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A review of experimental methods for characterising composite viscosities of continuous fibre-reinforced polymer composites

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Abstract

Optimisation design of composite structures requires an accurate predictive model for forming behaviour. The simulation process contains a number of model parameters which include transverse and longitudinal viscosities of continuous fibre-reinforced viscous composites, fundamental to predicting the shear rheology. Shearing the unidirectional composite along the fibre direction gives a measure of the longitudinal viscosity (LV), whilst shearing across or transverse to the fibre direction gives a measure of the transverse viscosity (TV). Numerous experimental work was conducted in the past to measure these two viscosities for various materials. However, conflicting measurements by different test methods were obtained and these apparent discrepancies had not yet been systematically investigated in any single study. This paper reviews previous work on characterisation techniques to further understand the cause of such discrepancy, and hence to improve measurement accuracy, which would benefit future work on theoretical modelling of the composite viscosities and optimisation simulation of composites forming. Some important findings, such as effects of resin-rich areas, contributory factors of elastic effects, non-Newtonian behaviour for composites with Newtonian matrix, aspect ratio and end effects of test samples, geometry effects of fibres and fibre rearrangement during shearing, existence of a mathematical relationship between LV and TV and necessary benchmarking exercise using Newtonian matrix composites, were summarised.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following organisations for their support: the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China, grant number 2020J01289 & 2021J011211 & 2021J011205; the open fund of Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Applications (Xiamen University of Technology), grant number fma2020002; the Foundation of External Cooperation Project in Fujian Province, China, grant number 2020I0027; Scientific Research Climbing Program of Xiamen University of Technology, China, grant number XPDKT19034. the Program for Innovative Research Team in Science and Technology in Fujian Province University (Xiamen University of Technology); the National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant numbers 51775398, 51805392, 52173266; the 111 Project, grant number B17034; the Program for Innovative Research Team in University of Education Ministry, grant number IRT_17R83.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Application of Fujian Province, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, 361024, China

    Jinhuo Wang, Yang Han, Xiaohong Ge, Zhengbing Qi, Jun Zhao, Rongwen Wang, Huawei Wu, Taiping Han, Shaoxun Sun, Hui Wang, Jia Lin, Yuejun Liu, Xiangsong Kong, Qiming Chen & Xiangxu Zeng

  2. Xiamen Engineering and Technology Research Center of High Efficiency and Precision Intelligent Manufacturing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, 361024, China

    Jinhuo Wang, Yang Han, Xiaohong Ge, Zhengbing Qi, Jun Zhao, Rongwen Wang, Huawei Wu, Taiping Han, Shaoxun Sun, Jia Lin, Yuejun Liu, Qiming Chen & Xiangxu Zeng

  3. Key Municipal Laboratory of Polymer Processing Principles and Application of Xiamen City, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, 361024, China

    Jinhuo Wang

  4. Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Hui Wang

  5. School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, 361024, China

    Xiangsong Kong

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  1. Jinhuo Wang
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Correspondence to Jinhuo Wang, Xiaohong Ge or Zhengbing Qi.

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Wang, J., Han, Y., Ge, X. et al. A review of experimental methods for characterising composite viscosities of continuous fibre-reinforced polymer composites. Korea-Aust. Rheol. J. 35, 57–68 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13367-023-00053-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13367-023-00053-2

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