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

I-Corps项目的重点是生产轻质碳纤维材料的新方法。航空航天和汽车制造等行业需要轻质钢部件的替代品，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作为一种替代金属部件的材料技术而受到追捧，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。这些片材的平面性质在复杂三维部件的生产中引入了低效率。需要昂贵的工具来将片材冲压成期望的非平面形状。对于复杂的3D模板，需要大量的工时来单独地将每块板包裹在模板周围。该团队开发了一种设计和制造复合材料的新方法，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，而无需手动后期制作切割或缝制多件。纺织品在高性能轻质复合材料的生产中用作增强材料。通过生产具有3D成型的针织预制件，定制纤维取向和密度，并整合不同的纱线类型，可以开发出具有一系列结构特性的复合材料部件。该团队的方法使碳纤维在各种混合纱线成分中编织，以克服碳纤维的脆性及其在编织过程中的断裂倾向。这允许生产嵌入一系列结构特性的复合部件，这意味着多个组件可以在单个部件中合成，从而减少组件中的整体部件数量。集成3D针织的能力，复合部件的“净形状”或最终期望形状可以用单个无缝预成型件来实现。通过将零件设计成净形，该工艺可最大限度地缩短预成型件的铺叠时间，并减少制造过程中的浪费。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数量。目前，碳纤维复合材料已被用于一些汽车制造业，但最常见的是低产量的汽车。这大大限制了采用，因为复合材料制造的材料成本更昂贵，制造周期更长。考虑到合成多个部件并减少用于制造整个组件（例如门）的部件/步骤的数量，将通过节省重量来减少增加的成本，达到更可接受的标准。这种方法对于其他行业，如航空航天、体育用品、家具、医疗设备和广泛的其他应用也很有价值。

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.