In the domain of space and satellites, weight is expensive. The heavier a product for transport into space is, the more it costs. In fact, the current estimate is costs of around €5,000-10,000 per kilogram, meaning that any weight loss is beneficial financially for companies sending satellites into space.

The new partnership is aiming to produce very tough, yet ultra-lightweight structures using continuous carbon-fibre-reinforced-polymers (CFRP) in a filament winding process creating ultralight 3D structures.

The carbon fibre is coated with a polymer that solidifies the entire object rendering it extremely solid and resilient. Impregnated carbon fibres are wound to form an optimised 3D-mesh design that gives the part its special mechanical properties.

Two projects will be carried out at the LIST-Gradel labs, the first called “xFKin3D”, consists of making parts by hand with the filament weaving manually. It will target the demonstration space-use standards of structural parts produced by the xFKin3D technology.

The second project to be known as “Robotised xFKin3D” will be the challenge of producing the same parts as the first project, but with the use of a new robotic arm recently installed at LIST, making it a fully automated manufacturing process, assuring excellent repeatability, to the same strength and quality, but on a larger scale.

The components produced are destined for use in all that is antenna support, bracket for equipment in satellites. Currently many of these parts are metallic and therefore relatively heavy. The aim is to move away from metal parts, and with this new technology by LIST and Gradel produced in Luxembourg, a reduction of up to 75% in weight can be achieved, saving companies considerable costs.

Both projects are supported by the Luxembourg National Space Programme LuxIMPULSE, which aims at providing funding to help companies established in Luxembourg to bring innovative ideas to market. The programme is managed by the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) together with the European Space Agency (ESA).

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The Tucana project is a four-year programme to make the UK a world leader in low-carbon technology, helping prevent 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions between 2023 and 2032 by accelerating mainstream use of electric vehicles and making vehicles lighter to both decrease tailpipe emissions and reduce the energy consumption of electrified powertrains.

The research will allow Jaguar Land Rover to develop lightweight vehicle and powertrain structures by replacing aluminium and steel with composites capable of handling the increased torque generated by high-performance batteries while improving efficiency and reducing CO2 impact.

The development of new lightweight body structures to complement the latest zero-emissions powertrains will be key as the electrification of our vehicle range continues.

Jaguar Land Rover aims to increase vehicle stiffness by 30 per cent, cut weight by 35kg and further refine the crash safety structure through the strategic use of tailored composites, such as carbon fibre. Reducing the vehicle body weight will allow the fitting of larger batteries with increased range – without impacting CO2 emissions.

Advanced composites offer significant reductions in vehicle weight, and by 2022, Jaguar Land Rover expects to have developed a fleet of prototype Tucana test vehicles.

The consortium, led by Jaguar Land Rover, brings together world-leading academic and industry partners including the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Expert Tooling & Automation, Broetje-Automation UK, Toray International UK, CCP Gransden and The Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS).

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Led by Jinwen Zhang, a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, researchers developed a recyclable material that is as strong as commonly used carbon fibre composites and can also be broken down in very hot water within a pressure vessel. The new material could be easily substituted into current manufacturing processes. The research team, including scientists from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, report on their work in the journal, Macromolecular Rapid Communications.

Carbon fibre reinforced composites are increasingly popular in many industries because they are light and strong. They serve as an energy-saving, lighter alternative to metals, especially in the aviation and automotive industries. They are, however, difficult to break down or recycle, and disposing of them has become of increasing concern. Early versions of modern wind turbines made of composites from the 1990s, for instance, are now reaching the end of their lifetimes, creating a significant challenge for disposal.

While thermoplastics, the type of plastic used in milk bottles, can be melted and easily re-used, the carbon fibre composites are made from thermosets. These types of plastics are cured and can’t easily be undone and returned to their original materials.

Zhang’s team developed a composite material that uses an epoxy vitrimer as an alternative to the traditional epoxy resin. The material is hard and durable like an epoxy thermoset but can also show self-healing and malleable properties at high temperatures like a thermoplastic.

When they used their epoxy vitrimer in the composite material, they were able to degrade their material in pressurised, distilled water beginning at 160 degrees Celsius, dissolving it into valuable carbon fibre and other compounds, which can then be re-used. The recycled carbon fibre was comparable in strength to brand new carbon fibre. When they raised the temperature to 180 degrees, the material completely dissolved. The epoxy vitrimer that they developed could easily be substituted into the manufacturing process.

There is no need to change the chemistry of the process – it is just a slight modification of using the epoxy vitrimer instead of traditional epoxy. The technology is simply and readily applicable.

