Ecological and economical lightweight construction with fiber-reinforced plastics in injection-moulded components

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07.04.2025 | Awards
The 29ᵗʰ national SAMPE Symposium highlighted composite technologies for a sustainable future

Around 80 experts from science and industry came together in the university’s main building to discuss current developments in the field of composite materials. The event was organized by RWTH Aachen University in cooperation with SAMPE

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Investigation of the bonding strength and the occurring failure modes of reinforcing fibre structures

Do you want to contribute to the structural optimization of a mass-produced component? At the IKV, you will learn how to do it! In your work, you will investigate the bonding strength and failure modes of reinforcing fibre structures.

The local reinforcement of injection-moulded components with fiber-reinforced plastics opens up new possibilities for ecological and economical lightweight construction, and the targeted use of very small quantities of carbon or glass fibers allows structures to be reinforced at points subject to particularly high mechanical stress. These reinforcements make it possible to save a great deal of injection moulding material and thus also reduce the weight of the component. For example, 1 gram of fiber-reinforced plastic can save up to 13 grams of injection moulding compound. This enables mass savings in the double-digit percentage range. This significantly improves the ecological footprint of components both during production and over the product life cycle, e.g. in automotive or logistics applications. The bonding strength of such reinforcing fiber structures to the component is a decisive factor in the design process. The accurate determination and prediction of this variable is therefore a key technology.

Ökologischer-und-ökonomischer-Leichtbau eng — Warpage-compensated design of injection-molded parts through local band reinforcements.

The work is written in this working group:

In the Fiber Reinforced Plastics/Dimensioning/CAE Methods working group, an algorithm for optimising structures made of fiber-reinforced plastics in injection-moulded components was developed. The research results are validated on a practical component with over 20 million units in circulation.

Objective:

Investigation of the bond strength and the failure modes of reinforcing fiber structures in injection moulded components and development of methods to take this design parameter into account in component dimensioning.

Your task:

For a Bachelor's thesis, you will work on the following tasks: For a Master's thesis, you will also work on the following tasks:
Empirical investigation and characterisation of bond strength at specimen level Coupling of empirical results with structural simulation software
Differentiation of the failure modes that occur Strength-driven topology optimisation of reinforced injection moulded components with local reinforcements
Simulative mapping of the bond strength at specimen and component level

Your profile

Interest in structural simulation; previous knowledge is an advantage, but not required
Interest or previous experience in working with fiber-reinforced plastics is an advantage, but not required