Moradi, Alireza
(2021)
Development of High-Temperature and High-Performance Glass Fibre/PAEK Thermoplastic Prepregs.
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
This research project introduces a novel technique of manufacturing thermoplastic prepregs using an aqueous method. Wet powder technology is utilised for this purpose, based on the concept of suspending polymer particles in a liquid carrier and passing fibre reinforcement through a slurry bath containing the aqueous medium so to pick up the resin particles and subsequently, forming a composite material. An in-house unidirectional prepreg production rig is designed and manufactured, based on the concept of drum winding. The prepreg rig benefits from a novel fibre spreading device, designed and manufactured specifically for use with the in-house rig, with ability to adjust the tow/prepreg thickness. The developed manufacturing method provides grounds for a very effective thermoplastic prepreg production in terms of cost, scale and suitability. Wide range of polymers and fibres can be used with an effective resin impregnation and rapid production. The prepreg rig itself is easily maintained, compact in size, and suitable for laboratory scale research. It also offers the ability to produce high-temperature and high-performance thermoplastic prepregs at considerably low costs. Numerous physical and mechanical tests are carried out on the manufactured S2-glass fibre/PAEK composite materials with different constituent ratios to evaluate the efficiency of the production line and quality of the manufactured materials. Some notable achievements are the ability to manufacture virtually void-free composite laminates with up to 72 % fibre volume content, and observing low reduction (<16 %) of tensile strength for samples tested in elevated temperatures at 250 °C. The aqueous manufacturing method allows easy incorporation of nanomaterials inside the resin matrix. Graphene and nanoclay are added into the resin bath to evaluate the changes in physical and mechanical properties of the prepregs and laminates. It is realised that graphene can enhance the tensile properties of the samples by up to 14 %, and flexural properties by up to 38 %, depending on the concentration. Nanoclay is found to deteriorate the tensile strength and only contributes towards higher flexural properties.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Thermoplastic prepreg, Thermoplastic composite, Composite manufacturing, Hierarchical composite, S2-glass, PAEK, PEEK |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Feb 2022 15:35 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Jan 2024 02:30 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03130835 |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3130835 |
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