Researchers from the Advanced Composites Process Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) have recently developed a material that can easily repair itself after damage to the structure. This cutting-edge composite material may be used in aerospace vehicles, wind turbines, automobiles and various sports equipment.
Researchers have developed a new type of self-healing composite material (picture from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne)
When the wind turbine blades or aircraft are hit by heavy objects such as UFOs or debris, the damaged parts must be replaced or replaced with resin for structural repair. However, replacement parts are expensive, and repairing with resin will add weight to the structure and change performance to some extent.
EPFL's Advanced Composites Process Laboratory (LPAC) has been engaged in in-depth research in the field of self-healing composites for up to 12 years. In order to solve the above problems, EPFL researchers adopted a brand new patented technology and found a fast and easy way to repair cracks or cracks in the composite structure.
The new self-healing material has excellent repair characteristics (picture of Swiss CompPair)
This brand new technology utilizes the self-healing agent added to the composite material. When the composite material structure is damaged, it is only necessary to use a portable hot air spray gun and other equipment to heat the damaged material to 150 ℃, which can quickly repair cracks in the resin in just 60 seconds. . The local heating process activates the internal repair agent of the composite material, and the damaged parts are quickly healed without changing the original performance of the structure, and the rate of injury healing reaches 100%. This new technology can be applied to various types of composite structures, and the effect after use can extend the life of the original structure by at least 3 times. The basic performance of the repaired material is the same as the traditional composite material, and the crack resistance can be increased to 1.3 times of the original structure. Not only that, in theory, this material can achieve self-repair after multiple damages. More importantly, this technology is compatible with mainstream composite manufacturing processes, so there is no need to reorganize production equipment.
It is worth noting that the conditions of use of this technology are still subject to some restrictions-if the damage to the composite structure causes damage to the internal fibers, the material will not heal. However, since the damage of the composite material structure often begins with the rupture of the resin, this self-healing system that uses external heat to achieve self-healing still works in most cases.
This technology is expected to be particularly useful for wind turbines and energy storage tanks. Researchers say that by 2020, it will cost about 13 billion Swiss francs to maintain existing wind turbines worldwide. The emergence of this technology is expected to greatly reduce maintenance costs. In addition, the technology can also find potential applications in military and civilian composite material structures such as aerospace vehicles, ships, trains, automobiles, buildings, sports equipment, etc.
Researchers use glass fiber reinforced resin matrix composite materials to make aircraft structural parts (Swiss CompPair company picture)
In addition, in order to promote the application of this technology in the aerospace field, the researchers used glass fiber reinforced resin-based composite materials to manufacture parts used in spacecraft, and showed how it works in the healing process. The component will be exhibited at the JEC Composites Exhibition in Paris from March 12th to 14th, 2019.
Researchers at the EPFL Advanced Composites Technology Laboratory are currently establishing a self-healing composites startup called CompPair to further develop and market this new material.
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