The morphing air inlet is a structure with shape-changing capability. Shapes include that which is flush with an aerodynamic surface and also a submerged divergent channel suitable for use in an aircraft cooling system. The air inlet structure is multistable in order that it can ‘snap’ open and closed and not require any external holding force to maintain its geometry. Structural multistability is achieved using a novel combination of material prestress and bending stiffness tailoring. Analytical and finite element models are developed in order to explain how this multistability is achieved and to predict the actuator requirements and bending strains within the structure. The air inlet design is autoclave manufactured from carbon fiber reinforced plastic and tested as a proof-of-concept demonstrator. The bending stiffness tailoring enables the structure to fulfill the conflicting requirements of large deformations, low mass, and high stiffness to withstand external loads. The simple construction also aids ease of maintenance and reliability. The morphing demonstrator behaves as a one degree-of-freedom system enabling simple actuation solutions, such as inflatable bladders, to be feasible.
Two dimensional (2D) porous carbon nanosheets (CNS) have attracted tremendous research interests in energy storage and conversion, such as supercapacitors (SCs) and lithium-sulfur batteries, because of their unique micromorphology, chemical stability and high specific surface area (SSA). Rational design and facile scalable synthesis of
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Citation for this version held on GALA:Chen, Jinhu, Trevarthen, James A., Deng, Tong, Bradley, Michael S.A., Rahatekar, Sameer S. and Koziol, Krzysztof K.K. (2014) This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
AbstractThe erosive wear behaviour of epoxy composites reinforced with aligned, as-produced carbon nanotube (CNT) films was investigated. The CNT film composites were fabricated in two different configurations, where the unidirectional (0°) and bi-directional (0°/90°) aligned CNT films were exposed to the particle stream. Results have shown that the unidirectional (0°) CNT film/epoxy composite exhibit superior erosive wear resistance compared to the unidirectional (0°) carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composite.Furthermore, the bi-directional (0°/90°) CNT film/epoxy composite shows even better resistance to erosion compared to the unidirectional (0°) CNT film/epoxy composite due to additional impact energy absorption resulted from CNT networks. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) provides further insight into the erosive wear mechanisms of CNT film composites at different impingement angles. This work has successfully introduced aligned as-produced CNT films fabricating epoxy composites using
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