Browsing by Author "Dear, John P."

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    Comparison of different quasi-static loading conditions of additively manufactured composite hexagonal and auxetic cellular structures
    (Elsevier, 2022-12-27) Zhou, Jin; Liu, Haibao; Dear, John P.; Falzon, Brian G.; Kazancı, Zafer
    Auxetic cellular structures have the potential to revolutionise sandwich panel cores due to their potential superior energy absorption capability. Because of their negative Poisson's ratio, auxetics behave counterintuitively and contract orthogonally under an applied compressive force, resulting in a densification of material in the vicinity of the applied load. This study investigates three cellular structures and compares their compressive energy absorbing characteristics under in-plane and axial loading conditions. Three unit cell topologies are considered; a conventional hexagonal, re-entrant and double arrowhead auxetic structures. The samples were additively manufactured using two different materials, a conventional Nylon and a carbon fibre reinforced composite alternative (Onyx). Finite element simulations are experimentally validated under out of and in-plane loading conditions and the double arrowhead (auxetic) structure is shown to exhibit comparatively superior energy absorption. For the carbon fibre reinforced material, Onyx, the specific energy absorbed by the double arrowhead geometry was 125% and 244% greater than the hexagonal (non-auxetic) and re-entrant (auxetic) structures respectively.
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    Damage and energy absorption behaviour of composite laminates under impact loading using different impactor geometries
    (Elsevier, 2023-06-24) Ding, Yuzhe; Liu, Jun; Hall, Zoe E. C.; Brooks, Richard A.; Liu, Haibao; Kinloch, Anthony J.; Dear, John P.
    The present paper compares the damage and energy absorption behaviour of composites subjected to low-velocity impact using different frontal geometries for the impactor, with the composites possessing a layup of [02/902]2s. In this study, the rigid impactors with either round-nosed or flat-ended frontal geometry are employed to perform drop-weight tests at various impact energies ranging from 10 to 30 J. The measured loading response and energy absorption are analysed and compared. Additionally, the types and extent of impact-induced damage in the composite specimens are assessed via ultrasonic C-scan, optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. It is shown that the impact energy threshold for damage initiation is greater than 20 J when using the flat-ended impactor but is less than 10 J when using the round-nosed impactor. In both cases, delamination initiates between the plies in the composite laminate. However, for the flat-ended impactor, the damage behaviour of the fibres exhibits kinking fracture, which differs from the pull-out fibre-fracture caused by the round-nosed impactor. These differences in behaviour are attributed to impactor/composite contact geometry effects which leads to different extents of indentation damage, which in turn directly affects the degree of delamination and fibre damage in the composite.
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    Impact testing on the pristine and repaired composite materials for aerostructures
    (MDPI, 2023-04-12) Hall, Zoe E. C.; Liu, Jun; Brooks, Richard A.; Liu, Haibao; Dear, John P.
    Aircraft technologies and materials have been developing and improving drastically over the last hundred years. Over the last three decades, an interest in the use of composites for external structures has become prominent. For this to be possible, thorough research on the performance of composite materials, specifically the impact performance, have been carried out. For example, research of impact testing for pristine carbon-reinforced epoxy composites mentions matrix cracks, fibre fracture, and delamination as the failure modes that require monitoring. In addition, thorough testing has been carried out on composites repaired with an adhesive bond to observe the effects of conditioning on the adhesively bonded repair. The results suggest there are no major changes in the adhesive under the testing condition. By reviewing the impact testing on the pristine and repaired composite materials for aerostructures, this paper aims to illustrate the main findings and also explore the potential future work in this research scope.
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    Strain-rate-dependent mechanics and impact performance of epoxy-based nanocomposites
    (Elsevier, 2022-12-28) Tüfekci, Mertol; Özkal, Burak; Maharaj, Chris; Liu, Haibao; Dear, John P.; Salles, Loïc
    Strain-rate-dependent mechanical properties and impact performance of manufactured epoxy-based nanocomposites are investigated. As reinforcements, fumed silica (FS) and halloysite nanotube (HNT) are used alongside Albipox 1000 and Nanopox F700. First, the internal structures of the composites are visualised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). To identify the strain-rate-dependent mechanical properties, three-point bend tests are conducted at three different strain rate levels. For the impact resistance, Charpy impact tests are performed. For further investigations of the mechanical properties of the composites, mean-field homogenisation (MFH) and finite element (FE) analyses on the representative volume elements (RVE) are performed for each type of composite material. Overall, the modelling and experiments are in good agreement and account for the mechanical behaviour of these epoxy-based nanocomposites.