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.

该 I-Corps 项目重点关注轻质碳纤维材料的新生产方法。航空航天和汽车制造等行业需要轻质替代钢部件，以减轻车辆重量并提高燃油效率。虽然碳纤维增强复合材料被视为替代金属部件的材料技术，但目前制造这些复合材料的成本限制了其广泛采用。碳纤维增强复合材料主要由编织或单向碳纤维垫制成。这些板材的平面性质导致复杂 3 维零件的生产效率低下。需要昂贵的工具将板材冲压成所需的非平面形状。对于复杂的 3D 模板，需要大量的工时才能将每张板材单独包裹在模板上。该团队开发了一种复合材料设计和制造的新方法，使单一无缝材料具有一系列综合性能。计算机数控 (CNC) 针织技术用于自动制造复杂形状的 3D 纺织品，而无需在切割或缝合多件时进行手动后期制作。该纺织品用作高性能轻质复合材料生产中的增强材料。通过 3D 成型生产针织预成型件、定制纤维取向和密度以及集成不同纱线类型，可以开发出具有一系列结构特性的复合材料部件。该团队的方法能够在各种混合纱线成分中使用碳纤维进行针织，从而克服碳纤维的脆性及其在针织过程中断裂的倾向。这允许生产嵌入一系列结构特性的复合材料零件，这意味着可以将多个组件合成在一个零件中，从而减少组件中整体零件的数量。集成 3D 编织功能，复合材料部件的“净形状”或最终所需形状可以通过单个无缝预成型件来实现。通过将零件设计为净形状，该工艺最大限度地减少了预成型件的铺设时间，并减少了制造过程中的浪费。该技术的最初目标是汽车制造——减少汽车内各种组件的重量和部件数量。目前，碳纤维复合材料正用于一些汽车制造，但最常见的是低产量车辆。这极大地限制了复合材料的采用，因为复合材料制造的材料成本更高，而且制造周期时间更慢。考虑合成多个零件并减少整个组件（例如门）的制造零件/步骤的数量，将减少因节省重量而增加的成本，达到更可接受的标准。这种方法对于航空航天、体育用品、家具、医疗设备和广泛的其他应用等其他行业可能很有价值。