Fiber-reinforced composite materials
Composite materials reinforced with continuous fibers and textiles offer a number of advantages over conventional constructions in the development of material- and energy-efficient structural components. Function-integrating lightweight design in mixed textile construction is particularly important in this area. The high strength and rigidity in combination with low weight, the adjustable short-term dynamic properties, the great number of textile methods and structures, as well as the economic production at high reproducibility, suitability for series production, and recyclability make this new group materials of continuous-fiber-reinforced composites interesting and promising for a variety of high-tech applications for future lightweight design applications in various industries. Compared to other materials, textile-reinforced composites are much more flexible, which makes them naturally suitable for the mixed construction required for the complex requirements in lightweight design.
Textile materials and semi-finished textile products as innovative materials have tremendous property potential and will continue to grow as an important group of high-tech materials. They are the cornerstone of development efforts for innovative product with new, scalable properties. Composites reinforced with continuous fibers are highly flexible in their adaptability to the material structure, making the material properties and property anisotropy easily and specifically adjustable to existing processing conditions and component requirements.
The following textile constructions with customized properties for lightweight design applications, for instance, can be achieved by active and specific shaping of the textile material:
- free spatial arrangement of force-absorbing thread systems (1D, 2D, and 3D),
- force-fit orientation of the yarns and determination of force-absorbing thread systems according to load case, e.g. biaxial, multiaxial, or polar,
- adaption of component geometry and design, e.g. freeform surfaces, complex profiles, tubular structures, spacer structures, and
- hybridization of multiple materials and functional integration, for instance into metal-FRPC multimaterial components.
Currently, a paradigm shift is taking place in the industry, with monolithic materials like aluminum and titanium being replaced by fiber-reinforced composite materials. This development process is at an advanced stage, and the ITM will make revolutionary contributions to it with customized design of textile constructions and flexible processed of almost infinitely complex structures with scalable properties and high resource efficiency.
With high-performance fiber materials and load-adapted net shape textile structures, a broad range of variations and an enormous variety of applications are feasible, which necessitate a requirement-adapted customization of load-bearing structures into multi-material composites with regard to strength, rigidity, impact behavior, and functional integration.
The R&D activities of the ITM are focused on the following modern material groups in multi-material design and are advanced in the context of several Excellence Initiatives and large-scale industry co-operation projects: