Investigation of the Fabrication Suitability, Structural Performance, and Sustainability of Natural Fibers in Coreless Filament Winding

Abstract

Coreless filament winding is an emerging fabrication technology in the field of building construction with the potential to significantly decrease construction material consumption, while being fully automatable. Therefore, this technology could offer a solution to the increasing worldwide demand for building floor space in the next decades by optimizing and reducing the material usage. Current research focuses mainly on the design and engineering aspects while using carbon and glass fibers with epoxy resin; however, in order to move towards more sustainable structures, other fiber and resin material systems should also be assessed. This study integrates a selection of potential alternative fibers into the coreless filament winding process by adapting the fabrication equipment and process. A bio-based epoxy resin was introduced and compared to a conventional petroleum-based one. Generic coreless wound components were created for evaluating the fabrication suitability of selected alternative fibers. Four-point bending tests were performed for assessing the structural performance in relation to the sustainability of twelve alternative fibers and two resins. In this study, embodied energy and global warming potential from the literature were used as life-cycle assessment indexes to compare the material systems. Among the investigated fibers, flax showed the highest potential while bio-based resins are advisable at low fiber volume ratios.

Fibrx Rocking Chair: Design and Application of Tailored Timber as an Embedded Frame for Natural Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (NFRP) Coreless Winding

“…Synthetic epoxy resin was used (3 parts EPIKOTE Resin MGS RIMR 235 + 1 part EPIKURE Curing Agent RIMH 237, Pot Life: 48 h, all produced by Hexion Inc., Columbus, OH, USA) as the base matrix, due to availability and prior experience with the products. While bio-resins are available, the literature shows that they have worsened impregnation in comparison to cured epoxy resins, which could result in a higher environmental impact than natural fibres [ 15 , 25 ]. New material characterisation or tests of the microstructure were not performed, as the final composite was assumed to have similar mechanical properties as the flax composite in the LivMatS Pavilion [ 15 ].…”

International planetary sunshade concept with a function-integrated and scalable support structure based on coreless filament winding

“…The conventional material system of CFW is carbon and glass fibers combined with epoxy resins. However, basalt fibers have already been implemented in CFW [18], while cold-curing ceramic matrix systems are also available [19]. Other studies have already optimized the fiber arrangement on the load induction element [20] and optimized the pin geometry [13].…”

Long-span fiber composite truss made by coreless filament winding for large-scale satellite structural systems demonstrated on a planetary sunshade concept

“…Another area of current research in CFW involves expanding the range of material systems. In addition to carbon and glass fibers with epoxy resin, successful implementation of mineral fibers has been achieved 41 , offering the potential for sourcing materials from in-situ resources 42 . Furthermore, several case studies have investigated the impact of fabrication deviation 43 , 44 and correlated data across different process domains 45 .…”