Braiding of Branches for the Fibre Composite Technology

Abstract:

In many areas of fiber composite technology there is a great need for a solution of how to manufacture nodal elements and/or ramifications with an optimized force flow process and by machine, i.e. economically. Examples are hubs of wind power plants, branch points in framework constructions in the building industry and air and space travel, the automotive industry, ramified vein prostheses in medical technology, or the connecting nodes of bicycle frames. Motivated by this, the potential of plant ramifications as a model for new compound fiber constructions was investigated. Ramified species with pronounced fiber matrix structure served, inter alia, as biological models. The PBG Freiburg examined tree-formed monocotyledons of the genera Dracaena and Freycinetia [1], the BTU Dresden column cacti of the genera Pilsocereus and Myrtillocactus [2]. The plants exhibit Y-shaped and T-shaped ramifications, whose angles resemble those of the ramified technical construction units that are to be optimised bionically. As the investigations confirm, the ramifications, which are nearly completely unexplored, are characterised by very interesting mechanical characteristics, like e.g. good-natured breaking behavior and good oscillation damping caused by high energy absorption, as well as a high lightweight construction potential. The results demonstrate the high potential for a successful technical transfer of the results of the proposed project.In this paper, three different types of braided branches are represented. Firstly, the aforementioned nature-inspired Y-junctions are shown. Secondly, a type of branch with a special braiding technique that allows branches with asymmetric design of the arms and a braiding technique for the automated production of loop connections is presented.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 825-826)
• Pages: 749-756
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.825-826.749
• Online since: July 2015
• Authors: Simon Küppers*, Johannes Thumm, Lena Müller, Dagmar Ewert, Götz T. Gresser
• Keywords: Braiding, Branches, Composites, Fibres

References

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