While the new recyclable material could be easily adopted by manufacturers, Zhang is also continuing work to improve the recycling of composites that are currently in the market. In recent years, he developed an environmentally friendly method to break down the material in a liquid or ethanol medium. Earlier this year, he received a $1.2 million Department of Energy grant for the up-cycling of the composites waste.

The research was supported through grants from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy and the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation.

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Wind blades containing carbon fibre weigh 25% less than ones made from traditional fibreglass materials. That means carbon fibre blades could be longer than fibreglass ones and, therefore, capture more energy in locations with low wind. A switch to carbon fibre could also extend blade lifetime because carbon fibre materials have a high fatigue resistance, said Brandon Ennis, a wind energy researcher at Sandia Labs and the principal investigator for the project.

The project is funded by DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Partners on the project include Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Montana State University.

Of all the companies producing wind turbines, only one uses carbon fibre materials extensively in their blade designs. Wind turbine blades are the largest single-piece composite structures in the world, and the wind industry could represent the largest market for carbon fibre materials by weight if a material that competed on a cost-value basis to fibreglass reinforced composites was commercially available, said Ennis.

Cost is the main consideration during component design in the wind industry, yet turbine manufacturers also have to build blades that withstand the compressive and fatigue loads that blade experience as they rotate for up to 30 years.

Ennis and his colleagues wondered if a novel low-cost carbon fibre developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could meet performance needs while also bringing cost benefits for the wind industry. This material starts with a widely available precursor from the textile industry that contains thick bundles of acrylic fibres. The manufacturing process, which heats the fibres to convert them to carbon, is followed by an intermediate step that pulls the carbon fibre into planks. The plank-making pultrusion process creates carbon fibre with high performance and reliability needed for blade manufacturing and also allows for high production capacity.

When the research team studied this low-cost carbon fibre, they discovered it performed better than current commercial materials in terms of cost-specific properties of most interest to the wind industry.

ORNL provided developmental samples of carbon fibre from its Carbon Fiber Technology Facility and composites made from this material as well as similar composites made from commercially available carbon fibre for comparison.

Colleagues at Montana State University measured the mechanical properties of the novel carbon fibre versus commercially available carbon fibre and standard fibreglass composites. Then Ennis combined these measurements with cost modelling results from ORNL. He used those data in a blade design analysis to assess the system impact of using the novel carbon fibre, instead of standard carbon fibre or fibreglass, as the main structural support in a wind blade. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office.

Ennis and his colleagues found that the new carbon fibre material had 56% more compressive strength per dollar than commercially available carbon fibre, which is the industry baseline. Typically, manufacturers accommodate a lower compressive strength by using more material to make a component, which then increases costs. Considering the higher compressive strength per cost of the novel carbon fibre, Ennis’ calculations predicted about a 40% savings in material costs for a spar cap, which is the main structural component of a wind turbine blade, made from the new carbon fibre compared to commercial carbon fibre.

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While the benefits of carbon fibre have long been known, production costs can be up to 10 times more than that of traditional materials, and difficulty in shaping CFRP parts has hampered the mass production of automotive components made from the material.

Nissan says it has found a new approach to the existing production method known as compression resin transfer moulding. The existing method involves forming carbon fibre into the right shape and setting it in a die with a slight gap between the upper die and the carbon fibres. Resin is then injected into the fibre and left to harden.

Nissan’s engineers developed techniques to accurately simulate the permeability of the resin in carbon fibre while visualising resin flow behaviour in a die using an in-die temperature sensor and a transparent die. The result of the successful simulation was a high-quality component with a shorter development time.

Executive Vice President Hideyuki Sakamoto said in the live presentation on YouTube that the CFRP parts would start being used in mass-produced sport-utility vehicles in four or five years time, thanks to a new casting procedure for the poured resin. The cost savings come from shortening the production time from about three or four hours to just two minutes, Sakamoto said.

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This technology recovers the glass fibre from reinforced polymer composites while limiting the mechanical degradation of the fibre during the reclamation process. In turn, this allows the recycled fibre to be reused in new composite applications such as vehicle light-weighting, other renewable energy systems components, and performance sports equipment.

Wind power is clean, economical, and readily available in the USA, but to make those giant blades, wind turbine manufacturers rely on advanced polymer composites. These materials can survive some of mother nature’s most brutal forces, but eventually, do wear out and end up in the landfill. As the wind industry grows and waste blade levels climb into the tens, hundreds of thousands of tons and beyond, a better end of life solution is needed.

