Automated manufacturing of bio-inspired carbon-fibre reinforced polymers

Abstract

[EN] Carbon-fibre reinforced polymers (CFRPs) present outstanding mechanical performance per unit of mass; however, they also fail in a brittle manner, with little or no warning of their forthcoming catastrophic failure. In this study, a ‘brick-and-mortar’ design inspired by the structure of nacre was implemented by automated tape lay-up for the first time with the aim of changing the failure response of CFRPs. Standard procedures and materials already implemented in the aerospace industry have been used to produce bio-inspired CFRPs laminates, providing the first example of bio-inspired concepts scaled-up to industrial level. The effects of the proposed automated manufacturing process on the morphology and tensile properties of the laminates were investigated. A non-linear response was observed when the bio-inspired laminates were subjected to tensile forces. This type of response agrees with those of previous studies on lab-scale manufactured aligned discontinuous CFRPs.