Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giangiacomo Minak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Engineering (DIN), Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, 47121 Forli, Italy
Interests: structural design; composite materials; smart materials; fluid–structure interaction; mechanical behavior of materials; design for additive manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Riccardo Panciroli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Engineering Faculty, Niccolò Cusano University, via don Carlo Gnocchi 3, 00166 Rome, Italy
Interests: fluid–structure interaction; slamming; water entry of flexible structures; particle image velocimetry; composite structures; structural health monitoring

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Interest in composite materials has increased tremendously in the last several decades, and their use is now consolidated over a wide spectrum of applications. As interest and use increase, manufacturing technologies advance, and new fiber materials and matrix systems are pushed into the market year after year. Further, as time advances, composite materials find applications in previously unexplored paths, and design requirements modify accordingly.

The research community continuously contributes to this field, not only in developing tougher and stronger raw materials and their composites, but also providing new techniques for their characterization and in-service monitoring. Particularly challenging tasks currently faced by the research community are the development, characterization, and modeling of environment-friendly composites, such as natural-fiber composites.

This Special Issue of Applied Sciences, “Mechanical Behavior of Fiber-Reinforced Composites”, aims to collect recent frontier research on the mechanical behavior of advanced composite materials, spanning from single constituents to the laminate level or using a multi-scale approach.

In particular, we encourage the submission of papers on the following topics:

Experimental characterization of static, dynamic, or fatigue loading;
Influence of the environmental condition (e.g., high or low temperatures, humidity, etc.);
Numerical modeling of single constituents or laminates;
Impact response and damage resistance to low-velocity impacts or slamming loads; and

Characterization and modeling of:

Hybrid laminates;
Natural- and bio-composites;
Recycled composites;
Self-reinforced and nano-reinforced composites;
Functional composite materials (including nano-modified materials);
Self-sensing laminates;
Self-healing laminates;
Laminates with morphing capabilities.

Dr. Giangiacomo Minak
Dr. Riccardo Panciroli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

composite materials
laminates
stiffness
strength
fatigue resistance
fracture
impact loading
buckling
delamination
creep
durability

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

13 pages, 17648 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Experimental Validation of Numerical Model for Top-Hat Tubular Structure Subjected to Axial Crush

by Samer Fakhri Abdulqadir and Faris Tarlochan

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(11), 4792; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11114792 - 23 May 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1716

Abstract

Vehicle crashworthiness is an important aspect to consider when designing a vehicle to ensure the safety of the occupants. Besides this, vehicles are also designed to reduce weight for better fuel economics. One possible approach to reducing weight without compromising vehicle safety is by looking at new designs and usage of composite materials, along with the usage of computational models to reduce time and cost. Hence, this paper displays the experimental results of a carbon fiber reinforced closed top-hat section subjected to both quasi-static and dynamic crushing loading. The results were used to validate the computational model developed in the study. The specimens were made of carbon composite prepregs MTM-44 sheets stacked at the alternative orientation of ±45° and 0°/90°, where 0° direction coincides with the axis of the member. The samples were prepared by using a mold and carbon prepregs under vacuum bagging followed by curing in an autoclave. Trigger initiation was applied to ensure the specimens demonstrated a stable crushing mode of failure during the test. Experimental investigations were carried out under the ambient conditions with different loading conditions, and different kinetic energy ranges (2, 3 and 6 kJ). Experimental data was used to validate the finite element analysis (FEA). The maximum errors obtained between experimental and FEA for mean load, mean energy absorption, and crushing displacement were 13%, 13% and 7%, respectively. The numerically obtained results were in strong agreement with the experimental data and showed that they were able to predict the failure of the specimens. The work also showed the novelty of using such structures for energy absorption applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Composites)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

25 pages, 2503 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

A Review on Topology Optimization Strategies for Additively Manufactured Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Composite Structures

by Yogesh Gandhi and Giangiacomo Minak

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(21), 11211; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122111211 - 04 Nov 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3114

Abstract

Topology Optimization (TO) recently gained importance due to the development of Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes that produce components with good mechanical properties. Among all additive manufacturing technologies, continuous fiber fused filament fabrication (CF4) can fabricate high-performance composites compared to those manufactured with conventional technologies. In addition, AM provides the excellent advantage of a high degree of reconfigurability, which is in high demand to support the immediate short-term manufacturing chain in medical, transportation, and other industrial applications. CF4 enables the fabrication of continuous fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) materials structures. Moreover, it allows us to integrate topology optimization strategies to design realizable CFRC structures for a given performance. Various TO strategies for attaining lightweight and high-performance designs have been proposed in the literature, exploiting AM’s design freedom. Therefore, this paper attempts to address works related to strategies employed to obtain optimal FRC structures. This paper intends to review and compare existing methods, analyze their similarities and dissimilarities, and discuss challenges and future trends in this field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Composites)

► Show Figures