Projects
Innovative Material Synergies & Composite Processing Strategies. KU Leuven
Combined developments of materials and matched processes is the main strategy of IMS&CPS project.
Mutation of transport industry to carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRC) is now ineluctable in order to reduce our mobility environmental imprint. This sector is at a turn of its conversion from metal to composite, which should impose a radical rethinking of the whole supply chain. Combined developments of materials and matched ...
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 ...
Novel methods and tools for in situ characterization of composite materials and tissues, and their microstructural changes during mechanical testing using X-ray computed tomography KU Leuven
Exploration of the use of biomaterials for heat storage and comfort applications in buildings. Bio-based PCMs and composite materials. KU Leuven
Europe finds itself a major player in the largest flow, in terms of quantity, of special construction and demolition (C&D) waste. The management of waste from the construction sector affects atmospheric emissions, which is why the global climate challenge and the goal of moving ever closer to the ecological transition extends to the European level. In addition, global warming is leading to increasing energy consumption for cooling our ...
Structural supercapacitors; composite materials for high-density energy storage. KU Leuven
The main goal of this PhD research is to develop and optimize composite materials to be used as structural supercapacitors. Furthermore, those structural composites possess the additional functionality of very high capacitance. The resulting materials will thus be multifunctional components to be applied in diverse engineering structures.
The use of a capacitor for energy storage offers numerous advantages. The (dis)charging of a ...
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 ...
Interlaminar Fracture of Fiber-Hybrid Composite Laminates: A Multiscale Approach KU Leuven
Lightweight structures are becoming increasingly essential to meet global emission regulations. Fiber-reinforced composites (FRPs) constitute a highly profitable and fast-growing market for the EU. Their high stiffness and strength and design flexibility enable designing lightweight structures with a low carbon footprint. In contrast, two main drawbacks hinder their industrial exploitation: poor delamination resistance and limited design ...
Economic Manufacturing Process of Recyclable Composite Materials for Durable Hydrogen Storage KU Leuven
ECOHYDRO aims to develop a new energy efficient filament winding process of hydrogen storage tanks using recyclable materials. We will improve the thermoplastic acrylic resin for in-situ polymerization, which has been used for wind energy and marine applications so far, for the high-speed filament winding process by optimizing the UV polymerization of the resin and developing new filament winding tools and equipment. Especially, we will ...
Integration of hybrid composites in the industrialised composite automotive process chain KU Leuven
This PhD research is run as part of HyFiSyn project with BMW. The aim of the project is to introduce hybrid fiber composites into the industrial process chain. The first step of this project will be to perform screening experiments to analyse the percentage of hybrid effect obtained with different fiber combinations (Glass/Carbon, Glass/Steel, Carbon/Steel) in various loading conditions like tension, impact and flexural. Based on the results ...