Reversible manufacture of continuous fibre composites PhD

The Composites and Advanced Materials Centre at Cranfield has recently developed a layer-by-layer strategy of composites manufacturing that can be combined with automated fibre placement following curved paths to limit the number of fibre cuts required during manufacturing.

Based on this development, this project will develop an un-manufacturing strategy that achieves recovery of fibre in their continuous form. The activities involved in the project will focus on development, optimisation and implementation of a fibre detachment method, design for manufacture targeting minimisation of cuts used in manufacturing and re-manufacturing trials and associated mechanical characterisation. The work will involve experimental, practical and simulation effort and lead to a validation use case from the hydrogen storage sector.

Successful completion of this research will result in a new paradigm in composites design and manufacture that will enable full circularity. This will potentially shift industrial practice towards a sustainable solution unlocking the full potential of composite materials.

The work will make full use of facilities within the Composites and Advanced Materials Centre comprising pilot scale composites manufacturing equipment including a filament winding setup that will be used for implementation of the un-manufacturing strategy, a thermal and thermo-mechanical characterisation suite, as well as the Mechanical Testing Lab in the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing. systems will provide access to specialised equipment required for parts of the research. A leading supplier of fibre placement systems will provide access to specialised equipment required for parts of the research.