ASCL

Organic Materials & fiber Engineering, Chonbuk National University
Graduate School will introduce.

New products made from lightweight, high strength composite materials are appearing everywhere. As predictive models have improved and in-service data has become available, engineers can now design parts with confidence in their long term performance. Key criteria in the development of new vehicles include reduction in weight, safety and improved noise characteristics. Thermoplastic composite materials have the potential to provide significant stiffness and strength at reduced weight for many automobile components. They also provide an improved impact performance compared to metals and this will result in a safer automobile. One further attractive aspect of thermoplastic based composite materials is the ease of recycling these material systems compared to their metallic counterparts. One of the major challenges for the large scale use of these advanced material systems in automotive applications is the cost and time associated with manufacturing of components. We are concentrating on the research to develop the advanced forming process of these material systems. The other topic is to develop the smart structures monitored by optical sensors. Fiber-optic sensors which can be embedded inside composites are attractive tools to measure strain. In addition, they can implement not only point sensing but also distributed sensing, so that they may measure the variation of the strain distribution inside the composite structures. The embedded fiber brag grating (FBG) sensors can measure the strain distribution with the high spatial resolution of less than 1 mm at arbitrary position. It enables us to measure locally fluctuating strain distribution precisely. This method can successfully monitor the strain profile inside the composite structures during the manufacturing process, so the thermal residual stress can be also measured.

• Mechanical design with advanced materials
• Engineering tribology of composite materials
• Structural health monitoring with fiber-optic sensors
• Development of the forming process for thermoplastic composites

New products made from lightweight, high strength composite materials are appearing everywhere. Thermoplastic composite materials have the potential to provide significant stiffness and strength at reduced weight for many automobile components. They also provide an improved impact performance compared to metals and this will result in a safer automobile. One further attractive aspect of thermoplastic based composite materials is the ease of recycling these material systems compared to their metallic counterparts.

One of the major challenges for the large scale use of these advanced material systems in automotive applications is the cost and time associated with manufacturing of components. We are concentrating on the research to develop the advanced forming process of these material systems.

The other topic is to develop the smart structures monitored by optical sensors. Fiber-optic sensors which can be embedded inside composites are attractive tools to measure strain. In addition, they can implement not only point sensing but also distributed sensing, so that they may measure the variation of the strain distribution inside the composite structures. The embedded fiber brag grating (FBG) sensors can measure the strain distribution with the high spatial resolution of less than 1 mm at arbitrary position. It enables us to measure locally fluctuating strain distribution precisely. This method can successfully monitor the strain profile inside the composite structures during the manufacturing process, so the thermal residual stress can be also measured.