University of Birmingham is one of the top 100 universities in the world with higher education, training, research & innovation and consultancy as its main activities. The School of Metallurgy and Materials at UOB is one of the European materials research centres equipped with world-class materials research facilities. Two research groups within the School at UOB will collectively contribute to the project: Surface Engineering Group (SEG) and Composites and Sensor and Composites Group (CSCG). UOB will undertake a study to screen precursors that can be mechano-electro-spun into fibres. The mechano-electro-spinning technique will be developed in this study to enable a wide range of viscosities to be electro-spun without the reliance on excessive solvents. UOB will assume responsibility for determining the Weibull tensile strength distributions for the individual filaments and fibre bundles. The samples will be end-tabbed as appropriate and tensile tested. Conventional piezo-electic acoustic emission transducers will be surface-mounted on the end-tabs to enable the fracture of each filament to be determined. UOB will utilise the recently developed eco-filament winding technique to manufacture unidirectional flat-panel preforms of specified thickness. These performs will be autoclaved using the vacuum bagging technique. The resin system to be used will be a high-performance aerospace-grade epoxy/amine. Test specimens will be manufactured to enable the following tests to be carried out: tensile; flexural; inter-laminar shear; and compression. The target fibre volume fraction is 60%. UOB will also process the fibres manufactured by NTUA. UOB will work predominantly within Work Packages:
Prof. Hanshan Dong, Professor of Surface Engineering and Head of SEG, is a world renowned expert in plasma surface engineering. Prof Dong is the PI at UOB. He has successfully managed and completed 6 EU projects and coordinated a FP7 project, thus contributing greatly to the surface engineering research in European dimension. In addition to 7 patents, about 250 peer reviewed papers have been published. He will be in charge of active-screen plasma surface functionalisation of carbon fibres and management of UOB activities. Prof. Gerard Fernando, Professor of Polymer Engineering. He has published over 180 peer reviewed journal articles in the areas of process and health monitoring of fibre reinforced composites. He has previously secured 14 EPSRC and 5 TSB research grants in these two primary areas. He will be in charge of precursor development at UOB with a focus on hybrid starting chemicals, eco-friendly composites processing, modelling of fibre process and mechanical property and recycling of waste carbon fibre performs and composites. Dr. Xiaoying Li is a senior researcher specialised in microstructural characterisation, surface/interface analysis and micro- & nano-mechanical property assessment. She will be responsible for microstructural characterisation of fibres and surface/interface analysis of composites using cross-sectional TEM, AFM and FIB/SEM; micro-creep, mechanical interlocking & nano-mechanical property evaluation using novel environment nanoindentation probing. UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM (UOB), United Kingdom
Contact Information
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
UK
Description of the organisation
FIBRALSPEC Project
WP8. Recycling – (i) developing strategy for the various waste streams, (ii) demonstrating reuse and recycling approaches.Key persons for FIBRALSPEC Project
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM – (UOB)FIBRALSPEC admin2018-04-27T13:06:53+01:00
School of Metallurgy and Materials
T: (+44) (0) 121 414 8244
M: +44 795 25 88 411
e: g.fernando@bham.ac.uk