Experimental investigation on suitability of carbon fibre thin plies for racquets

Abstract

In the world of fast-growing technology, switch from traditional wooden and metallic sports racquets to next generation powerful racquets is inevitable with the advent of carbon fibres, which offer benefits like increased strength, stiffness, impact, and efficient vibration and damping properties. The introduction of carbon fibres, however, comes with challenges of choosing a right matrix system that, in combination, provides the best solution without sacrificing performance. Non-crimp fabric thin C-Ply composites have the potential to suppress the micro cracks and delamination until the material's ultimate strength. But still, their usage and the possible advantages they can offer in sports applications like tennis racquets, badminton racquets or table tennis bats and so on are yet to be explored. This article aims at exploring the niche benefits offered by thin C-Plyä carbon fibres in combination with thermoset and thermoplastic matrices in sports applications, especially racquets. The composites comprised multi-axial reinforcement fabrics/non-crimp fabrics infused with a room-temperature cure epoxy or a thermoplastic resin having low mix viscosity (200 cps) suitable for vacuum-assisted resin infusion. The mechanical properties of carbon fibre thin C-Ply/(thermoplastic or thermoset) composites pivotal in racquets, like tensile and flexural stiffness and modulus, have been determined experimentally. Double cantilever beam Mode I tests are also carried out to determine the bonding strength between the plies and the matrix interface as most of the failures in sports equipment are accompanied by either bond failures or imperfections within the structure. The findings of testing of various specimens are presented and discussed.

Optimizing Polymer Infusion Process for Thin Ply Textile Composites with Novel Matrix System

“…In addition, it reduces resin rich areas and stress concentrations that can be found in woven fabrics [ 2 ]. NCFs can be combined with the use of spread tows to manufacture so called thin plies that have fibre areal weight (FAW) lower than 150 g/m 2 and that can go down to 30 g/m 2 (up to 1/6th of the standard ply thickness) [ 3 , 4 ]. These thin NCFs have potential to significantly reduce the delamination in the laminated composite structures [ 3 ].…”

Multiscale Polymer Composites: A Review of the Interlaminar Fracture Toughness Improvement

“…There are several manufacturing techniques available for making reinforcement preforms for composite laminates and these include (1) Braiding [80,81], (2) Stitching [82][83][84][85][86][87][88], (3) 3D Z-Pinning [89][90][91], and (4) 3D weaving [92]. The schematic of different types of 3D sandwich structure is depicted in Figure 5.…”

Advances in Ultrasonic Welding of Thermoplastic Composites: A Review

“…Recently, thermoplastic composites have become the most demanding material, as these provide numerous advantages over thermoset composites. Thermoplastic (TP) composites are preferred due to their excellent vibration damping [4], high impact resistance [5][6][7][8][9], high productivity, high damage tolerance, fracture toughness [10][11][12], recyclability, reformability, being weldable and repairable, having flexural strength [13][14][15] and their cost-effectiveness compared to thermoset composites [16,17], and these properties attracted its usage for high-end applications, such as manufacturing the fuselage and wing sections of an aircraft. Thermoplastic resin has an inherent ability to become softer once heated above the defined temperature range and retain their properties once they are cooled down.…”