Resonant Frequency of Circular Sectorial Microstrip Antenna Printed On Double-Layered Anisotropic Substrates

In this work, modal characteristics have been rigorously studied which germinate an improved, accurate, and efficient computer-aided design (CAD) formulation to estimate the resonant frequency of sectorial circular microstrip antennas printed on anisotropic suspended and composite substrates. The obtained results demonstrated that the resonant frequencies of the sectorial circular microstrip patch on suspended and composite substrates can be adjusted to obtain the maximum operating frequency of the antenna. The computed results show a fairly good agreement with measured results. Such theoretical validation and results may prove to be more useful for design engineers and further investigation.

Soldering of Electronics Components on 3D-Printed Conductive Substrates

Rapid development of additive manufacturing and new composites materials with unique properties are promising tools for fabricating structural electronics. However, according to the typical maximum resolution of additive manufacturing methods, there is no possibility to fabricate all electrical components with these techniques. One way to produce complex structural electronic circuits is to merge 3D-printed elements with standard electronic components. Here, different soldering and surface preparation methods before soldering are tested to find the optimal method for soldering typical electronic components on conductive, 3D-printed, composite substrates. To determine the optimal soldering condition, the contact angles of solder joints fabricated in different conditions were measured. Additionally, the mechanical strength of the joints was measured using the shear force test. The research shows a possibility of fabricating strong, conductive solder joints on composites substrates prepared by additive manufacturing. The results show that mechanical cleaning and using additional flux on the composite substrates are necessary to obtain high-quality solder joints. The most repeatable joints with the highest shear strength values were obtained using reflow soldering together with low-temperature SnBiAg solder alloy. A fabricated demonstrator is a sample of the successful merging of 3D-printed structural electronics with standard electronic components.

Predicting Surface Roughness And Delamination When Abrasive Waterjet Machining Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites

The machining of composite materials is difficult because of their non-homogenous structure and their constituents commonly possess a high resistance to cutting. Abrasive waterjet machining (AWJM) is more attractive for composite substrates than conventional machining techniques because of its ability to rapidly machine a wide variety of materials with low reactionary forces on the workpiece, and without creating a heat-affected zone. However, AWJM is prone to producing variable surface roughness and delamination. This dissertation aimed to model these surface roughness and delamination mechanisms. The thesis presents 2D and 3D roughness models capable of predicting the surface roughness during abrasive waterjet (AWJ) trimming of composite substrates. The models were able to predict the measured surface roughness with an average error of 10% and 16%, for the 2D and 3D models, respectively. The thesis also presents experimental and numerical results characterizing the delamination when AWJ piercing and cutting a carbon-fiber/epoxy laminate. Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) models created to simulate the piercing process showed that interlaminar delamination was due to the hydraulic shock (‘water hammer’) associated with liquid jet impact. As expected, increased pressure and nozzle size resulted in ply debonding, and was experimentally verified using 3D x-ray micro-tomography. The composite anisotropy was found to produce an asymmetric shock loading along the liquid-solid interface, which contributed to the asymmetric delamination. The FSI model showed that delamination when cutting carbon-fiber/epoxy depended primarily on the normal interlaminar stress, with relatively large damage zones occurring ahead of the cutting front. This trend was also observed in x-ray micro-tomographs of an AWJ cut. The amount of delamination across different process parameters was also measured using a moisture uptake methodology, and showed that increase traverse speed, increased nozzle size, and decreased abrasive flow rate, increased delamination. Prediction and characterization of surface roughness and delamination when AWJM will allow further improvement of cut-surface finish and structural integrity of composite materials, respectively

Predicting Surface Roughness And Delamination When Abrasive Waterjet Machining Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites

The machining of composite materials is difficult because of their non-homogenous structure and their constituents commonly possess a high resistance to cutting. Abrasive waterjet machining (AWJM) is more attractive for composite substrates than conventional machining techniques because of its ability to rapidly machine a wide variety of materials with low reactionary forces on the workpiece, and without creating a heat-affected zone. However, AWJM is prone to producing variable surface roughness and delamination. This dissertation aimed to model these surface roughness and delamination mechanisms. The thesis presents 2D and 3D roughness models capable of predicting the surface roughness during abrasive waterjet (AWJ) trimming of composite substrates. The models were able to predict the measured surface roughness with an average error of 10% and 16%, for the 2D and 3D models, respectively. The thesis also presents experimental and numerical results characterizing the delamination when AWJ piercing and cutting a carbon-fiber/epoxy laminate. Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) models created to simulate the piercing process showed that interlaminar delamination was due to the hydraulic shock (‘water hammer’) associated with liquid jet impact. As expected, increased pressure and nozzle size resulted in ply debonding, and was experimentally verified using 3D x-ray micro-tomography. The composite anisotropy was found to produce an asymmetric shock loading along the liquid-solid interface, which contributed to the asymmetric delamination. The FSI model showed that delamination when cutting carbon-fiber/epoxy depended primarily on the normal interlaminar stress, with relatively large damage zones occurring ahead of the cutting front. This trend was also observed in x-ray micro-tomographs of an AWJ cut. The amount of delamination across different process parameters was also measured using a moisture uptake methodology, and showed that increase traverse speed, increased nozzle size, and decreased abrasive flow rate, increased delamination. Prediction and characterization of surface roughness and delamination when AWJM will allow further improvement of cut-surface finish and structural integrity of composite materials, respectively

