SWOT ANALYSIS OF CFRP FEATHERWEIGHT? COMPOSITES

摘要

Current utilization of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP’s) has reached a plateau both in terms of weight and cost savings over traditional metal structures,especially in the aviation and general transportation industries.We have been concentrating on breaking this barrier by introducing a new class of materials,Featherweight? Composites,where,in addition to classic impregnation and lamination,porosity is introduced (“porositization”) in a controlled manner at the macro,micro and nano scales simulating feather-like architecture.Furthermore,by following traditional micromechanical and lamination principles,standard material forms such as honeycomb and foam core laminates provide the foundation for CFRP Featherweight? composites analyses.In addition,advanced systems currently in use,such as resin matrix interlayer structures and hollow or irregular crosssectional shape carbon fibers,have the potential of introducing porosity at the micro scale.Finally,our work incorporating carbon nano tubes (CNT’s) as a method of introducing nano porosity in both the reinforcing fiber and resin matrix,has demonstrated,that when integrated with micro and macro porosity,the Featherweight? systems can potentially save up to 40％ in weight over traditional CFRP systems.The key challenge,however,for broad based utilization of CFRP Featherweight? Composites is to develop an integrated approach for monitoring porosity from design and manufacturing to end- use performance.Accordingly,we are continually performing SWOT (strengths,weakness,opportunities,and threats) analyses of the Featherweight? systems in order to move up the learning curve and establish wide acceptance of the concept.