Design of Composite Structures for Sustainability and Recyclability

长期目标是将可持续性纳入所有复合材料制造工艺。在复合材料领域，回收利用、可持续性和环境友好性是相对较新的概念。航空航天和汽车行业都意识到，需要一种更平衡的方法来设计和制造这些材料。有三种主要方法可以使复合材料更加环保。一种是在复合材料的制造中使用更可持续的基础材料，例如可再生的天然纤维。第二种是利用许多复合材料制造过程中固有的废物，这些废物是航空航天工业的典型特征：预浸料切断、废品和零件修剪。最后，还有一个问题是如何回收由复合材料制成的报废结构。因此，应在两个方面开展重要研究：(1)可持续设计可以通过使用更可持续的基础材料来实现；(2)对于那些不可持续的材料，应设法在制造周期期间和之后回收和再利用这些材料。所涉及的科学是采用当前的建模和测试方法来改进可回收和可持续材料的设计和制造，这些材料可能与常规复合材料的基本形式不完全相同。该方法将使用先进的材料模型、材料和工艺特性以及整体可持续设计方法。在接下来的5年里，这项研究计划将制定方法，实现更完整的回收过程，废物将以不同的形式提取，从细小的短纤维到更大的芯片和碎片，每种形式都将导致不同的回收过程。回收过程包括几个步骤：(1)使用低成本的工艺来分解复合废物，(2)材料表征技术，如显微镜、DSC和流变学将确定回收材料的稠度，(3)将使用多尺度建模和多目标优化来设计最终的回收材料和结构(由测试支持)。工程师和研究人员为了环境，在这类研究中尽自己的一份力是至关重要的。这项研究的未来收益将提供直接旨在改善环境的科学和HQP。

The long term objective is the incorporation of sustainability into all composite manufacturing processes. Recycling, sustainability and environmental friendliness are relatively new to the world of composite materials. Both aerospace and automotive industries are realizing the need for a more balanced approach to design and manufacturing with these materials. There are 3 main ways to make composites more environmentally friendly. One is to use more sustainable base materials in the making of composites, such a renewable natural fibers. The second is to make use of the waste that is inherent to many composites manufacturing processes, typical of the aerospace industry: prepreg cutoffs, rejected parts and part trimmings. Finally there is the question of how to recycle end-of-life structures made of composite materials. There are thus two fronts where important research should be conducted: (1) sustainable design can be achieved by using more sustainable base materials, and (2) for those materials that are not sustainable, find a way to recycle and reuse them during and after the manufacturing cycle. The science involved is to adapt current modeling and testing methods to improve the design and manufacturing of recycled and sustainable materials, which may not be quite in the same basic form as regular composite materials. The approach will use advanced material models, material and process characterization and an overall sustainable design approach. Over the next 5 years, this research program will develop methods to achieve a more complete recycling processes Waste material will be extracted in different forms, from fine short fibers to larger chips and pieces, and each form will lead to a different recycling process. The recycling processes involve several steps: (1) low cost processes will be used to break down the composite waste, (2) material characterization techniques such microscopy, DSC and rheology will determine the consistency of recycled materials, (3) multi-scale modeling and multi-objective optimization will be used to design the final recycled materials and structures (supported by testing). It is essential for engineers and researchers to do their part in this type of research for the sake of the environment. The future benefits of this research will provide science and HQP that are directly aimed at improving the environment.