Development of Innovative Technologies for Composites Having Through Plane Alignment of Fibers

普通复合材料通常含有面内取向的纤维，从而增强了强度性能，因此得到了非常广泛的应用。贯通平面取向(TPA)复合材料可以表现出许多其他增强性能，如耐磨性、孔隙率、横向导热和导电性以及阻隔性能等，这使得这些材料适合用于许多高附加值产品。例如：电子器件和传感器、用于许多过程的过滤器或阻隔膜、用于高腐蚀性工业应用和高温流体的横向导电陶瓷热交换器、具有横向取向陶瓷纤维的耐磨材料。目前，TPA材料并不被认为是许多应用的可行选择，因为目前还没有经济的大规模制造技术。因此，本研究计划旨在开发大批量制备TPA复合材料的技术。将使用三种不同的方法：a)基于片材挤压的TPA复合材料的制造，随后采用创新的折叠/切割/固化工艺；b)基于发泡的TPA复合材料的制造，随后轴向压缩导致气泡变平并使纤维沿横向排列；c)当磁性活性纤维与先前的基于发泡的工艺结合使用时，基于磁场的TPA复合材料的制造。在每个工艺的发展之后，将进行优化实验，以获得特定材料组合的稳定生产工艺。从长远来看，将对这些工艺进行详细的科学研究，以使大量材料得以使用；例如弹性体、烯烃等，具有不同的纤维。因此，可以生产适合于广泛应用的广泛的TPA复合材料。TPA复合材料制造技术的成功开发将有利于加拿大制造业作为这些高实用、附加值材料的生产商和技术供应商。这一点尤其重要，因为这一部门不断面临失业，而一项新技术的引入将给它带来一些缓解。在开发这些工艺的同时，还将培训一批HQP，他们可以利用这项技术并将其引入加拿大制造业，从而带来经济优势。

The normal composite materials usually contain fibers with in-plane alignment leading to enhanced strength properties and are very widely used. Through Plane Aligned (TPA) composites can exhibit many other enhanced properties, such as wear and abrasion resistance, porosity, thermal and electrical conductivity in the lateral direction, and barrier properties, etc. This makes these materials suitable for use in many high value products. Some examples are; electronic devices and sensors, filter or barrier membranes for many processes, laterally conductive ceramic based heat exchangers for highly corrosive industrial applications and for high temperature fluids, abrasion resistant materials having laterally oriented ceramic fibers. At present the TPA materials are not considered a viable option for many applications as there is no economical mass fabrication technology in existence. Therefore, this research program aims to develop technologies for high volume fabrication of TPA composite materials. Three different methods will be used; a) Fabrication of TPA composites based on sheet extrusion followed by an innovative folding/cutting/curing process; b) Fabrication of TPA composites based on foaming followed by axial compression leading to flattening of bubbles and alignment of the fibers in the lateral directions; c) Fabrication of TPA composites based on application of magnetic field when magnetically active fibers are used in conjunction with the previous foaming based process. The development of each process will be followed by optimization experiments to attain stable production process for a particular material combination. In the long term detailed scientific studies will be carried out on these processes to enable a large group of materials to be used; such as elastomers, olefins, etc., with different fibers. Therefore, a broad range of TPA composites can be produced suitable for a wide range of applications. The successful development of technology for TPA composite fabrication will be beneficial for the Canadian manufacturing sector as a producer of these high utility, value-added materials and the suppliers of the technology. This is especially significant as this sector is continuously facing job losses and introduction of a new technology will bring some relief to it. Concurrent to the development of these processes, a pool of HQP will also be trained who can take advantage of this technology and introduce it to the Canadian manufacturing industry, leading to economic advantages.