Magnetic Properties of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Do Not Essentially Contribute to Ferrogel Biocompatibility

Two series of composite polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels with embedded superparamagnetic Fe2O3 or diamagnetic Al2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized, aiming to study the direct contribution of the magnetic interactions to the ferrogel biocompatibility. The proliferative activity was estimated for the case of human dermal fibroblast culture grown onto the surfaces of these types of substrates. Spherical non-agglomerated nanoparticles (NPs) of 20–40 nm in diameter were prepared by laser target evaporation (LTE) electrophysical technique. The concentration of the NPs in gel was fixed at 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, or 1.2 wt.%. Mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties of composite gels were characterized by the dependence of Young’s modulus, electrical potential, magnetization measurements on the content of embedded NPs. The fibroblast monolayer density grown onto the surface of composite substrates was considered as an indicator of the material biocompatibility after 96 h of incubation. Regardless of the superparamagnetic or diamagnetic nature of nanoparticles, the increase in their concentration in the PAAm composite provided a parallel increase in the cell culture proliferation when grown onto the surface of composite substrates. The effects of cell interaction with the nanostructured surface of composites are discussed in order to explain the results.

Fused Filament Fabrication of ONYX-Based Composites Coated with Aluminum Powders: a Preliminary Analysis on Feasibility and Characterization

Polymer-based AM methods are the most mature additive technologies for their versatility and variety of products obtainable. The addition of fibre reinforcement can also confer to the manufactures produced good mechanical properties. Unfortunately, several applications are still precluded because polymers cannot guarantee appropriate electrical conductivity, erosion resistance and operating temperature. Aiming to overcome these issues, the metallization of the surfaces emerges as a possible solution. Unfortunately, thermoplastic polymers exhibit thermosensitive behaviour and run the risk of being damaged when traditional metallization techniques, which require the melting of metal powders which will act as a protective coating. For this reason, studies have focused on Cold Gas Dynamic Spray, an additive manufacturing technology, which exploits kinetic energy to favour the adhesion of metal particles rather than the increase in temperature. In this work, a first attempt is made to verify the feasibility of cold spray coatings on 3D printed composite substrates, produced by means of Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technique. FFF technology allows the deposition of two different types of filaments by using a double extruder. These composite fibres within 3D printed parts manage to give the object a resistance comparable to that of a metal part with lower production cost and a high degree of automation. These structures, made of ONYX, a Nylon matrix in which short carbon fibres are dispersed, and reinforced with long carbon fibres, are designed to better fit the CS deposition. Aluminium coatings have been produced and a characterization campaign has been carried on.

Thermal Spray Coating on Polymeric Composite for De-icing and Anti-icing Applications

This paper reports a novel method for fabrication of an electro-thermal heating element, as de-icer or anti-icer, for the polymer-based composites. The plasma spray technique was utilized for the deposition of a Nickel-Chrome-Aluminum-Yttrium (NiCrAlY) coating layer as a heating-element on top of the glass/epoxy composite. To improve the adhesion strength and deposition efficiency of the coatings and to protect the composite fibers during grit blasting and spraying, a woven wire stainless steel mesh was added to the composite substrates during the composite fabrication process. Metal mesh will act as an anchor to keep the coating on the surface. Two types of woven wire and two types of NiCrAlY powder with the fine and coarse particle size distributions were used. Good processing parameters for grit blasting and plasma spraying are identified. It is found that the surface modification method applied to the composite substrates prior to the coating process makes a significant improvement in the coating thickness uniformity and deposition efficiency. Several tests were conducted on the coated samples for determination of their mechanical and electrical properties. Using flat-wise tensile tests, it is shown that application of proper surface modification method and set of spray parameters could result in improving the coating bonding strength significantly. The electrical and thermal analyses of the coated samples are also performed. It is shown that the coated samples have a high capability in the generation of heat and can be used as a heating-element.