| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2024 ASC Technical Conference, US-Japan Joint Symposium, D30 Meeting
|
| Symposium
|
2024 ASC Technical Conference, US-Japan Joint Symposium, D30 Meeting
|
| Presentation Title |
Microstructural Variability in Composite Pressure Vessels and its Effects on Mechanical Performance Studied by Computed Tomography |
| Author(s) |
Shailee Upadhyay, Mahoor Mehdikhani, Stepan V Lomov, Dirk Vandepitte, Yentl Swolfs |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Shailee Upadhyay |
| Abstract Scope |
Composite pressure vessels (CPVs), manufactured using filament winding, are the industry standard for hydrogen storage in fuel cell-based electric vehicles. Due to limited fibre tension and environmental control during processing, composites made by filament winding often suffer from microstructural defects. The design safety factors for composite pressure vessels are large to compensate for the performance degradation caused by these defects. In the present work, we first define the optimal strategy for 3D characterisation of the CPV microstructure in a statistically representative manner. The characterisation was done through micro-computed tomography, and the protocol was defined for the selection of scan resolution, scanning modes and parameters, segmentation strategies, specimen location and number of specimens. Once this was established, the next step was to analyse the CPV microstructural defects (voids, fibre misalignment, and fibre volume fraction variation) as a function of varied manufacturing parameters, such as winding tension, winding speed, and resin take-up. The analysis indicated that some void characteristics correlate with manufacturing parameters depending on the level of compaction, while others are insensitive towards it. The fibre misalignment and fibre volume fraction variation did not directly correlate with the manufacturing parameters, but locally, an interdependency was found between void characteristics and fibre-related defects. Preliminary numerical analyses indicate a local stress redistribution in the presence of microstructural defects. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Definite: Post-meeting proceedings |