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FIbre OrientatioN Analysis of fibre-reinforced components

Project description

Non-destructive imaging technology exposes structural information about fibre-reinforced composites

The global market size for fibre-reinforced composite components is projected to reach EUR 135 billion by 2021. Their high mechanical performance and relatively low cost of production render them a better alternative to load-bearing metal parts. However, meeting the desired design specifications is typically labour-intensive and time-consuming. Furthermore, current methods of characterising fibre distribution and orientation involve destroying the composite material while only retrieving structural information over a small region. The EU-funded FIONA project will develop disruptive imaging technology that can extract previously inaccessible structural data over the entire part. The technology could help greatly reduce the number of design iterations, and thus, the time length from the initial design stage of the component till its optimised form.

Objective

Fibre reinforced materials components (e.g. glass/carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics) have recently emerged as a mechanically viable, cheaper and cleaner alternative to load-bearing metal parts – becoming a multi-billion market expected to be worth over $135bn by 2021. Their mechanical strength depends on the local fibre orientation, which needs to be aligned with the main loading directions. Fibre-reinforced part design workflows typically involve many iterations with test castings and associated labour-intensive manual 2D experimental validation of fibre distribution/orientation to optimize the injection moulding parameters to reach the desired design specification. Thus, proper 3D tools for fibre orientation characterization are lacking and would greatly reduce the time required to go subsequently from initial design to final tested FRP components.

Current characterization methods are limited to destructive testing of fibre-reinforced parts, from which fibre orientation and distribution can only be observed in very small regions. This primarily stems from the fact that existing methods (e.g. microCT) need to resolve individual fibres to then infer structural information. In opposition, Xnovo’s disruptive imaging technology - FibreScanner3D - directly probes previously inaccessible structural data, encoding fibre direction and distribution over entire parts. This will greatly facilitate design optimization workflows and is expected to reduce by a factor of 2 the number of design iterations and the time required to go from initial design to the final fully optimized component.

The potential of our disruptive imaging technology is soundly supported by the strong industrial endorsement and thus the successful implementation of the present project will represent a significant business opportunity for Xnovo, opening a significant revenue stream for our SME and creating at least 15 new direct jobs in the first 5 years of commercialization.

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

XNOVO TECHNOLOGY APS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
GALOCHE ALLE 15, 1.
4600 KOGE
Denmark

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Danmark Sjælland Østsjælland
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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