TESTING
grades of carbon fibre to the aerospace industry. BMW’s recently announced carbon fibre plant in Washington State for example will produce 4,000 tonnes alone. Basically, after 2012, anything in the car that’s pressurised like hydraulic and brake systems, are all going to be carbon fibre so we’re at the beginning of a parabolic demand curve. “Wind energy will also undergo a massive change as
manufacturers move from glass fibre to carbon fibre blades and larger, more powerful designs enter the market. As with aerospace, most notably the ageing A320 design which needs a lower cost replacement, the improved efficiencies of advanced designs are fuelling new investments. The renewable sector is heading towards progressively larger windmills (up to 300m tall with 80m blades) which can yield up to four times the energy of six smaller turbines, causing people to knock down older wind farms and start over.” In order to establish standards for key materials that will be
strategically important to the industry and its growth, the NCCEF is working with the National Institute for Aviation Research based at Wichita State University and the European Aviation Safety Agency to extend the ‘Composite Materials Handbook 17’. A standard currently used in the American industry and which will be adapted to ensure commonality between these particular grades worldwide. With its initial £8 million investment, the NCCEF has
invested in all the aspects of testing and characterisation necessary to examine materials down to the smallest details and produce repeatable results, from mechanical through to non-destructive and chemical evaluation. With its laboratory not only supporting its own research, but also being used by its PhD students and available for commercial and private applications, completely understanding these complex materials will be no simple task. Initially, the centre will be putting five widely-used materials that it believes will be important to the development of new products and businesses under scrutiny, and will use this as the basis for further investigations. These materials include the Advanced Composite Group’s MTM45-1 epoxy prepreg used by many small aerospace manufacturers, but will also look at important materials in other sectors, especially with the UK composite industry’s anticipated growth in renewable and automotive applications.
The complete picture
Its mechanical and impact testing capabilities comprise eight Instron machines, which will be used to develop standard stress and fatigue testing procedures. Three servo-hydraulic 8802 machines are dedicated to tension and compression testing up to 250kN and in temperatures between -150°-300°C and a fourth specially built load cell for tension and torsion with very precise measurement and has been proved to be particularly beneficial for creep testing. Three more electro-mechanical machines can perform static testing up to 600kN and an Instron CEAST 9350 offers drop weight impact measurement up to 1,800J complete with an advanced video extensometer with strain gauge correlation. A separate area also houses ballistic testing capabilities, mapping strain and deformation with digital image correlation coming from two 2,000fps high resolution cameras. The non-destructive testing facilities at the centre will be
particularly important in defining the much more unpredictable failure modes that carbon fibre components can exhibit following stress testing. “If you design carbon fibre correctly, it
Autumn 2010 | Composites in Manufacturing | 35
Several of the Instron machines that make up the mechanical and impact testing department
The ballistic impact facility, with two high speed cameras for measuring realtime surface strain and 3D displacement mapping
A glass fibre placement
machine using a pin board to
produce a 3D structure
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44