Assessing the performance of electrospun nanofabrics as potential interlayer reinforcement materials for fiber-reinforced polymers

Loizou, Katerina; Evangelou, Angelos; Marangos, Orestes; Κουτσοκέρας, Λουκάς; Chrysafi, Iouliana; Yiatros, Stylianos; Constantinides, Georgios; Zaoutsos, Stefanos; Drakonakis, Vassilis

doi:10.1177/26349833211002519

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…For the assessment of the newly developed thermo-compression machine, the carbon fabric was sandwiched between two layers of PA6 (polyamide 6) nanofabric prepared in-house via electrospinning. PA6 was selected as interlayer reinforcement for the system, on the basis of quality of consolidation and tensile strength response observed in FRP composites [11]. Properties of the electrospun nanofabric prepared for the present assessment are presented in Table 1.…”

Section: Production Of Nanofiber Enhanced Technical Fabricmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The processing parameters were adjusted in accordance with the nanofabric to be consolidated on the carbon fiber bed, considering its glass transition and melting temperatures. TG was around 48 • C and TM around 220 • C [11]. Thus, the temperature range used for the aluminum heated plates was 180-220 • C. The line speed was set to 1-1.55 m/min.…”

Section: Production Of Nanofiber Enhanced Technical Fabricmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A non-adhesive insert was placed at the mid-plane of the specimens to serve as a delamination (crack) initiator. Loading was applied to the specimen using a custom-made tensile testing machine described in [11], using piano hinges carrying a 250 N load cell, as seen in Figure 5. Due to the lack of sensitivity of the load cell on the UTM, a smaller load cell (250 N) was used to capture the response.…”

Section: Fracture Toughness Mode I Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another observation in ultrasonic welded structures is a discontinuity along and on the side of the welding line with the rest of the (nonmelted) nanofabric. In the case of welded structures through thermo-compression, such discontinuity is rare [11]. As discussed above, the pillar of nanofiber enhanced technical fabric performance is its multiscale nature, providing a successful load transfer mechanism.…”

Section: Mechanical Performance Comparison Between Uw and Thermo-compressive Consolidation Nanofiber Enhanced Technical Fabricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proposed solution has been commercialized through the registration of a patent for the development of the enhanced technical fabrics, employing a nanofibrous thermoplastic fractal interlayer [10]. NanoWeld ® (hereafter referred to as nanofiber enhanced technical fabric) mimics the geometry of feathers to create a scaled geometry from lamina to lamina, resulting in the creation of additional load-transfer mechanisms and leading to enhanced properties and weight reduction of the FRPs [11]. Nanofiber enhanced technical fabric technology consists of three distinct phases, as depicted in Figure 1: Nano-creation of the reinforcement, whereby a non-woven nanofabric reinforced with nanoparticles at the desired concentration is formed via electrospinning; its nano-insertion into the laminate structure, whereby the prepared nanoreinforced nanofabric is placed on the top and bottom of the main technical fabric to be enhanced, creating a sandwich configuration; and finally nano-consolidation of the sandwich configuration, undergoing thermal welding such as ultrasonic welding (Figure 2a) or thermo-compression (Figure 2b), to attach the nanofabric on a technical fabric surface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of a Thermal Consolidation Process for the Production of Enhanced Technical Fabrics

Evangelou

Loizou²,

Georgallas³

et al. 2021

Machines

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Fiber reinforced composites are increasingly used in high value applications. A novel technology (NanoWeld®) enhancing the structural integrity of the interlayer has demonstrated promising results; however, manufacturing issues related to scalability need to be overcome. The developed technology relies on consolidating thermoplastic nanofiber nonwoven veils onto technical dry fabrics through roll-to-roll ultrasonic welding. The enhanced technical dry fabrics can be further processed as any other technical fabrics for the composites industry. An alternative solution for consolidation is proposed here, based on a thermo-compressive approach to address the scalability issue. A finite element model has been employed to simulate the operating conditions and provide information for optimization of the process. Its results demonstrate that consolidation is achieved rapidly, indicating that the production rate could be accelerated. The quality of enhanced technical dry fabrics produced using the proposed consolidation assembly has been evaluated using scanning electron microscopy as well as mechanical testing of fiber reinforced composites. The mechanical response of such manufactured composites has been compared against benchmark NanoWeld® composites, demonstrating superior performance.

