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

汽车行业是长纤维热塑性塑料(LFT)复合材料的核心市场之一，因为 它们的固有优势如重量有效性、结构尺寸稳定性、高强度、增强 模数、优异的蠕变抗力和耐热性。创新和创新的市场压力一直存在 降低成本、油耗和车辆重量的革命。直接长Tibre热塑性塑料(0-LFT 复合成型是汽车制造结构行业的新市场趋势 身体部位以及外部车身面板。虽然在制造方面取得了许多进展 0-LFT技术的方法，特别是在疲劳行为和减振性能方面，仍然存在局限性 在北美汽车行业的应用。这主要是因为它需要高吞吐量 生产(500,000台或更多)必须具有成本效益。天然纤维在0-LFT混炼中的应用 由于缺乏连续的长纤维和缺乏要求，这一进程一直受到阻碍 (如热降解和兼容性)由汽车行业确定。这样做的目的是 研究是通过开发一种独特的、高性能的纤维素纤维增强复合材料来开发的 吞吐量微纤维-直接长纤维处理技术(MF-DLFT)。这项技术集成了 标准DLFT与纤维素超细纤维复合加工技术在该大学开发。 多伦多(Uoft)使用可再生和石化聚合物生产汽车零部件，增强 由连续的矿物纤维和不连续的天然纤维组成。此时此刻，提议的技术是 目前超出了加拿大所有主要研究机构的能力范围，因此需要密切合作 与加拿大领先的汽车制造商之一福特汽车公司合作。其结果是 这项研究将是通过减少零部件来开发新的汽车零部件的一次巨大飞跃 重量，并将通过帮助他们实现他们的愿景，最大限度地利用高 增强来自可再生资源的复合材料。

The automotive industry is one of the core markets for long-fibre thermoplastic (LFT) composites because of their inherent advantages such as weight-effectiveness, structural dimensional stability, high strength, enhanced modulus, superior creep resistance, and heat resistance. There is always market pressure for innovation and revolution to reduce cost, fuel consumption, and weight of the vehicle. Direct long-tibre thermoplastic (0-LFT compounding and molding is the new market trend in the automotive industry for manufacturing structural body parts as well as exterior body panels. While numerous advances have been made in the manufacturing methods of 0-LFT technology, particularly in fatigue behavior and damping properties, it still finds limited applications in the North American automotive industry. This is mostly because it requires high throughput production (500,000 units or more) to be cost-effective. Use of natural fibres in the 0-LFT compounding process 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 this research is to develop high performance cellulose fibre reinforced composites by developing a unique and high throughput Microfibre-Direct Long Fibre processing Technology (MF-DLFT). This technology integrates standard DLFT with the cellulose microfibre composite processing technology developed at the Univer.$ity of Toronto (U ofT) to produce automotive parts using renewable and petrochemical-based polymers, reinforced with continuous mineral fibres and discontinuous natural fibres. At this moment, the proposed technology is currently beyond the means of all major Canadian research institutions, and thus, needs close working collaboration with Ford Motor Co., one of the leading automotive manufacturers in Canada. The outcome of this research will be a quantum leap forward in developing new automotive components by reducing the part weight and will benefit Ford by helping them to fulfill their vision of utilizing the maximum amount of high strength composite materials from renewable resources.