While the US wind industry has made substantial contributions to America’s renewable energy portfolio, work continues to convert the industry to a more circular economy paradigm. Rather than simply downcycling the blades into aggregates, Researchers at the university are able to not only convert the blades’ organic components into useful petrochemicals for energy production but also able to extract the glass fibre reinforcement and use it to make higher-value recycled composites.

UT has partnered with Carbon Rivers LLC, a start-up company located in Knoxville and owned by alumnus Bowie Benson (’17), to further develop and commercialise the novel glass fibre recovery technology for the purpose of handling retired wind turbine blades.

“Having the opportunity to collaborate with the bright minds at UT, like Dr Ginder, and catalyse new solutions for our country’s plastics waste problem, is a Volunteer’s dream come true,” said Benson. “The year 2020 has been a challenging year all around for our community, but I remain hopeful for the future as long as we keep working together to take on the tough challenges, like making American energy more sustainable. I am especially optimistic for our project’s next phase, and its potential to improve the wind industry’s environmental footprint while creating new, much-needed jobs in East Tennessee.”

Over the next two years, the UT-Carbon Rivers team will collaborate with GE Renewable Energy, Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s MidAmerican Energy Company, and PacifiCorp utilities to develop a pilot scale glass fiber composite recycling system that will serve as the basis for eventual deployment of a full-scale commercial wind blade waste processing plant.

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The new architecture, designed specifically to accommodate new hybrid powertrains, has been entirely engineered, developed and produced in-house at McLaren’s £50m Composites Technology Centre in South Yorkshire, opened back in 2018.

The new flexible vehicle architecture utilises new processes and techniques to strip out excess mass, reduce overall vehicle weight, while also further improving safety attributes. It will underpin the next generation of McLaren hybrid models as the supercar company enters its second decade of series vehicle production.

Hundreds of pieces of carbon fibre cloth are cut for every chassis, the shape and orientation of each cut piece is controlled by software to optimise the strength and weight of the finished chassis. Lasers guide the alignment of the cut material into 2D Preforms.

These preforms are then loaded into McLaren’s own resin transfer moulding process where the resin is infused while the parts are clamped together under force. The moulded lightweight chassis is then removed from the press and machined to accept the mounting of multiple components during the vehicles final assembly.

The first new McLaren hybrid supercar to be based on the all-new architecture will launch in 2021.

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This research, valued at US$10 million, will investigate all aspects of coal-derived carbon fibre production – from computational chemistry and pitch processing to the final spinning and heat treatment process of the fibres. The aim is to produce fibres with superior properties at a lower cost than currently available.

Through this effort, ORNL researchers will work to understand the chemistry and processing conditions required to produce different grades of coal-derived carbon fibre. NETL, ORNL, and the university teams will work closely to diversify U.S. coal use in domestic manufacturing while making coal and coal-based products more attractive for export.

Because of competition from low-priced natural gas and incentivised renewable energy, the market for coal in the electric power generation sector is decreasing. However, coal-to-products opportunities can develop new markets for coal, which have the potential to offset this decrease.

For example, the market for carbon fibres is estimated to see an annual growth rate of 12 per cent through 2024, driven largely by increased use in aerospace and defence applications and in light-weighting of vehicle structures. Additional market growth is also possible in other high-volume applications, such as thermal insulation for buildings and materials for construction and infrastructure.

The $10 million that ORNL’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility will receive comes as a part of $30 million in the fiscal year 2020 Congressional appropriations to support DOE’s Advanced Coal Processing Program. This program supports the development of technologies that can utilise coal for purposes outside the traditional thermal and metallurgical markets.

Of the $10 million funding, $4.5 million will support University of Kentucky research to determine how coal tar pitch, the carbon fibre precursor, can be tailored and optimised for the specific type of desired fibre. Additionally, $80,000 will go to Pennsylvania State University for material characterisation.

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Primarily used in the production of linen, flax is an incredibly versatile plant that has been around for millions of years. It differs from many biomaterials in that it’s ideal for use in crop rotation programmes and can be grown without directly competing with food crops. Flax is a CO2-neutral raw material and its fibres are biodegradable. At the end of the seat’s life, for example, it can be ground down into a new base material or thermally recycled without residual waste, rather than end up in landfill.

