The UK based Haydale and The School of Engineering at Cardiff University have announced the results of a new research that shows improvements in the mechanical performance of carbon fibre composites.
The research tested graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) and carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced technology. The results of this research show a 13% increase in compression strength and a 50% increase in compression after impact performance, indicating that fracture mode has been positively influenced. This is significant because damage resistance and compression properties are extremely important in high performance structures, such as composite aircraft wings.
This increase in damage tolerance could have major future implications in the field of composite structures, like weight-saving aircraft design as well as environmentally friendly aviation with reduced CO2 emission.
The study was performed by the Cardiff School of Engineering with additional funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework programme under the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (one of the largest programmes in europe dedicated to research for technological advances in aircraft design and green aviation technology).
Haydale recently acquired EPL Composite Solutions in order to boost and advance its composites technologies. Haydale also recently raised £6.6 ($11 million) in a public offering in the UK. In October 2013 we posted an article explaining Haydale's business and technology.