• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.163-169
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• 2008

Tribological properties of ceramic brake discs were investigated using a commercial friction material. The discs were manufactured by liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) into a C-C preform. The disc surface was modified by two different methods, producing sliding surfaces with chopped carbon fibers and carbon felt. In addition, the composition of the surface was also changed. Friction characteristics of the discs were examined using a 1/5 scale dynamometer. Results showed that the type and composition of the disc surface significantly affected the level of braking effectiveness and high temperature brake performance. The discs with felt surfaces showed higher friction levels than those with chopped fiber surfaces and SiC tended to increase the friction level while C lowered the friction coefficient. The ceramic disc was more sensitive to the deceleration rate than gray iron, showing high speed sensitivity.

• Composites Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.322-327
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• 2013

Carbon fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composites have good oxidation resistance and thermal shock resistance. These properties have allowed the composites to be applied to high-temperature structures. In this study, $C_f/SiC$ composites were fabricated via precursor infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) process, including liquid phase infiltration and chemical vapor curing using cyclohexene. The final $C_f/SiC$ composites, which have gone through the PIP process five times, showed a density of $1.79g/cm^3$, as compared to a density of $0.43g/cm^3$ for pre-densified bare carbon fiber preform. As for the oxidation resistance characteristics, the weight of $C_f/SiC$ composite was maintained at 81% at $1400^{\circ}C$ in air for 6 hours. Chemical vapor curing (CVC) using cyclohexene has shown to be an effective method to achieve high densification, leading to increased oxidation resistance.

• Composites Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.322-327
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• 2022

Composite lap joints have been extensively used due to their excellent properties and the demand for light structures. However, due to the weak mechanical properties in the thickness direction, the lap joint is easily fractured. various reinforcement methods that delay fracture by dispersing stress concentration have been applied to overcome this problem, such as z-pinning and conventional stitching. The Z-pinning is reinforcement method by inserting metal or carbon pin in the thickness direction of prepreg, and the conventional stitching process is a method of reinforcing the mechanical properties in the thickness direction by intersecting the upper and lower fibers on the preform. I-fiber stitching method is a promising technology that combines the advantages of both z-pinning and the conventional stitching. In this paper, the static and fatigue strengths of the single-lap joints reinforced by the I-fiber stitching process were evaluated. The single-lap joints were fabricated by a co-curing method using an autoclave vacuum bag process and I-fiber reinforcing effects were evaluated according to adherend thickness and stitching angle. From the experiments, the thinner the composite joint specimen, the higher the I-fiber reinforcement effect, and Ifiber stitched single lap joints showed a 52% improvement in failure strength and 118% improvement in fatigue strength.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.296-301
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• 2020

Laminated composite materials have excellent in-plane properties, but are vulnerable in thickness directions, making it easy to delamination when bending and torsion loads are applied. Thickness directional reinforcement methods of composite materials that delay delamination include Z-pinning, Stitching, Tufting, etc., and typically Z-pinning and Stitching method are commonly used. The Z-pinning is reinforcement method by inserting metal or carbon pin in the thickness direction of prepreg, and the conventional stitching process is a method of reinforcing the mechanical properties in the thickness direction by intersecting the upper and lower fibers on the preform. In this paper, I-fiber stitching method, which complement and improve weakness of Z-pinning and Stitching method, was proposed, and the static strength of composite single-lap joints using I-fiber stitching process were evaluated. The single-lap joints were fabricated by a co-curing method using an autoclave vacuum bag process. The thickness of the composite adherend was fixed, and 5 types of specimens were manufactured with varying the stitching pattern (5×5, 7×7) and angle (0°, 45°). From the test, the failure load of the specimen reinforced by the I-fiber stitching process was increased by up to 143% compared to that of specimen without reinforcement.

