Projects
Aligning Fibre Break Models for Composites with the Observable Micro-Scale Material Behaviour KU Leuven
Continuous fibre reinforced polymer composites offer tremendous opportunities to address the need for strong yet lightweight structural parts for a wide variety of applications. Due to their intrinsic multi-phase makeup, their failure is not straightforward to predict as the behaviour of each of its constituents needs to be considered. While multiple different damage modes exist in laminates made of plies with different fibre orientations, ...
Material Variability across the Scales in Unidirectional Composites - Virtual Material Characterisation under Longitudinal Tension KU Leuven
Their high stiffness, strength and low density make composite materials an excellent choice for lightweight structural components. However, the high performance of these materials comes at the cost of complex mechanical characterisation, certification and design. For this reason, composite components are often designed applying large safety factors, limiting their lightweight potential.
Virtual testing is a cheaper and faster ...
Incorporating Nanoparticles to Enhance Membrane Performance for Pervaporation Desalination KU Leuven
Recently, there has been an interest to apply cellulose nanocrystal (CNCs) as nanofillers in membrane preparation due to some additional benefits such as low cost, low density, and good mechanical properties. Furthermore, CNCs are renewable, non-toxic, and can easily undergo surface modifications, making this class of nanomaterials an attractive alternative to conventional inorganic nanofillers.
Some solvents were used to prepare CTA ...
Multi-scale Approach for Fatigue Loading of Cracked Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete under Tension KU Leuven
The limited tensile resistance of concrete stimulated the development of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC), consisting of a concrete matrix with randomly distributed steel fibres and characterised by an improved post-cracking behaviour. Despite the various non-structural SFRC applications, its use is still restricted with respect to its potentials, which is mainly caused by the lack of international design codes. Moreover, structural ...
Blurring the lines between materials design and structural design: Advanced microstructural design of structural fibre-reinforced composites. KU Leuven
Many breakthroughs in traditional materials have been achieved through time-consuming and expensive trial-and-error. To develop the next generation of lightweight composites, a paradigm shift is needed to catalyse their adoption in industry and address current drawbacks. Rather than accepting that the microstructure is a consequence of the manufacturing process, I envision that we should aim to design the microstructure to optimally satisfy ...
Biomechanical and Structural Characterization of Bridging Veins KU Leuven
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the fourth leading cause of death and a major cause of disability in the Western world. This dissertation focuses on a specific type of TBI, i.e. acute subdural hematoma caused by bridging vein (BV) rupture. This occurs when the relative motion between the brain and the skull causes a BV, that connects or “bridges” these two structures, to rupture. The etiology of this pathology can be investigated through ...
Bamboo potential as a worldwide source of fibres for composite applications KU Leuven
Bamboo has manifested itself as a viable alternative to slow growing hardwood. The reason is that bamboo grows really fast, is strong and abundantly present. But not only bamboo 'wood' is interesting from a materials point of view. The bamboo fibres have a Young’s modulus that is up to three times higher than that of the bamboo culm itself, and because they are light, their specific properties can rival with glass fibres. During previous ...
Extended Finite Element Modelling of Progressive Cracking in Fibre Reinforced Composite Laminates KU Leuven
The modelling of damage in composites is critical for many applications. The main difficulty in the modelling is complex failure mechanisms intrinsic to composite materials, including their multi-scale nature and interaction of different damage modes. Fibre-reinforced plastics are the most promising of composites due to their low density combined with high mechanical performance. Predicting of crack patterns and their effect on the ...
Multi-scale analysis of textile and derived materials Ghent University
Every textile material, be it for low-end consumer goods or high-end technical products, is exploited for the properties resulting from its multi-scale nature (fibres -> yarns -> textiles -> derivatives). Understanding this multi-scale nature is thus key to improving this materials. Textiles are, for example, well suited for technical applications thanks to their unique combination of lightness, flexibility and strength. Yet such ...