Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Next generation of lightweight composites - how far can we go?

历史上，新材料开发的突破性进展主要是通过试验和错误来实现的。我的愿景是，有新一代的先进的分层材料，从来没有被解决，可以通过设计来实现。这种新一代的设计灵感来自于对现有材料的最新实验观察和仿生学，并通过建模和制造方面的最新进展而成为可能。当今复合材料行业面临的主要挑战包括（i）损伤容限，（ii）可制造性和（iii）可持续性。我认为，（i）复合材料的分层微结构设计将更具损伤容限，并实现超过100%的断裂韧性增加，（ii）分层离散碳纤维系统将同时解决汽车工业的制造和性能需求，以及（iii）回收碳纤维将找到一个高价值的市场作为半结构部件也利用分层架构。我的建议是通过设计来定义这些分层的微结构，然后开发合适的制造方法来实现它们。

Breakthroughs in the development of new materials have historically been achieved largely by trial and error. My vision is that there is a new generation of advanced hierarchical materials that has never been addressed and can be achieved by design. This new generation draws inspiration both from recent experimental observations in existing materials and from biomimetics, and is made possible by recent advances in modelling and manufacturing. The main challenges faced by today's composites industry include (i) damage tolerance, (ii) manufacturability and (iii) sustainability. I argue that (i) hierarchical micro-structural designs for composites will be more damage tolerant and achieve over 100% increase in fracture toughness, (ii) that hierarchical discrete carbon-fibre systems will simultaneously address manufacturing and performance needs of the automotive industry, and (iii) that recycled carbon fibres will find a high-value market as semi-structural parts by also exploiting hierarchical architectures. My proposal is to define these hierarchical micro-structures by design and to then develop suitable manufacturing methods to realise them in practice.