This paper presents a study about the influence of through-thickness tufted fibres on compression and bending properties of sandwich structures. The tufting process aims to avoid the delamination between the skin and core in order to improve the performance of sandwich structures, increase the interlaminar strength and damage tolerance of sandwich structures.
To evaluate the effect of tufting in sandwich structures, an experimental study was developed which included edgewise compression and 3-P bending tests of tufted and nontufted sandwich panels made of carbon/epoxy and E-glass/epoxy face sheets, PVC and PUR foam cores and E-glass and aramid through-thickness fibres with different tufting densities.Conclusions about the efficiency of the insertion of through-thickness fibres on compression and bending properties are drawn.
An iterative algorithm is proposed for determining the optimal chassis design of an electric vehicle, given a path and a reference time. The proposed algorithm balances the capacity of the battery pack and the dynamic properties of the chassis, seeking to optimize the tradeoff between the mass of the vehicle, its energy consumption, and the travel time. The design variables of the chassis include geometrical and inertial values, as well as the characteristics of the powertrain. The optimization is constrained by the slopes, curves, grip, and posted speeds of the different sections of the track. Particular service constraints are also considered, such as limiting accelerations due to passenger comfort or cargo safety. This methodology is applicable to any vehicle whose route and travel time are known in advance, such as delivery vehicles, buses, and race cars, and has been validated using telemetry data from an internal combustion rear-wheel drive race car designed for hill climb competitions. The implementation of the proposed methodology allows to reduce the weight of the battery pack by up to 20%, compared to traditional design methods.
The interlaminar tensile strength of carbon/epoxy laminated curved beams with variable thickness and through-the-thickness tufted reinforcement is studied experimentally by means of a four-point-bending test in accordance with ASTM D6415. These tests are monitored by means of the Acoustic Emission (AE) technique in order to gain deeper knowledge of the delamination onset and post-failure behavior. The results show that AE technique has proven to perform well when identifying delamination initiation and evolution after failure. In addition to this, AE has proven to be an appropriate tool to assess the manufacturing quality of the curved-beam, once a previous pattern has been established.
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