High Performance Ductile Composite Technology (HiPerDuCT)

传统的复合材料，如碳纤维增强塑料具有出色的机械性能：高强度和刚度，重量轻，对疲劳和腐蚀的敏感性低。复合材料是真正的未来材料，它们的性能可以根据特定的应用进行定制，还可以包括传感，改变形状或自我修复的能力。它们的使用呈指数增长，继续取代或增加传统材料。一个重要的例子是新的大型飞机的建造，如波音787和空中客车A350，主要由碳纤维复合材料制成。与此同时，复合材料在诸如风力涡轮机叶片、体育用品和土木工程基础设施等应用中的使用迅速扩大。尽管取得了这些进展，但目前复合材料的一个基本的和尚未解决的限制是它们固有的脆性。故障通常是突然的和灾难性的，几乎没有或没有警告或能力进行负载之后。一个相关的问题是它们对冲击损伤的敏感性，这会大大降低强度，而没有任何可见的警告。看起来很好的结构可能在比预期低得多的载荷下突然失效。因此，需要复杂的维护程序和比其他材料更大的安全裕度。我们的愿景是通过实现新一代高性能复合材料来实现范式转变，这些复合材料克服了传统复合材料的关键限制：它们固有的延展性不足。我们将设计、制造和评估一系列具有逐渐失效能力的复合材料系统，在承受载荷的同时经历大变形。能量将被延性或伪延性响应吸收，类似于金属的屈服，保持强度和刚度，并有明显的损坏迹象。这将消除对非常低的设计应变的需要，以满足几乎不可见的冲击损伤，提供复合材料性能的阶跃变化，以及克服固有的脆性，这是其更广泛采用的主要障碍。这些材料将提供更高的可靠性和安全性，同时降低设计和维护要求，并延长使用寿命。真正的延展性将允许新的制造方法，如冲压成型，提供高产量和更大的灵活性。为了实现这样一个雄心勃勃的结果，将需要共同努力，开发新的复合材料成分和开发新的架构。该计划将范围，优先级，开发，并联合收割机这些方法相结合，以实现高性能韧性复合材料技术（HiPerDuCT）。

Conventional composites such as carbon fibre reinforced plastics have outstanding mechanical properties: high strength and stiffness, low weight, and low susceptibility to fatigue and corrosion. Composites are truly the materials of the future, their properties can be tailored to particular applications and capabilities for sensing, changing shape or self healing can also be included. Their use is rising exponentially, continuing to replace or augment traditional materials. A key example is the construction of new large aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, mainly from carbon fibre composites. At the same time, there is rapid expansion of composite use in applications such as wind turbine blades, sporting goods and civil engineering infrastructure.Despite this progress, a fundamental and as yet unresolved limitation of current composites is their inherent brittleness. Failure is usually sudden and catastrophic, with little or no warning or capacity to carry load afterwards. A related problem is their susceptibility to impact damage, which can drastically reduce the strength, without any visible warning. Structures that look fine can fail suddenly at loads much lower than expected. As a result complex maintenance procedures are required and a significantly greater safety margin than for other materials. Our vision is to create a paradigm shift by realising a new generation of high performance composites that overcome the key limitation of conventional composites: their inherent lack of ductility. We will design, manufacture and evaluate a range of composite systems with the ability to fail gradually, undergoing large deformations whilst still carrying load. Energy will be absorbed by ductile or pseudo-ductile response, analogous to yielding in metals, with strength and stiffness maintained, and clear evidence of damage. This will eliminate the need for very low design strains to cater for barely visible impact damage, providing a step change in composite performance, as well as overcoming the intrinsic brittleness that is a major barrier to their wider adoption. These materials will provide greater reliability and safety, together with reduced design and maintenance requirements, and longer service life. True ductility will allow new manufacturing methods, such as press forming, that offer high volumes and greater flexibility.To achieve such an ambitious outcome will require a concerted effort to develop new composite constituents and exploit novel architectures. The programme will scope, prioritise, develop, and combine these approaches, to achieve High Performance Ductile Composite Technology (HiPerDuCT).