Flax fibers, along with a number of other natural fibers, are being considered as an environmentally friendlier alternative of synthetic fibers in fiber-reinforced polymer composites. A common feature of natural fibers is a much higher variability of mechanical properties. This necessitates study of the flax fiber strength distribution and efficient experimental methods for its determination. Elementary flax fibers of different gauge lengths are tested by single fiber tension in order to obtain the stress-strain response and strength and failure strain distributions. The applicability of single fiber fragmentation test for flax fiber failure strain and strength characterization is considered. It is shown that fiber fragmentation test can be used to determine the fiber length effect on mean fiber strength and limit strain. The effect of mechanical damage in the form of kink bands and of diameter variability on the strength of elementary flax fibers is considered. Stiffness and strength under uniaxial tension of flax fiber composites with thermoset and thermoplastic polymer matrices are studied. The applicability of rule of mixtures and orientational averaging based models, developed for short fiber composites, to flax reinforced polymers are evaluated. Both the quasi-static and time dependent mechanical properties of flax fiber/thermoplastic starch based composites are analyzed. The effect of temperature and relative humidity is investigated. It is found that microdamage accumulation in this type of composites is not significant. Results show that the composite elastic modulus and failure stress are linearly related to the maximum stress reached by the matrix in tensile tests. Simple material models are suggested to account for the observed nonlinear viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity. / Godkänd; 2009; 20091029 (edgspa); DISPUTATION Ämnesområde: Polymera konstruktionsmaterial/Polymeric Composite Materials Opponent: Docent Kristofer Gamstedt, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholm Ordförande: Docent Roberts Joffe, Luleå tekniska universitet Tid: Onsdag den 9 december 2009, kl 10.00 Plats: E 231, Luleå tekniska universitet

Tillämpningen av fiberförstärkt polymerkomposit har senaste decenniet ökat kraftigt inom flertalet högteknologiska branscher. Trots framgången är förekomsten av tillverkningsinducerade avvikelser fortfarande en utmaning. Avvikelserna försämrar materialets mekaniska egenskaper och förkortar dess livslängd, vilket orsakar kassationer, miljöbelastningar och försvårad produktetablering för industriaktörer. ABB Composites i Piteå står inför en liknande situation. Företaget producerar cylindriska isolatorer i fiberförstärkt komposit till högspänningsindustrin, och behöver utreda förekomsten av en specifik avvikelse, som under senaste tre åren medfört omfattande kvalitetsbristkostnader. Produkten tillverkas genom vakuuminjicering där en hartsblandning impregnerar en glasfiberform, för att sedan övergå från flytande till fast form genom en exoterm reaktion. Hartsblandningens reaktionsförlopp har länge misstänkts påverka avvikelsernas förekomst, men har inte bekräftats, på grund av flera svårkontrollerade egenskaper. Examensarbetets syfte har därför varit att utreda om hartsblandningens egenskaper påverkar förekomsten av tillverkningsinducerade avvikelser vid tillverkning av cylindriska isolatorer. Arbetet har bedrivits som ett Sex Sigma-projekt enligt problemlösningsmetodiken DMAIC. Ett blandningsexperiment med sex komponenter genomfördes i laborationsmiljö där en datagenererad design med 36 delförsök tillämpades, varav sex stycken egenskaper hos hartsblandningen undersöktes. Experimentet påvisade att samtliga egenskaper var möjliga att styra genom att förändra proportionerna av ingredienserna. Däremot visade sig flera av egenskaperna vara korrelerade och kan därav inte justeras oberoende av varandra. Kunskapen användes till att utveckla och testa två nya varianter av hartsblandningen vid tillverkning av cylindriska isolatorer. Resultatet bekräftade att hartsblandningens egenskaper signifikant påverkar förekomsten av tillverkningsinducerade avvikelser. En viss kombination av egenskaperna som kännetecknade ett långsamt reaktionsförlopp minskade förekomsten av avvikelser på isolatorerna med 99.3 procent i jämförelse med den ordinarie hartsblandningen. Förbättringen förväntas medföra betydelsefulla besparingar, ökad konkurrenskraft och förhöjd kvalitetsmedvetenhet för ABB Composites. Examensarbetets kunskapsbidrag anses också betydelsefullt för kompositindustrin i strävan mot fortsatt reducering av tillverkningsinducerade avvikelser. / The application of fibre-reinforced polymer composites (FRPC) have during the last decades increased in many high-tech industries. Despite the success, the existence of manufacturing-induced deviations has been a long-standing challenge. These deviations affect the lifetime and the mechanical properties of the composite, which in turn lead to scrap of products and environmental impact, obstructing market exploitation for industry stakeholders. ABB Composites in Piteå is facing a similar scenario. The company produces cylindrical insulators in fibre-reinforced composite for the high-voltage industry and need to investigate a specific deviation, which has caused extensive costs during the last three years. The product is manufactured through vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM), where a resin blend impregnates a fibreglass preform, as the resin cures and transforms from liquid to solid form through an exothermic reaction. One suspected cause for the deviation has been the curing process of the resin. However, it is dependent on several difficult-to-control characteristics and is yet to be confirmed. The purpose of this thesis has therefore been to investigate whether the characteristics of the resin blend affects the occurrence of manufacturing-induced deviations while producing cylindrical insulators. The work has been conducted as an internal Six Sigma-project following the DMAIC improvement cycle. A mixture experiment with six components was performed, using a computer-generated design with 36 runs, in which six characteristics of the resin blend were examined. The experiment proved that all characteristics could be controlled by changing the proportions of the design factors. However, many of the characteristics were correlated, implying that the characteristics cannot be independently controlled. The knowledge from the experiment were used to develop two new resin blends, which were infused to cylindrical insulators in regular production environment. The result confirmed that the characteristics of the resin blend significantly affects the quality of the insulator. One of the blends, which represented a slower curing process, reduced the deviations by 99.3 percent in relation to the original blend. The improvement is expected to generate substantial savings, increased competitiveness and enhanced quality awareness for ABB Composites. Possible contributions to the industry are related to the development of a method to experimentally investigate the resin blend with the objective of reducing manufacturing-induced deviations.

