Engineering of three-dimensional near-net-shape weave structures for high technical performance in carbon fibre–reinforced plastics

Götz Theodor Gresser,Jürgen Wolfrum,Jürgen Seibold,Larissa Von Wascinski,Meike Tilebein,Nemanja Stipic,Hans-Jürgen Bauder,Stefan Schindler

doi:10.1177/1558925019861239

Abstract

To tap the full potential of reinforcing fibres for lightweight construction of sustainable carbon fibre–reinforced plastic components, woven three-dimensional reinforcement structures open up innovative approaches by integrating functional features. In this work, a novel three-dimensional shuttle weaving technology was taken advantage of to study carbon reinforcement structures with uninterrupted load trajectories from three points of view. Mechanical principals, economic and environmental issues were focused to provide an overall picture. Near-net-shape reinforcement fabrics with load trajectory–compliant yarn paths and interconnected layers that are interwoven in thickness direction were objects of investigation. The effects of a closed fabric selvedge, only producible by shuttle weaving, were investigated too. The here presented novel technology enables complex woven reinforcement structures that otherwise would demand several fabric layers leading to limited properties and lower performance of the carbon fibre–reinforced plastics due to missing interconnections between the layers. The studies on exemplary rods revealed a close relationship between different three-dimensional weave structures and the carbon fibre–reinforced plastic’s mechanical properties. The three-dimensional structures were woven in a single-step process and subsequently infiltrated with epoxy resin in the Vacuum Assisted Process (VAP®) and mechanically tested. Rounding off, universal guidelines for the layout of three-dimensional fabrics for rods were derived therefrom. The economic and environmental aspects of the complete process line were compared to the conventional manufacturing procedures for carbon fibre–reinforced plastic by material flow cost accounting. Looking at sustainability, material flow cost accounting showed that lightweight three-dimensional components with integrated features can be produced cost-effectively with less environmental impact by the novel weaving technology. Its capability for high-quality serial production of three-dimensional reinforcement structures is evident, which was one major result of the work.

Highlights

A considerable potential for lightweight construction can be raised, especially at transitions and joints, using adapted reinforcement structures with optimized load trajectories
Comparing the breaking force values of the components manufactured with the fabrics of functional variants 1, 2 and 3, it is noticeable that the absolute maximum strength of components of functional variants 2 and 3 is significantly higher than that of functional variant 1 (Figure 12) because of a higher number of carbon rovings in load direction, that is, the weft direction
The highest component strength relating to the total CF cross section used is achieved with the two-way reinforced fabric of functional variant 1d (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

A considerable potential for lightweight construction can be raised, especially at transitions and joints, using adapted reinforcement structures with optimized load trajectories. The consolidated components for tensile testing were made using the basic textile blanks of variant 1a and improved versions with additional stuffer threads using three different methods (Table 1): The tensile tests of the consolidated components had interesting results: the standard components with a reinforcement structure consisting of two integrated connecting rings (variant 1a) did break out at the critical transition from the connection ring to the central web but not at the outer fabric selvedge.

Results

Conclusion