• Composites Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2003

In order to overcome one of the most pronounced shortcomings of conventional laminated composites, such as the low damage tolerance due to delamination, the thermoplastic materials and 3D (three-dimensional) preforms have been utilized in the manufacture of composite materials. From the newly developed process termed as the co-braiding, hybrid yarns of the thermoplastic fibers (PEEK) and reinforcing fibers (carbon) have been fabricated. In order to further enhance the delamination suppression, through thickness fibers have been introduced by way of 3D weaving technique in the fabrication of textile preforms. The preforms have been thermoformed to make composite materials. Complete impregnation of the PEEK into the carbon fiber bundles has been confirmed. For the comparison of mechanical performance of 3D woven composites, quasi-isotropic laminates using APC-2/AS4 tapes have been fabricated. Tensile and compressive properties of both the composites have been determined. Furthermore. the open hole, impact and CAI(Compression After Impact) tests were also carried out to assess the applicability of 3D woven textile reinforced thermoplastic composites in aerospace structures.

• Composites Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.269-276
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• 2022

In this paper, a composite stiffened panel was fabricated using a three-dimensional weaving method that can reduce the risk of delamination, and mechanical properties such as buckling load and natural frequency were investigated. The preform of the stringer and skin of the stiffened panel were fabricated in one piece using T800 grade carbon fiber and then, resin (EP2400) was injected into the preform. The compression test and natural frequency measurement were performed for the stiffened panel, and the results were compared with the finite element analyses. In order to compare the performance of 3D weaving structures, the stiffened panels with the same configuration were fabricated using UD and 2D plain weave (fabric) prepregs. Compared to the tested buckling load of the 3D woven panel, the buckling loads of the stiffened panels of UD prepreg and 2D plain weave exhibited +20% and -3% differences, respectively. From this study, it was confirmed that the buckling load of the stiffened panel manufactured by 3D weaving method was lower than that of the UD prepreg panel, but showed a slightly higher value than that of the 2D plain weave panel.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.259-275
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• 2008

This study aims to optimize the mechanical and electrical properties of electrically conductive polymer composites (CPCs) for use as a material of bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells. The thin CPCs consisting of conductive fillers and polymer resin were fabricated by a preform molding technique. Expanded graphite (EG), flake-type graphite (FG) and carbon fiber (CF) were used as conductive fillers. This study tested two types of CPCs, EG/FG filled CPCs and EG/CF filled CPCs, to optimize the material properties. First, the characteristics of EG/FG filled CPCs were investigated according to the FG ratio for 7 and $100{\mu}m$ sized FG. CPCs using $100{\mu}m$ FG showed optimal material properties at 60 wt% FG ratio, which were an electrical conductivity of 390 S/cm and flexural strength of 51 MPa. The particle size was an important parameter to change the mechanical and electrical behaviors. The flexural strength was sensitive to the particle size due to the different levels of densification. The electrical conductivity also showed size-dependent behavior because of the different contributions to the conductive network. Meanwhile, the material properties of EG/CF filled CPCs was also optimized according to the CF ratio, and the optimized electrical conductivity and flexural strength were 290 S/cm and 58 MPa, respectively. The electrical conductivity of this case decreased similarly to the EG/FG filled case. On the other hand, the behavior of the flexural strength was more complicated than the EG/FG filled case, and the reason was attributed to the interaction between the strengthening effect of CF and the deterioration of voids.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2020

The wind turbine blades should be designed to possess a high stiffness and should be fabricated with a light and high strength material because they serve under extreme combination of lift and drag forces, converting kinetic energy of wind into shaft work. The goal of this study is to understand the basic knowledge required to curtail the process time consumed during the construction of small wind turbine blades using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) prepeg composites. The configuration of turbine rotor was determined using the QBlade freeware program. The fluid dynamics module simulated the loads exerted by the wind of a specific speed, and the stress analysis module predicted the distributions of equivalent von Mises stress for representing the blade structures. It was suggested to modify the shape of test specimen from ASTM D638 to decrease the variance in measured tensile strengths. Then, a series of experiments were performed to confirm that the bladder compression molded CFRP prepreg can provide sufficient strength to small wind turbine blades and decrease the cure time simultaneously.