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Section: Production Of Nanofiber Enhanced Technical Fabricmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Production Of Nanofiber Enhanced Technical Fabricmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fracture Toughness Mode I Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mechanical Performance Comparison Between Uw and Thermo-compressive Consolidation Nanofiber Enhanced Technical Fabricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Evaluation of a Thermal Consolidation Process for the Production of Enhanced Technical Fabrics

Evangelou

Loizou²,

Georgallas³

et al. 2021

Machines

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Flexible, Thermally Stable, and Ultralightweight Polyimide-CNT Aerogel Composite Films for Energy Storage Applications

Aghababaei Tafreshi,

Saadatnia,

Ghaffari-Mosanenzadeh

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Polyimide (PI) aerogels are promising in various fields of application, ranging from thermal insulators to aerospace. However, they are typically in the form of a bulk monolith, which suffers from a lack of conformability and drapability. Moreover, their electrical conductivity is limited, and they mainly display an insulative behavior. These shortcomings can limit the applications of PI aerogels in energy storage systems, which require ultralightweight flexible conductive films, which at the same time offer high thermal stability, ultralow density, and high surface area. To overcome these obstacles, the present study reports the fabrication of PI-carbon nanotube (PI-CNT) aerogel composite films with varying CNT content prepared through a sol−gel preparation method, followed by a supercritical drying procedure. Compared to pristine PI aerogels, which displayed a large shrinkage and density of 18.3% and 0.12 g cm −3 , respectively, the incorporation of only 5 wt % CNTs resulted in a significant reduction of both shrinkage and density to only 11.5% and 0.10 g cm −3 , respectively. This suggests the importance of CNTs in improving the dimensional stability of aerogels and creating a robust network. Further characterizations showed that incorporation of 5 wt % CNTs also resulted in the highest pore volume (1.25 cm 3 g −1 ), highest surface area (324 m 2 g −1 ), highest real permittivity (80), highest electrical conductivity (3 × 10 −1 S m −1 ), and ultrahigh service temperature (575 °C). It was also shown that the aerogel films can withstand a large degree of bending, can be twisted, and can be fully rolled with no obvious cracks propagated in the structure. The combined outstanding properties of the developed aerogel composite films make them promising potential candidates for supercapacitor electrodes. Therefore, the electrochemical performance of the devices based on aerogel electrodes was further studied. The device demonstrated a high energy density of 2.6 Wh kg −1 at a power density of 303.8 W kg −1 . The total capacitance after 5000 cycles was 91.8% of the initial capacitance, which indicated excellent stability and durability of the device. Overall, this work provides a facile yet effective methodology for the development of high-performance aerogel materials for energy storage applications.

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Electrospun nano-barium titanate/polycaprolactone composite coatings on titanium and Ti13Nb13Zr alloy

Ibrahim,

Hamad

2023

Composites and Advanced Materials

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Using coated implant materials has been demonstrated to enhance bone regeneration and expedite healing around implant sites significantly. Generally, employing a polymeric matrix reinforced with ceramic materials has been considered a promising composite material for the coating of implants. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of mixing varying concentrations of nano-barium titanate (nanoBaTiO3) (9, 18, and 36 wt%) to polycaprolactone (PCL) (18 wt%) on the properties of coatings applied to commercially pure titanium (CpTi) and Ti13Nb13Zr alloys implant materials. The electrospinning technique was utilised to fabricate the coatings, and the samples were characterised using atomic force microscopy (AFM) to investigate the composite coating’s surface roughness and topography; the incorporation of a high amount of BaTiO3 resulted in increased roughness of the coating layer on CpTi and Ti13Nb13Zr alloys (69.78 nm and 96.88 nm, respectively). Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used to investigate the surface morphology; the fibre diameters of BT/PCL composite were 80 to 534 nm for different mixture concentrations. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) verified the chemical bonds in the composite coating. Results indicated that increasing the proportion of nano-barium titanate in the coating composition reduced water contact angles and enhanced the adhesion strength of the composite coating to the substrate. These findings provide valuable information for developing new coating materials to promote the growth of new bone and accelerate healing around implants.

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Assessing the performance of electrospun nanofabrics as potential interlayer reinforcement materials for fiber-reinforced polymers

Cited by 4 publications

References 48 publications

Evaluation of a Thermal Consolidation Process for the Production of Enhanced Technical Fabrics

Evaluation of a Thermal Consolidation Process for the Production of Enhanced Technical Fabrics

Flexible, Thermally Stable, and Ultralightweight Polyimide-CNT Aerogel Composite Films for Energy Storage Applications

Electrospun nano-barium titanate/polycaprolactone composite coatings on titanium and Ti13Nb13Zr alloy

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