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‘Dynamic Mechanical Response Evaluation Of Woven Carbon Fiber Reinforced Rubber Laminated Composites Under High Strain Rates – Nature’

Nature May 14, 2025

Woven carbon fiber reinforced rubber laminated composites WCRLC are increasingly adopted in impact-critical engineering applications such as marine fenders and aerospace buffers owing to their lightweight and energy absorptionreflection capabilities. However dynamic mechanical response evaluation of WCRLC under high strain rates remains inadequately characterized. In this study WCRLC was fabricated using silicon rubber and 2D woven carbon fiber WCF with the needled technique. Dynamic mechanical response and energy evolution of WCRLC were investigated using a split Hopkinson pressure bar SHPB. The results showed that the stress at both ends of the specimen was in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The peak compressive strength and toughness of WCRLC increased with an increase of strain rate. The energy analysis indicated that with the increase of the number of layers of WCF WCRLC demonstrated better impact resistance performance including the dynamic toughness the energy absorption specific energy absorption and dissipated to incident energy ratio. Transmitted energy ratio of the five types of WCRLC was less than 1. The WCRLC with 3 layers of WCF exhibited the highest transmission energy ratio due to balanced fiber-matrix interaction.

‘Additive Manufacturing Of Carbon Fiber-reinforced Thermoset Composites Via In-situ Thermal Curing – Nature’

Nature May 20, 2025

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites are lightweight structural materials widely used in the transportation and energy industries. Current approaches for the manufacture of composites require expensive tooling and long energy-intensive processing resulting in a high cost of manufacturing limited design complexity and low fabrication rates. Here we report rapid scalable and energy-efficient additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced thermoset composites while eliminating the need for tooling or molds. Use of a thermoresponsive thermoset resin as the matrix of composites and localized remote heating of carbon fiber reinforcements via photothermal conversion enables rapid in-situ curing of composites without further post-processing. Rapid curing and phase transformation of the matrix thermoset from a liquid or viscous resin to a rigid polymer immediately upon deposition by a robotic platform allows for the high-fidelity freeform manufacturing of discontinuous and continuous fiber-reinforced composites without using sacrificial support materials. This method is applicable to a variety of industries and will enable rapid and scalable manufacture of composite parts and tooling as well as on-demand repair of composite structures. Fiber-reinforced polymer composites are lightweight structural materials used in a wide range of applications but manufacturing of composites requires expensive tooling and long energy-intensive processing. Here the authors report rapid scalable and energy-efficient additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced thermoset composites while eliminating the need for tooling or support materials.

‘Dynamic Mechanical Response Evaluation Of Woven Carbon Fiber Reinforced Rubber Laminated Composites Under High Strain Rates – Nature’

Nature May 14, 2025

Woven carbon fiber reinforced rubber laminated composites WCRLC are increasingly adopted in impact-critical engineering applications such as marine fenders and aerospace buffers owing to their lightweight and energy absorptionreflection capabilities. However dynamic mechanical response evaluation of WCRLC under high strain rates remains inadequately characterized. In this study WCRLC was fabricated using silicon rubber and 2D woven carbon fiber WCF with the needled technique. Dynamic mechanical response and energy evolution of WCRLC were investigated using a split Hopkinson pressure bar SHPB. The results showed that the stress at both ends of the specimen was in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The peak compressive strength and toughness of WCRLC increased with an increase of strain rate. The energy analysis indicated that with the increase of the number of layers of WCF WCRLC demonstrated better impact resistance performance including the dynamic toughness the energy absorption specific energy absorption and dissipated to incident energy ratio. Transmitted energy ratio of the five types of WCRLC was less than 1. The WCRLC with 3 layers of WCF exhibited the highest transmission energy ratio due to balanced fiber-matrix interaction.

‘Additive Manufacturing Of Carbon Fiber-reinforced Thermoset Composites Via In-situ Thermal Curing – Nature’

Nature May 20, 2025

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites are lightweight structural materials widely used in the transportation and energy industries. Current approaches for the manufacture of composites require expensive tooling and long energy-intensive processing resulting in a high cost of manufacturing limited design complexity and low fabrication rates. Here we report rapid scalable and energy-efficient additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced thermoset composites while eliminating the need for tooling or molds. Use of a thermoresponsive thermoset resin as the matrix of composites and localized remote heating of carbon fiber reinforcements via photothermal conversion enables rapid in-situ curing of composites without further post-processing. Rapid curing and phase transformation of the matrix thermoset from a liquid or viscous resin to a rigid polymer immediately upon deposition by a robotic platform allows for the high-fidelity freeform manufacturing of discontinuous and continuous fiber-reinforced composites without using sacrificial support materials. This method is applicable to a variety of industries and will enable rapid and scalable manufacture of composite parts and tooling as well as on-demand repair of composite structures. Fiber-reinforced polymer composites are lightweight structural materials used in a wide range of applications but manufacturing of composites requires expensive tooling and long energy-intensive processing. Here the authors report rapid scalable and energy-efficient additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced thermoset composites while eliminating the need for tooling or support materials.