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Carbon fiber–aluminum sandwich for micro-aerial vehicles and miniature robots

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Abstract

We present carbon-fiber and aluminum sandwich plates with millimeter thicknesses that exhibit high stiffness- and strength-to-weight ratios. These composites consist of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer faces and waterjet-cut aluminum cores, bonded using epoxy. Relative to single-ply carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer sheets, this construction provides 22-fold increases in mass-specific flexural rigidity and 18-fold increases in mass-specific flexural strength, with areal densities of only 120–260 mg/cm2. Our work represents a simple and inexpensive platform for creating extremely lightweight structural components for microflyers and small robots.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Singh Center staff for technical assistance and discussions, including J. Gilinger, E. Johnston, D. Jones, M. Metzler, M. Brukman, J. Ford, and H. Yamamoto. They also wish to thank P. Bruno for assistance in mechanical testing setup. This material is based upon work supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under Contract No. HR0011-19-C-0052. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the DARPA. Approved for Public Release, Distribution Unlimited.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Wujoon Cha, Luke Kasper, Matthew F. Campbell, Thomas J. Celenza, George A. Popov, Cynthia R. Sung, Mark Yim & Igor Bargatin

  2. Penn Engineering Research and Collaboration Hub, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Jeremy Wang

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  1. Wujoon Cha
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  2. Luke Kasper
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  3. Matthew F. Campbell
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  4. Thomas J. Celenza
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  7. Cynthia R. Sung
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  8. Mark Yim
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  9. Igor Bargatin
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Correspondence to Wujoon Cha.

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Cha, W., Kasper, L., Campbell, M.F. et al. Carbon fiber–aluminum sandwich for micro-aerial vehicles and miniature robots. MRS Advances 6, 477–481 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-021-00084-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-021-00084-3

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