Inspired by the thin veins on the back of leaves, Bcomp’s powerRibs technology provides a three-dimensional grid structure on one side of the seat, which is then used to reinforce the spun and woven flax fibre reinforcement fabric, ampliTex. Made by twisting flax fibres to form a thick yarn, the powerRibs act as a backbone to the ampliTex flax fabric that is bonded to it

With the introduction of the new regulation in 2019, the seat now forms part of the driver’s weight budget, so it’s over-engineered as a result

McLaren saw a clear opportunity to use this technology in this area of the car based on the current F1 technical regulations. Since 2019, a minimum driver weight of 80 kg has been mandated. And if a driver weighs less than that, ballast must be used to bring them up to the minimum weight. But instead of allowing this ballast to be placed in other areas of the car, which could improve weight distribution, it must be located within the immediate area of the driver’s seat.

While the environmental benefits are clear, the mechanical properties of flax make it an attractive renewable raw material for high-performance composites. The tubular structure of flax fibres provides low density and high stiffness, which affords the opportunity to reduce weight while simultaneously improving vibration damping, as well as resistance to breakage, torsion and compression.

Flax fibres are 9% lighter than any equivalent carbon material and offer significantly better vibration damping. 

Greater vibration absorption and impact resistance make the natural fibre material well suited to use in the driver’s seat. It improves comfort and reduces vibration in the cockpit, which can have a fatiguing effect on drivers and if the seat were to break, unlike carbon fibre, it’s not prone to brittle fracture and splintering.

The ductile fracture behaviour of natural fibre composites opens the door to other possibilities too. One of the most spectacular, but equally dangerous, aspects of an on-track incident is the shards of carbon fibre that result from a collision. Not only do they present an immediate risk to the drivers, but they are also notorious for causing punctures and leaving a driver’s race in tatters. By using natural fibre composites in other areas of the car, such as front wing endplates and the floor, it’s possible to reduce carbon fibre debris and therefore the risk of punctures.

The cost of materials is going to be a big focus and the use of natural fibre composites has the potential to help in this area

With a budget cap set be introduced from 2021, many F1 teams will need to reduce costs while maintaining and improving performance – no mean feat in a sport where, typically, a team can pursue more development routes the more resource it has available. Teams are going to have to work even smarter, McLaren says that using these natural composite solutions has seen a reduction in raw material cost by up to 30% compared to traditional carbon fibre.

Most of the moulds used to make parts of the car are made from carbon fibre composite because of its low thermal expansion. However, flax fibres also possess this property, potentially making them a suitable tooling material for moulding performance parts that are made from standard composites. So even if the part being produced isn’t made from natural fibre materials, the tool to produce it can be – allowing us to reduce the cost of mould tools and our carbon footprint.

With so many potential applications, McLaren sees the natural fibre racing seat as just the beginning and will continue to work with Bcomp to identify other components that can be replaced. The seat was run in pre-season testing without any problems and McLaren hope to be racing with the Bcomp flax seats in the near future.

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Due to the weight savings made the vehicle’s payload is boosted by almost 50% compared to similar vehicles meaning more goods can be carried per vehicle, per journey. While significant improvements in fuel economy too, thanks to the aerodynamic technologies applied to the design.

The launch is the result of more than 10 years of research by British engineering firm Penso and a £16.3 million investment – half from Penso and half from government matched-funding via the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) and Innovate UK. This has helped to fund the installation of a flexible automated robot assembly line housed in a brand new 50,000 square foot facility.

From the outset, we knew carbon fibre was going to be the solution, but we also knew others had tried this approach previously, and because it was eye-wateringly expensive – partly due to the lengthy and complex production process to manufacture each part – the costs simply hadn’t stacked up.

In order to get the costs down the company constructed the bodies using the same sandwich panel technology they had used to create a press formed composite rail door for the London Underground. By moving away from manufacturing parts in an autoclave, and press forming the panels instead, they could cut the time it takes to construct each part from hours to minutes.

The newly created robot assembly line could create a finished body every 42 minutes, much quicker than the two-weeks a typical manual build takes with carbon fibre composites. The new van bodies have a 10-year lifespan (and structural warranty) and can be moved to a new chassis after 5 years, which makes them compatible with future electric and hybrid vehicles.

With these savings in fuel, labour and operating costs, Penso estimates that a typical supermarket fleet could save up to £6,700 per van, per year. Asda will be putting these vans on the road throughout the country focussing on areas where drivers have increased mileage to reach customers in remote areas such as parts of the East Coast.

This latest move is part of Asda’s commitment to making carbon reduction a priority across the business as it looks to tackle climate change. The retailer has already reduced its energy usage by 20% in stores and uses the same amount of energy as it did in 2005, despite its estate being 200% bigger.

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