Application of natural fiber composites to musical instrument top plates

Phillips, Steven; Lessard, Larry

doi:10.1177/0021998311410497

Cited by 52 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…3 Phillips et al made use of unidirectional flax/epoxy hot melt prepregs in a balsa core sandwich structure to achieve similar bending properties to wood species commonly used in the top plates of string musical instruments. 4 In a study by Baets et al on flax yarn twist angle, it was shown that an automated prepregger allows for the use of untwisted yarns that make full use of the mechanical properties of flax fibres. 5 Although the above studies have shown the potential of these materials, little is known on the relationships between uncured prepreg properties, processing parameters and part quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of flax/epoxy prepregs before and after cure

Phillips

Baets

Lessard

et al. 2013

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites

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This paper aims to better understand the nature of flax/epoxy hot melt prepreg systems as well as the mechanical properties of their cured composites. Two uncured systems were subjected to thermal gravimetric analysis and compaction experiments. Composites were then produced in an autoclave at pressures of 1, 3 and 5 bars. Void analysis was carried out on the cured laminates by optical microscopy and void contents ranging from below 1% to over 20% were obtained by image analysis. The primary source of voids was shown to be resin starvation based on the results of the compaction tests. Tensile properties were shown to be strongly degraded by fabric crimp. Short beam tests revealed a 16% decrease in interlaminar shear strength with a 3.5% increase in void content. Similarly, water absorption tests showed a significant increase in rate of absorption likely due to the presence of voids. The results suggest that in order for flax/epoxy prepregs to reach their full potential, the level of crimp and the evacuation of moisture during cure should be of primary concern.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of flax/epoxy prepregs before and after cure

Phillips

Baets

Lessard

et al. 2013

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites

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“…An advanced knowledge of the dynamical behavior of composite materials is needed for a number of applications, ranging from damage identification [2,3,4,5] to material replacement [6,7] or structural optimization [8,9,10]. More specifically, the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of the linear viscoelastic dynamical behavior of composite structures is an active research field [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The High-Resolution Wavevector Analysis for the characterization of the dynamic response of composite plates

Margerit

Lebée

Caron

et al. 2019

Journal of Sound and Vibration

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The High Resolution Wavevector Analysis (HRWA) is presented and its application illustrated. Extending the High Resolution Wavenumber Analysis method [1] to 2D signals, it allows the wide-band and local characterization of the linear elastic behavior of anisotropic plates. The method belongs to the family of experimental wavenumber-based characterization methods and uses the high resolution signal processing algorithm ESPRIT (Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques) and the ESTER criterion (ESTimation of ERror) to overcome some of the limitation of Fourier-based methods. Three experimental applications on composite plate specimens are presented. First (i), from the out-of-plane velocity field of a sandwich plate with a foam core, different wave types (bending, shear and compression) are extracted. The results are compared with numerical predictions. Second (ii), individual layer contributions are separated on a honeycomb sandwich plate by means of the observation of the dependence of the extracted complex wavevectors as a function of wave propagation direction and frequency. Third (iii), a local wavenumber extraction is performed on a 4-layer carbon-epoxy plate made of fiber patches with spatially varying orientations. The local specific bending stiffness of the plate is identified from the extracted wavevectors and compared with theoretical results.

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“…Because of their configurability, many manufacturers are investigating the use of composite materials for the manufacture of these instruments. The most common are those using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (CFRE) [11,33,34], but others include those involving bio-composites [35,36]. These studies relate the mechanical characteristics of the composite to the sound behavior of different musical instruments, but do not contemplate the direct influence of the processing on the elastic and non-elastic behavior of the vibration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study of the Dynamic Response of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (CFRE) Prepregs for Musical Instrument Manufacturing

2019

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Composite materials are presented in a wide variety of industrial sectors as an alternative to traditionally used materials. In recent years, a new sector has increasingly used these kinds of materials: the manufacture of musical instruments. Resonances of different elements that make up the geometries of musical instruments are commonly used with the aim of enhancing aspects of the timbre. These are sensitive to the mechanical characteristics of the material, so it is important to guarantee the properties of the composite. To do this, it is not uncommon to use pre-impregnated fibers (prepregs) which allow fine control of final volumetric fractions of the composite. Autoclaving is a high-quality process used to guarantee the desired mechanical properties in a composite, reducing porosity and avoiding delamination, but significantly raising production costs. On the contrary, manufacture without autoclaving increases competitiveness by eliminating the costs associated with autoclave production. In this paper, differences in dynamic behavior are evaluated under free conditions of different Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (CFRE) prepreg boards, processed by autoclave and out-of-autoclave. The results of the complex module are presented according to the frequency, quantifying the variations in the vibratory behavior of the material due to the change of processing.

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Application of natural fiber composites to musical instrument top plates

Cited by 52 publications

References 26 publications

Characterization of flax/epoxy prepregs before and after cure

Characterization of flax/epoxy prepregs before and after cure

The High-Resolution Wavevector Analysis for the characterization of the dynamic response of composite plates

A Study of the Dynamic Response of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (CFRE) Prepregs for Musical Instrument Manufacturing

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