The HEPHAISTOS system integrates advantageously the basic processing steps as tooling, tempering of the resin and lay up, the impregnation of the fibers, pre-forming techniques as well as finally the process curing of the composite structures. Composites for aerospace applications in prepreg and wet technology have been successfully fabricated and investigated for quality and certification issu...

Strengthening of existing circular reinforced concrete columns by CFRP confinement

This paper investigates the hygrothermal effects on the failure mechanisms in bending of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. Accelerated diffusion testing was carried out by immersion at 50°C constant temperature and 70 bar hydrostatic pressure to study the effects of fresh or sea water diffusion into pre-preg CFRP laminates. Consequently the composite laminates were tested in be...

In pre-stressed concrete structures, consideration is being given to replacing the steel tendons with CFRP rods. One of the challenges associated with this is to develop a suitable anchorage for the CFRP rods. A bonded anchorage was investigated, where the CFRP is potted in a steel tube using epoxy adhesive. Experimental static tests of different configurations were undertaken with failure occu...

The limitation of non-destructive methods for the inspection of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites is a major problem for many practical applications of the material, especially in the aircraft industry. This paper presents a study which is directed towards non-destructive characterization of CFRP using eddy current methods. The relationship between the signal from different type...

Both environmental and economic factors have driven the development of recycling routes for the increasing amount of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste generated. This paper presents a review of the current status and outlook of CFRP recycling operations, focusing on state-of-the-art fibre reclamation and re-manufacturing processes, and on the commercialisation and potential applicati...

The use of composite materials and composite stackups in aerospace and automotive applications has been and will continue to grow at a very high rate due to the high strength and low weight of the materials. One key problem manufacturers have using this material is the ability to efficiently drill holes through the layers to install fasteners and other components. This is especially true in sta...

The purpose of this research was to investigate the creep behaviour of the heterogeneous Timber-UHPFRC beams. New developments have been done to further improve the structural performance, such as strengthening of the timber (glulam) beam by bonding composite material combine with an ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) internally reinforced with or without carbon fibre rei...

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) have good physical properties, such as high specific strength and high specific modulus. However, cutting delamination, tearing and burr, etc. often occur in the machining process of CFRP, which results in the uncontrollability of machining surface quality and serious tool wear. In this paper, milling of CFRP with a staggered cutter was carried out, the c...

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have been successfully applied in various applications. Fused deposition modeling (FDM), one of popular AM techniques, is most widely used method for manufacturing of plastic materials. Due to the poor strength properties of pure plastic materials, there is a critical need to improve mechanical properties for FDMfabricated pure plastic parts. One of the ...