• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1059-1066
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• 2009

Recently, the amount of thermosetting plastic wastes has increased with the production of reinforced plastic composites and causes serious environmental problems. The epoxy resins, one of the versatile thermosetting plastics with excellent properties, cannot be melted down and remolded as what is done in the thermoplastic industry. In this research, a series of experiments that decompose epoxy resin and recover carbon fibers from carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites applied to railway vehicles was performed. We experimentally examined various decomposition processes and compared their decomposition efficiencies and mechanical property of recovered carbon fibers. For the prevention of tangle of recovered carbon fibers, each composites specimen was fixed with a Teflon supporter and no mechanical mixing was applied. Decomposition products were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS), and universal testing machine (UTM). Carbon fibers could be completely recovered from decomposition process using nitric acid aqueous solution, liquid-phase thermal cracking and pyrolysis. The tensile strength losses of the recovered carbon fibers were less than 4%.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.290-295
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• 2021

The application of lightweight structural composites to automobiles as a solution in line with global fuel economy regulations to curb global warming is recognized as a megatrend. This study was conducted to provide a technical approach that can respond to the issue of replacing parts that require conductive properties to maximize the application of thermoplastic carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs), which are advantageous in terms of repair, disposal and recycling. By utilizing the properties of the low-viscosity polymerizable oligomer matrix, it was possible to prepare a thermoplastic CFRP exhibiting excellent impregnation properties while uniformly mixing the conductive filler. Various carbon-based conductive fillers such as carbon black, carbon nanotubes, graphene nanoplatelets, graphite, and pitch-based carbon fibers were filled up to the maximum content, and electrical and thermal conductive properties of the fabricated composites were compared and studied. It was confirmed that the maximum incorporation of filler was the most important factor to control the conductive properties of the composites rather than the type or shape of the conductive carbon filler. Experimental results were observed in which it might be advantageous to apply a one-dimensional conductive carbon filler to improve electrical conductivity, whereas it might be advantageous to apply a two-dimensional conductive carbon filler to improve thermal conductivity. The results of this study can provide potential insight into the optimization of structural design for controlling the conductive properties of thermoplastic CFRPs.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.35-46
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• 2021

This paper aims to reduce weight by replacing the reinforcements of the B-pillar used in vehicles with CFRP(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics) and GFRP(Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics) from the existing steel materials. For this, it is necessary to secure structural stability that can replace the existing B-pillar while reducing the weight. Existing B-pillar are composed of steel reinforcements of various shapes, including a steel outer. Among these steel reinforcements, two steel reinforcements are to be replaced with composite materials. Each steel reinforcement is manufactured separately and bonded to the B-pillar outer by welding. However, the composite reinforcements presented in this paper are manufactured at once through compression and injection processes using patch-type CFRP and rib-structured GFRP. CFRP is attached to the high-strength part of the B-pillar to resist side loads, and the GFRP ribs are designed to resist torsion and side loads through a topology optimization technique. Through structural analysis, the designed composite B-pillar was compared with the existing B-pillar, and the weight reduction ratio was calculated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.72-79
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• 2021

A circular saw is an effective tool for cutting glass and carbon-fiber hybrid composites. This study investigated tool wear and cut quality when reusing saw blades. The carbide saws wear four times faster than the new ones, and polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is very resistant to tool wear, except at the end of its lifespan. The cut cross-section quality is affected by the blade type, tool wear, and spindle speed. Alternate top bevel (ATB)-type blades are suitable for cutting fiber-reinforced plastics, but triple-chip grind (TCG)-type blades are unsuitable because they cause fiber-pullout defects. Tool wear and low spindle speeds increase the occurrence of arc scratches, due to the rear saw blade. A microscopic examination showed that the burr, which is a mixture of fiber chips and epoxy matrix, was bonded on top, and glass-fiber delamination occurred on the bottom glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) surface.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.511-519
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• 1996

An investigation was conducted to study the statistical nature of tensile strength and static fracture toughness of carbon fiber reinforced plastics(CFRP) materials. A good understanding of statistical aspects of strength data is essential for the successful application of such materials because these composites unpossess material uniformity as compared with conventional metallic materials. In this paper, a statistical approach based on Weibull distribution was applied to the test data to evaluate the dispersion in the tensile strength and static fracture toughness by the change of stacking method and test temparature of the CFRP materials.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.21-40
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• 2004

