须开发新的先进结构材料和流程。在过去的十年中，一类纤维复合材料（即热塑性复合材料）一直在航空航天行业不断获得市场份额。热塑性复合材料比更传统的热固性复合材料具有一些重要的优势，其中重新加工的能力可以通过焊接连接（而不是机械固定或粘合性粘合）。诱导焊接被确定为热塑料复合材料的有希望的焊接过程。感应加热基于线圈中循环的高频交替电流，该电流会产生与电流相同频率的时间变量的磁场。当将电导体放置在线圈附近时，会诱导涡流，从而通过焦耳损失产生热量。该原理用于焊接热塑性复合材料。在这种情况下，可以将电磁或电导性引起者放置在两个焊接器之间，以焊接以将其定位在焊接界面处。当启发器加热时，位于其附近的聚合物的温度会增加，当达到预定的加工温度时，电流关闭，焊接界面在压力下（施加压力）会冷却，从而导致焊接接头。在当前的研究计划中，我建议进一步开发此过程，并在损坏后使用它来修复热塑性复合结构。实际上，为更传统的热固化复合材料开发了修复方法，但从未使用热塑性复合材料，从而限制了行业以替换受损的组件而不是维修它们，而不是对它们进行维修，并具有相关的负面成本和环境影响。通过实验性和实验性工作，我们打算进一步发展感应加热过程，并将其应用于热塑料组合结构​​的修复。提出了三个研究轴：（1）开发新的，更高效的纳米复合材料感受器，用于修复焊接关节，（（2）开发损坏的碳纤维纤维热塑性复合结构的维修方法的开发，利用诱导加热和（3）对临床进行了启动的过程。合格的人员将使加拿大航空业受益，并确保它准备应对热塑性复合材料的独特挑战并在全球市场上竞争。