The RNLI has been using composites for the construction of some of its lifeboats since the early 1970s and in the late 1980s a decision was taken to adopt a newer advanced form of composite construction with a view to saving overall structural weight whilst maintaining the requisite structural strength. This paper presents a broad discussion of the history of the use of composites in the RNLI, ...

The bouncing bow, as used in rapid spiccato and ricochet bowing, has been studied. Dynamical tests were made by monitoring the force history when the bow was played by a mechanical device against a force transducer as a substitute to the string. The action of the bow stick was investigated by modal analysis. Bows made of wood, fibre glass, and carbon fibre composites were studied and compared, ...

SUMMARY Theoretical analyses are made of the influence of the following features on the longitudinal shear and transverse tensile moduli of unidirectional fibre reinforced composites: (i) random variations in positioning of individual fibres, (ii) overall variations leading to fibre bunching, (iii) overall variations leading to interspersed matrix layers, (iv) localised variations resulting in ...

For the verification of pertinent failure and damage models of fibre and textile reinforced composites a clear identification of the particular damage entities is an essential premise. In such fibrous composites, the characteristic failure mechanisms are initiated on the microscale and result in a spontaneous release of elastic energy in terms of mechanical stress waves, the so-called acoustic ...

This study investigated the reuse of composite recyclate (obtained through regrind) in new dough mould compounds (DMC), focusing on the interfacial analysis of recyclate glass fibres and a polyester resin matrix. In the past, manufacturing of composites incorporating composite recyclate has been carried out in a relatively simplistic manner [1,2] without the requisite background research into t...

Carbon nanofibres were grown at low temperatures on a novel fibre catalyst, palladium particles, using a novel method, growth in fuel rich combustion conditions. The growth of carbon filaments by this process was found to be remarkably rapid. Preliminary analysis of how changes in operating parameters, for example gas flow rate and reactant ratio, showed that fibre diameter and other factors su...

This paper developed three-dimensional (3D) Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to investigate the effect of fibre lay-up on the initiation of failure of laminated composites in bending. TsaiHill failure criterion was applied to identify the critical areas of failure in composite laminates. In accordance with the 3D FEA, unidirectional ([0]16), cross-ply ([0/90]4s) and angle-ply ([±45]4s) laminates m...