Powertrain mounts' purpose is to mount the engine and the gearbox in the car. Besides that, it isolate the body from the powertrain movements and road excitation. The most common material in powertrain mounts bracket is aluminum but lately, fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) has been acting as a substitute for the aluminum. The major drive forces for the change is the possibility to decrease the weight and improve the attribute noise, vibrations and harshness (NVH). The main objective of this study was to compare aluminum and FRP in order to find advantages and disadvantages for use in a powertrain mount bracket. FRP's have in earlier investigations at Volvo Cars been assumed to be isotropic, although it is orthotropic due to fiber orientation. Hence, a comparison between isotropic and orthotropic material properties for the powertrain mount bracket was conducted. There was no established method for modelling orthotropic materials available at the powertrain mount department, so a suggestion of a work process was presented in this thesis. Information regarding FRP, as well as a comparison to aluminum was presented in a literature study. The different materials and material models were compared in series of stress-strain and eigenmode FEM analyses. The results from the stress-strain analyses evinced that the design for the aluminum bracket can withstand the loads without exceeding the design limit. In the FRP bracket with orthotropic material properties, the design limit was exceeded for the load cases with the highest load. The results from the stress-strain and eigenmode analyses of the isotropic and orthotropic material models showed significant differences. According to the isotropic material model, the bracket could withstand the loads, and the eigenfrequencies was 25-30% higher compared to the orthotropic material model. The conclusions drawn from this study was that FRP's may be an advantageous material for the powertrain mount bracket, compared to aluminum. The FRP's bracket will decrease the cost, weight, and carbon footprint as well as improve the NVH. However, difficulties of using FRP's have been observed and need to be further investigated. The main difficulties identified are creep, fatigue, moisture absorption, and aging. This study has also proved that orthotropic material properties must be included in order to understand the material behavior and find critical areas.

