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Week 14

Composites


The objective :

 

Design and make a 3D mould (~ft2 /30x30cm), and produce a fibre composite part in it.

What is the Composite ?

A Composite material is a material made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties that, when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from the individual components. The individual components remain separate and distinct within the finished structure. The new material may be preferred for many reasons: common examples include materials which are stronger, lighter, or less expensive when compared to traditional materials. WIKIPEDIA

Tools :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Designing :

 

I decided to make a 3D flower by using onshape.com to make my  design  as shown in the following  images. I use the same design twice in different sizes inorder to make a multi layer mold.

 

(onshape.com LINK)

 

 

 
 

.STL

 

 

 

 

 

Composite Preparation (1st attempt ):

 

 
 

1.After having the wooden design ready It is  the time for combing all of our materials I started with cutting the fabrics (jute&cotton) in a suitable size.

 

 

2.Then I wraped the wood with plastic wrap and packing tape to ensure that taking the wood out after complete the process is going to be smooth.

 

 

3.After that I reached the crucial part of this process which is mixing resins and use it with my design. For this steep I used safety equipments that every one should use to protect himself & I would love to share with you  a photo of them.

 

 

4.Then I used Crystal resins (A&B) and mixed them as per the usage directives (2:1) and after that I speared the mixture on the fabric and stick them to the wood.

 

 

5.The last step was and then wrap everything again and  putting them in vacuum bags for compressing for more than 8 hours as shown in the above image.

 

 

6.You can see in the above image my failed attempt. :(

 

I realized that the design need to be modified as well as the wrapping process because the fabrics and raisin materials worked with my colleagues perfectly.

 

 Composite Preparation (2nd  attempt ) :

 

1. I reused the same sheets that already has been cut  for the first design from and stacked fixed  them above each other as shown above.

 

2. I repeat the same procedure again ( wrapping,mixing, spreading and compressing).

 

 

3. Here Is my final product and the video below .

 

 

Another method to make the composites:



Using a 3D Mold



1. designing :

As showing in the following image I made a new design using tinkercad inorder to implement this method.

Download .STL

Go to the tinkercad design





Composite Preparation :





I started the preparation with importing the .stl file to the Artcam





Then I defined the cut direction





After that I defined the plane Bottom





And here I defined the Bit size that I am going to use.





Here I defined the material that I am going to use (18 mm MDF)





Calculating and simulating toolpath is the final step before saving the PLT file that I am going to use later in CNC.This step is a kind of QC

Finally I exported the file as PLT.

Download

Download .PLT













Mold Preparation

 


 














I totally covered the mold with tape I started with transparency tape but it was not skiting well then I used a stronger one.





The mold after covered with strong tape





One more layer of tape :)




I used the same material and ratio that I used previously.




At the end I placed the whole material into the vacuum bag and removed the air content inside using the vacuum machine and will keep it for while until it compacted.



FINAL Result

- no title specified
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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