Production and evaluation of waste and short-fibre composites

Smith, Craig Anthony (2013). Production and evaluation of waste and short-fibre composites. University of Birmingham. M.Res.

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Abstract

This research project investigated techniques to enable the fabrication of fibre reinforced composite components from waste generated in the manufacture of glass fibre fabrics. These waste fabrics and fibres were used to manufacture filament wound tubes using a new technique termed “clean filament winding”. The end-use application for the filament wound tubes was to replace cardboard inner tubes that are currently used by the sponsoring industrial partner to over-wrap the woven fabrics.

Pre-manufactured glass fibres were also used in this study to investigate the production of aligned short-fibre prepregs via a vibration-based alignment technique. The aligned short-glass fibre preforms were autoclaved to produce composite panels.

The short-fibre composites were evaluated through the degree of alignment of the short-fibres in the preform, tensile and flexural strengths, fibre volume and void fractions. The filament wound tubes were characterised by: fibre volume and void fractions, hoop-tensile strength, lateral compression strength and inter-laminar shear strength (ILSS).

The composite tubes produced using the clean filament winding process proved comparable to those produced using conventional wet-filament winding. Lateral compression strength of the filament wound tubes was significantly superior compared to the cardboard tubes. The degree of short-fibre alignment using the vibration-based alignment technique was over 80%.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Res.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Res.

Supervisor(s):