Mould-free Processing and Additive Manufacturing of Fibre-reinforced Thermoplastic Composites for High Performance Applications

诸如增材制造（AM）工艺的数字制造技术被期望通过将计算机辅助设计和自动化制造工艺集成到无缝过程中来彻底改变制造业，从而允许数据被“转换”成物理对象。虽然围绕AM工艺（如熔丝制造、选择性激光烧结和连续液体界面生产）有很多令人兴奋的事情，但在AM技术能够生产最终使用质量的组件之前，仍然存在许多加工挑战。这些挑战涉及有限的材料选择，高空隙含量，层间粘附力差，和各向异性材料的取向受限，这些问题在AM工艺用于纤维增强聚合物复合材料（FRPC）时尤其明显。该NSERC发现补助金提案概述了一项研究计划，旨在为FRPC开发无模具和AM制造工艺，从而为最终用途提供高质量的组件。具体而言，提出了两个互补的目标，这将使连续纤维增强热塑性复合材料的无模加工。第一种方法建立在连续网格制造的基础上，这是一种最近开发的用于混合纱线的基于熔丝制造的技术，并将其制造能力扩展到粘合多丝结构。第二个是一个新的概念，集中在巩固和形成的纸张和纺织品之间的相对压实辊。 开发这两种处理策略的方法。这项工作是新颖的，因为它融合了新的数字制造工艺与FRPC材料的广泛理解，使这些高性能材料的显着性能被充分利用时，用于真实的三维结构。这项研究计划的结果预计将大大降低制造几何复杂的FRPC部件的成本，从而对高性能驱动的小批量行业产生积极影响。这些目标市场的例子包括航空航天、航空、高端汽车、能源、医疗植入物和假肢。在此框架下开发的FRPC流程，结合数字制造的持续发展，最终将实现产品的个性化定制，减少对昂贵制造基础设施的需求，促进生产的分散化，从而减少浪费和能源消耗。

Digital fabrication techniques, such as additive manufacturing (AM) processes, are expected to revolutionize the manufacturing industry by integrating computer aided design and automated manufacturing processes into a seamless procedure, thereby allowing data to be “converted” into physical objects. While there has been much excitement surrounding AM processes like fused filament fabrication, selective laser sintering, and continuous liquid interface production, there remain many processing challenges before AM techniques are capable of producing components of end-use qualities. These challenges concern limited material selection, high void contents, poor inter-layer adhesion, and restricted orientations of anisotropic materials these problems are especially apparent when AM processes are used for fibre-reinforced polymer composites (FRPC). This NSERC Discovery Grant proposal outlines a research program to develop mould-free and AM manufacturing processes for FRPC that will lead to high quality components for end-use. Specifically, two complementary aims are proposed which will enable the mould-free processing of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites materials. The first approach builds upon continuous lattice fabrication, a recently developed fused filament fabrication-based technology for commingled yarns and expands its manufacturing capacity to bonded multi-filament structures. The second is a novel concept centered on the consolidation and forming of sheets and textiles between opposing compaction rollers. Methodologies for developing these two processing strategies are presented. This work is novel in that it fuses novel digital fabrication processes with an extensive understanding of FRPC materials such that the remarkable properties of these high performance materials are exploited fully when used in real three-dimensional structures. The results of this proposed research program are expected to significantly reduce the cost of fabricating geometrically complex FRPC parts and thus have a positive impact on low-volume sectors which are driven by high performance. Examples of such targeted markets include aerospace, aviation, high-end automotive, energy, medical implants, and prosthetics. The FRPC processes developed in this framework, combined with ongoing developments in digital manufacturing, will eventually enable individual customization of products, reduce the need for expensive manufacturing infrastructure, facilitate the decentralization of production, and, consequently, reduce waste and energy consumption.