Development of fully-integrated smart composite structures obtained through additive manufacturing techniques
Stage M2
Description
The proposed intenship belongs to a wider research program of University of Bordeaux: the GPR (Grand Projet de Recherche) BEST 4.0 aiming at developing innovative solutions and techniques for the next generation industries. Among several topics of BEST 4.0 project, Work Package 6 focuses on “Innovative Materials and Processes” voted at integrating new functionalities on existing structures (like sensing, actuating, energy recovery, etc.) through the introduction of smart devices or by simply exploiting electro-magnetic properties of materials constituting the structure itself. In this framework the pioneering work of the proposed internship consists in fabricating samples of multi-functional structure and analyse them in terms of electromagnetic performances. Reinforced polymers (i.e. composite material) samples will be manufactured using additive manufacturing (AM) techniques available at I2M Laboratory (2 different AM machines: MarkForged and Anisprint Composer A4). Two different sample types will be fabricated: “Type 1” samples constituted of carbon-fibre reinforced composite without external devices and “Type 2” samples constituted of composite materials (e.g. carbon and glass-fibre reinforced polymers) with integrated devices (i.e. optic fibres and piezoelectric films). These samples will be firstly analysed in proximity of the smart device. The influence of the device, in terms of geometrical and mechanical properties will be observed. A particular attention will be paid to the interfaces between the different materials. In a second time, the electromechanical performances of the multi-functional structure will be evaluated. More precisely, the dielectric properties of polymer matrix, the electrical resistivity of carbon-fibres (in “Type 1” samples) and the signal transmission quality of integrated devices (in “Type 2” samples) will be evaluated in order to analyse a target function: the damage assessment of the composite. The work will be performed in close collaboration with IMS laboratory.