When developing drivetrain cooling modules for commercial vehicles, the top priority is the strength of the products. The reason lays within the structural change that companies are undergoing where the warehouses are minimized and the companies are relying on the transportation of commercial vehicles. If a drivetrain cooling module would fail to maintain a targeted temperature range of the drivetrain, there is not long until the vehicle is forced to a stop. At worst, the downtime of commercial vehicles can cause companies to come to a halt as well. Therefore, developing verified FE simulation methods together with strength verification tests, are some of the core activities to ensure the strength of the cooling modules before implementation in vehicles. One of the methods that have not been sufficiently verified regards how to perform structural FEA on a crimp joint with a gasket. A crimp joint is established through a hemming process, where the aluminium header tabs are crimped over the polyamide tank, creating a watertight seal together with a gasket. The objective of this master’s thesis is to verify the existing simulation methods of the crimp joint and determine the margin of error with respect to strains. The objective of this thesis is also to develop a verified FE simulation method with a lower margin of error compared to the existing methods. The verification of the methods has been conducted through a comparison between numerical results and an experimental stress analysis, where the strain located on the header is measured with strain gauges in a pressure pulsation rig. The average margin of error found on the three existing methods of simulating the crimp joint was 39,7%, 13,4%, and 11,5% located on the outer bottom dimensioning radius of the crimp joint at a pressure of 100 kPa. However, the method used to determine the margin of error was found to be invalid, but the margin of error is only slightly affected by the verification method where the existing methods still are insufficiently representing the crimp joint. The method of determining the margin of error was then corrected for the development of the new method to represent the crimp joint in the FE model. The developed method in this thesis has an average margin of error of 6,9% at 100, 160, 220, and 260 kPa. / Vid utveckling av kylarmoduler för drivlinor som appliceras i kommersiella fordon, är högsta prioritet att säkerhetsställa hållfastheten hos produkterna. Anledningen ligger kring den strukturomvandling som företag genomgår där storleken på lagerlokaler minskar och företagen väljer att förlita sig på transporterna som utförs av kommersiella fordon istället. Ifall en kylarmodul inte skulle klara av att bibehålla ett bestämt temperaturintervall hos drivlinan så dröjer det inte länge förens fordonet tvingas att stanna. I värsta fall kan fordonets stillestånd påverka ett företag att tvingas stanna i väntan. Därför är utveckling av FE simuleringsmetoder tillsammans med utmattningstest, några av de kärnaktiviteter som utförs för att säkerhetsställa hållfastheten av kylarmodulerna innan de implementeras i fordon. En av de metoder som ännu inte blivit tillräckligt verifierat gäller hur man utför FEA på ett falsförband med packning. Falsförbandet skapas genom en falsningsprocess där ändplåten av aluminium falsas över polyamidtanken, vilket skapar ett vattentätt förband med hjälp av packningen. Omfattningen av detta examensarbete gäller att verifiera de existerande simuleringsmetoderna av falsförbandet och bestämma felmarginalen med avseende på töjningar. Omfattningen av examensarbetet innefattar även ett utvecklingsarbete av en ny FE simuleringsmetod med en lägre felmarginal jämfört med de existerande metoderna. Verifieringen av metoderna sker genom en jämförelse mellan de numeriska resultaten och en experimentell spänningsanalys där töjningen på ändplåten är uppmätt med hjälp av trådtöjningsgivare i en tryckpulsationsrigg. Den genomsnittliga felmarginalen av de tre existerande metoderna för att simulera falsförbandet var 37,9%, 13,4%, och 11,5% vid den nedre dimensionerande yttre radien på falsförbandet vid ett tryck på 100 kPa. Den använda metoden för att bestämma felmarginalen upptäcktes senare vara felaktig, men det resulterar endast i små förändringar av den bestämda felmarginalen, de existerande simuleringsmetoderna är fortfarande sedda som otillräckliga. Metoden för att bestämma felmarginalen korrigerades sedan inför utvecklandet av den nya FE simuleringsmetoden av falsförbandet. Den utvecklade metoden i detta examensarbete har en genomsnittlig felmarginal på 6,9% vid 100, 160, 220 och 260 kPa.

The thermal-oxidative degradation of a crosslinked hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB)/cycloaliphatic diisocyanate (H12MDI) based polymer, which is commonly used as a polymeric binder in propellants, is investigated at temperatures from 95°C to 125°C with the aim of estimating the lifetime of the material in storage conditions (20°C) using the Arrhenius approach. Furthermore, the effect of antioxidants and to a lesser extent plasticizer on the degradation process was also studied. Diffusion-limited oxidation (DLO) was theoretically modelled and DLO conditions were estimated by gathering oxygen permeability and consumption data from similar studies. It was concluded that DLO-effects might be present at the highest experiment temperature (125°C) depending on the actual properties of the material investigated. The mechanical degradation was monitored by conducting tensile tests in a DMA apparatus and photographs using a microscope was taken to examine potential DLO effects. The degradation process of the stabilized polymer (with antioxidant) did not showcase Arrhenius behaviour, which was confirmed by the failure to construct a satisfactory mastercurve. This was most likely due to loss of antioxidants, resulting in autocatalytic oxidation(acceleration of the oxidation process). However, the induction period of the stabilized polymer showcased Arrhenius behaviour in the temperature region 95-125°C with an ~E_a = 90 kJ/mol. If the activation energy E_a is assumed to remain constant, the lifetime at ambient temperature (20°C) is predicted to be approximately 176 Years for a 2mm thick sample. However, this is probably an overestimation since curvature in the Arrhenius plot has been observed for many rubber materials in the lower temperature region. Assuming the E_a drops from ~90 kJ/mol to~71 kJ/mol, a more conservative lifetime prediction of 58 Years was estimated.

