Interlaminar toughening approaches for additively manufactured liquid crystal polymers

Liquid crystalline polymers have recently attracted attention for their great tensile properties. However, their interlaminar fracture toughness is low. To solve this, toughening approaches inspired by Nature are applied, exploiting the shaping freedom of fused deposition modelling. Three approaches are studied: the matchstick approach, z...

The lignocellulose binding phenomena and interlaminar fracture toughness of living Ganoderma lucidum

Mycelium based composites (MBC) have revolutionised the field of material production, where a living fungus is employed to overgrow and bind lignocellulosic substrate materials together. Their bio-based nature, low embodied energy, and biodegradability, mark their great potential to reduce the increasing pressure conventional materials put on...

Does carbon nanotube buckypaper affect mode-I and II interlaminar fracture toughness under quasi-static loading?

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites are widely used to produce structural components. However, their low interlaminar strength makes them susceptible to delamination, limiting structural applications. Aiming to solve this problem, this work proposes adding carbon nanotubes buckypaper (BP) into CFR thermoplastic composites as an...

Characterization and analysis of the interlaminar behavior of thermoplastic composites considering fiber bridging and R-curve effects

Thermoplastic composites can enable the development of new manufacturing techniques to make the aviation industry more sustainable while at the same time greatly benefit cost-efficient and high-volume production. One of the thermoplastic composite materials that can enable this transition is AS4D/PEKK-FC. In this work, the interlaminar...

3D Printing: A study of the intralayer bonding strength of extrusion-based additively manufactured polymers and its relevance for the design of structural elements

The additively manufacturing industry is emerging rather quickly and has find its way within numerous fields of expertise. Slowly the building industry is adopting these fabrication methods as well, but there are still a lot of challenges. Especially the bonds within the layered structure are demand more research. Numerous researches have...

The effect of through-thickness compressive stress on mode II interlaminar fracture toughness

The effect of through-thickness compressive stress on mode II interlaminar fracture toughness is investigated experimentally and replicated numerically. The modified Transverse Crack Tensile specimen recently proposed by the authors is used, together with an experimental device designed to apply a constant transverse compressive stress on the...