In this paper, we modify the L-L model (Li et al. 2003) and extend the application of this model to concrete confined by both steel reinforcement and CFRP. Thirty-six concrete cylinders with a dimension of ${\varphi}30{\times}60$ cm were tested to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. The experimental test results show that different types of steel reinforcement have a great effect on the compressive strength of concrete cylinders confined by steel reinforcement, but the different types of steel reinforcement have very little effect on concrete cylinders confined by both steel reinforcement and CFRP. Compared with the stress-strain curves of confined concrete cylinders, we can conclude that the proposed model can provide more effective prediction than others models.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.34-38
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• 2011

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been widely investigated as reinforcements of CNT/polymer nanocomposites to enhance mechanical and electrical properties of polymer matrices since their discovery in the early 90's. Furthermore, the number of studies about incorporating CNTs into carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) to reinforce their polymer matrices is increasing recently. In this study, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) were dispersed in epoxy with 0.2 wt.% and 0.5 wt.%. Then, the SWNT/epoxy mixtures were processed to carbon fiber composites by a vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) and a wet lay up method. The processed composite samples were tested for the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). The relationship between the interlaminar shear strengths and processing, and the reinforcement mechanism of carbon nanotubes were investigated. CNT/epoxy nanocomposite specimens showed the increased tensile properties. However, the ILSS of carbon fiber composites was not enhanced by reinforcing the matrix with CNTs because of processing issues caused by increased viscosity of the matrix due to addition of CNTs particularly for a VARTM method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2010

The carbon fiber reinforced plastics, one of unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite materials, are widely used in various field including space and aviation industries, sports and leisure industries and general structural members and parts as have high strength in comparison with the weight, elasticity coefficient, high fatigue strength and lower thermal transformation. This paper present analytical behavior of CFRP pipe reinforced rib under the external force. From the results, the maximum compressive stress occurs at the upper flange of CFRP pipe and tensile stress occurs middle flange of the CFRP pipe. The stress of rib CFRP pipe by increasing effective cross-sectional area was reduced by approximately 35%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.566-576
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• 2003

Carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) composite laminates often possess strong in-plane elastic anisotropy attributable to the fiber orientation and layup sequence. The layup orientation thus greatly influences its properties in a composite laminate. It could result in the part being rejected or discarded if the layup orientation of a ply is misaligned. A nondestructive technique would be very beneficial, which could be used to test the part after curing and to require less time than the optical test. In this paper, ultrasonic scanners were set out for different measurement modalities for acquiring ultrasonic signals as a function of in-plane azimuthal angle. The motorized scanner was built first for making transmission measurements using a pair of normal-incidence shear wave transducers. Another scanner was then built fer the acousto-ultrasonic configuration using contact transducers. A ply-by-ply vector decomposition model has been developed, simplified, and implemented for composite laminates fabricated from unidirectional plies. We have compared the test results with model data. It is found that strong agreement are shown between tests and the model developed in characterizing cured layups of the laminates.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.515-521
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• 2023

In this study, waste carbon fiber obtained by pyrolysis of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) was used to produce carbon fluoride through vapor phase fluorination and recycled as a reducing electrode material for lithium primary batteries. First, the physicochemical properties of the waste carbon fiber obtained by pyrolysis were determined, and the structural and chemical properties of carbon fluoride were analyzed to evaluate the effect of vapor phase fluorination on the waste carbon fiber. XRD analysis confirmed that the hexagonal network carbon laminated structure (002 peak) of the waste carbon fiber was gradually converted into a carbon fluoride structure (CF_X, 001 peak) as the temperature of gas phase fluorination increased. The discharge capacity of the lithium primary battery produced using this carbon fluoride was up to 862 mAh/g. This was compared to the discharge capacity of carbon fluoride-based Li-ion batteries made of other carbon materials. These results suggest that carbon fluoride made from waste CFRP-based carbon fibers can be used as a reducing electrode material for Li-ion batteries.