Thermoset polymers are widely used polymers in the world, but Increase in global plastic pollution and lack of fossil fuel stimulates intense research towards environmentally sustainable materials. Bio-based unsaturated polyesters (UPs) would be an excellent solution to replace oil-based synthetic polyesters. Most of the unsaturated polyesters have been synthesised by ring opening polymerisation (ROP) of cyclic esters or lactides.  In this study, different resins were developed using different initiators such as isosorbide (IS),1,4 butanediol (BD), and cis-2 butene 1,4 diol (C2BD) with monomers like lactide (L) and alpha angelica lactone (AAL) through the ring opening polymerisation process. The produced resins were further characterised by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR),Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA).  Synthesis of resin with lactone monomer was not successful while with lactide monomer it was successful. IS-based resin showed better thermal properties compared to other obtained resins. Tg value of IS containing resin was 63°C, thermal stability up to 235°C and Storage modulus about 3841 MPa. These values are comparable with other bio-based resins produced using the same monomer.

Hybrid composites play a key role in sustainable development. For many years, carbon fibres in an epoxy matrix have been an attractive option for many structural applications because of their higher specific mechanical properties mostly. However, recycling and sustainability are some of the composite shortcomings; and in that context, natural fibres have gained popularity.  The present study aimed to design and manufacture short carbon/flax hybrid composites. Two different arrangements were chosen: random and layers configuration. Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) was used to fabricate these hybrid composites. Mechanical tests and optical microscopy technique were conducted to understand the effect of the interaction of these two different reinforcements. Mechanical tests showed a remarkable difference between the hybrid configurations under flexural loadings. Furthermore, outstanding property values were observed in the hybrid configurations compared to single fibre composites. The resultant materials have seemed an attractive combination of fibres with a remarkable balance between mechanical performance and eco-friendliness.

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Underhåll av tandimplantat är tidskrävande och kan vara smärtsamt för patienten. Av denna anledning är det önskvärt att maximera tiden mellan återbesök. En faktor som påverkar återbesökstiden är hur mycket distansskruven i ett tandimplantat har lossnat med tiden. För att forska vidare på detta så behövs en momentnyckel som kan mäta det maximala momentet som krävs för att lossa distansskruven. För att uppnå detta har en systematisk produktutvecklingsprocess genomförts. Hållfasthetsberäkningar och FEM-analyser har genomförts för att se till att prototypens mekaniska egenskaper uppfyller de krav som ställs. För att framställa prototypen har 3D-skrivning använts, där mätningar, kalibrering och programmering gjorts för att säkerställa så momentnyckeln kan mäta det maximala momentet. Arbetet resulterade i en prototyp av kolfiberkomposit och titan för att mäta det maximala momentet som krävs för att lossa en distansskruv. / Maintenance of dental implants is time-consuming and can be painful for thepatient. For this reason, it is desirable to maximize the time between return visits. One factor that affects the revisit time is how much the abutment screw in a dental implant has loosened over time. In order to further research on this, a torque wrench is needed that can measure the maximum torque required to loosen the abutment screw. To achieve this, a systematic product development process has been carried out. Strength theory calculations and FEM analyses have been carried out to ensure that the prototype's mechanical properties meet the requirements. To produce the prototype, 3D printing has been used, measurements, calibration and programming has been done to ensure that the torque wrench can measure the maximum torque. The work resulted in a prototype made of carbon fiber composite and titanium for measuring the maximum torque required to loosen a abutment screw.

A self-sensing material can not only carry a load but can also provide data aboutthe load and stress it’s being subjected to. Traditional additive manufacturing haslimited capabilities in producing self-sensing material. Existing 3D printers eitherused in industry or in scientific applications are either limited by closed-off software and planar motion which limits the design freedom, or the type of material orcost often limiting the attainability. Being capable of placing self-sensing materialwith full design freedom means that the sensor structure as well as the load carryingpart of the material can be tailored to the application specific use of the material,making application specific load carrying and sensing capabilities possible. Themanufacturing method produced in this aims to solve these existing limitations. Aliterature review in the topic of additive manufacturing of self-sensing material andcontinuous Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics (CFRTPs) has been producedas a literature base. The review seeks to educate and inspire the design of an noveladditive manufacturing method and device capable of printing a self-sensing material as well as non-planar motion. A design for extruding self-sensing material andnon-planar motion has been realized through modified Commercial-Off-The-Shelf(COTS) parts and Geometric Code (G-Code). Existing hardware capable of producing this can be priced in the range of 70 000 C, but this result has been achievedwith around 200 C [42]. A software structure capable of manufacturing the selfsensing material has been produced. Real-world testing in terms of extrusion of theself-sensing material and non-planar motion has been tested and proven which arethe main practical outcomes demonstrating the technological feasibility.