Design and manufacturing of direct mirco- and long-fibre lightweight composites

汽车工业是长纤维热塑性塑料（LFT）复合材料的核心市场之一，因为它们具有诸如重量有效性、结构尺寸稳定性、高强度、增强模量、优异的抗蠕变性和耐热性等固有优势。市场上总是有创新和革命的压力，以降低成本、燃料消耗和车辆的重量。直接长纤维热塑性塑料（0- lft）复合和成型是汽车行业制造车身结构件和车身外面板的新市场趋势。虽然0-LFT技术的制造方法已经取得了许多进步，特别是在疲劳性能和阻尼性能方面，但它在北美汽车工业中的应用仍然有限。这主要是因为它需要高产量（50万件或更多）才能具有成本效益。由于缺乏连续长纤维的可用性以及汽车行业确定的要求（如热降解和兼容性），天然纤维在0-LFT复合工艺中的使用受到了阻碍。本研究的目的是通过开发一种独特的高通量微纤维-直接长纤维加工技术（MF-DLFT）来开发高性能纤维素纤维增强复合材料。该技术将标准DLFT与Univer开发的纤维素微纤维复合材料加工技术相结合。利用可再生和石化聚合物生产汽车零部件，并用连续矿物纤维和不连续天然纤维增强。目前，加拿大所有主要的研究机构都无法实现这项技术，因此，需要与加拿大领先的汽车制造商之一福特汽车公司密切合作。这项研究的结果将是通过减少零件重量来开发新型汽车零部件的巨大飞跃，并将帮助福特实现最大限度地利用可再生资源的高强度复合材料的愿景，从而使福特受益。

The automotive industry is one of the core markets for long-fibre thermoplastic (LFT) composites because oftheir inherent advantages such as weight-effectiveness, structural dimensional stability, high strength, enhancedmodulus, superior creep resistance, and heat resistance. There is always market pressure for innovation andrevolution to reduce cost, fuel consumption, and weight of the vehicle. Direct long-tibre thermoplastic (0-LFTcompounding and molding is the new market trend in the automotive industry for manufacturing structuralbody parts as well as exterior body panels. While numerous advances have been made in the manufacturingmethods of 0-LFT technology, particularly in fatigue behavior and damping properties, it still finds limitedapplications in the North American automotive industry. This is mostly because it requires high throughputproduction (500,000 units or more) to be cost-effective. Use of natural fibres in the 0-LFT compoundingprocess has been impeded by the lack of availability of continuous long fibre and the lack of requirements(such as thermal degradation, and compatibility) identified by the automotive industry. The objective of thisresearch is to develop high performance cellulose fibre reinforced composites by developing a unique and highthroughput Microfibre-Direct Long Fibre processing Technology (MF-DLFT). This technology integratesstandard DLFT with the cellulose microfibre composite processing technology developed at the Univer.$ity ofToronto (U ofT) to produce automotive parts using renewable and petrochemical-based polymers, reinforcedwith continuous mineral fibres and discontinuous natural fibres. At this moment, the proposed technology iscurrently beyond the means of all major Canadian research institutions, and thus, needs close workingcollaboration with Ford Motor Co., one of the leading automotive manufacturers in Canada. The outcome ofthis research will be a quantum leap forward in developing new automotive components by reducing the partweight and will benefit Ford by helping them to fulfill their vision of utilizing the maximum amount of highstrength composite materials from renewable resources.