Title : Advanced multifunctional textile structural polymeric composites and applications
Abstract:
Novel materials with unique properties compared to conventional materials are named as advanced materials that help modern industries to drive technological innovations and optimise the cost and efficiency of existing traditional materials and products. These materials include biomaterials, smart materials, nano-engineered materials, auxetic materials, smart composites for structural health monitoring, structural power composites, and a large variety of advanced textile structural composite materials. This paper presents development of textile structural polymeric composites as a new class of high-performance functional materials in the Focus incubation centre of IIT Delhi where the emphasis is given to produce innovative fibre architecture in manufacturing of tough, net shape, damage resistance, ductile, light weight multifunctional structural composites. The toughening and strengthening of polymer, metal, and ceramic matrix composites through the use of 3-D fibre architecture is demonstrated with experimental evidence. Number of experimental investigations revealed the potential of 3D textile structural polymeric composites to be used in automotives, aerospace, marine, wind energy and civil engineering applications. Techniques for the modelling of textile structural composite for their mechanical performance are also illustrated with examples in specific applications. Engineering design and manufacturing of woven auxetic composites, metal matrix fibre reinforced composites, multifunctional structural power composite, metal laminates/sandwich materials, woven structural composite radome and several 3D woven structure based composites are discussed with experimental results of their structural and non-structural functions. Majority of the developments in focus incubation centre were carried out to promote the textile structural polymeric composites for advanced load-bearing applications in automotives, marine, aerospace, railway and wind energy mainly due to the huge potential for weight saving and fuel economy. It is established that these composites can achieve a weight reduction of as high as up to 35% compared to aluminium and 60% compared to steel and the overall weight of a vehicle can be reduced up to 10%.