Real Area of Contact in Carbon Fabric Forming

Smerdova, O., Sutcliffe, M. P.F. and Mulvihill, D. M. (2015) Real Area of Contact in Carbon Fabric Forming. In: 20th International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM20), Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-24 Jul 2015,

Abstract

An experimental rig and image analysis method have been developed to measure the real area of contact between carbon fibre fabric and a smooth tool. By using as the tool surface a flat glass slide with an optical coating, and viewing the contact through the slide, the contact area is clearly visible at a fibre scale. Straightforward image analysis is used to estimate the length of fibre contact. A microcontact density is defined, normalising the measured fibre contact length by the value for an idealised packing arrangement of close-packed parallel fibres. The method is applied to a 2×2 twill weave carbon fabric and a 12k carbon fibre single tow. Both for the woven fabric and the single tow, the microcontact density is significantly below the idealised value of 100%. The contact density is sensitive to contact pressure and has a similar value of between 4 and 8 % for the two materials considered at the contact pressure of a few kPa appropriate to dry pre-forming operations.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mulvihill, Dr Daniel
• Authors: Smerdova, O., Sutcliffe, M. P.F., and Mulvihill, D. M.
• Subjects: T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery; T Technology > TS Manufactures
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy

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