MODCOMP aims to develop novel engineered fibre-based materials for technical, high value, high performance products for non-clothing applications at realistic cost, with improved functionality and safety.
Demonstrators will be designed to fulfil scalability towards industrial needs and focus on TRL5/TRL6. End users from a wide range of industrial sectors (transport, construction, leisure and electronics) will adapt the knowledge gained from the project and test the innovative high added value demonstrators.
Objectives
Current technological demands are increasingly stretching the properties of traditional materials to expand their applications to more severe or extreme conditions, whilst simultaneously seeking cost-effective production processes and final products. The aim of this project is to demonstrate the influence of different surface enhancing and modification techniques on carbon fibre (CF)-based materials for high value and high performance applications. These materials are a route to further exploiting advanced materials, using enabling technologies for additional functionalities, without compromising structural integrity. CF based materials have particular advantages due to their lightweight, good mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. Current generation CFs have extensively been used in a multitude of applications, taking advantage of their valuable properties to provide solutions in complex problems of materials science and technology. The limits of the current capability of such materials, however, have now been reached. MODCOMP will develop the next generation of CF-based materials for structural and electronics applications. The benefits of fibre-based materials have clearly been shown in aerospace applications which require lightweight, high strength, high stiffness, and high fatigue-resistant materials.
The Airbus 320 included composite materials which provided weight savings of 800 kg over its equivalent aluminum alloy, increasing fuel efficiency. Composites in the Boeing 777 reduced the risk of corrosion and fatigue failure, increasing safety and reducing scheduled maintenance. Composites within the transport sector have resulted in fuel savings through lightweight versatile structures. Flexible electronics is an emerging research field which will benefit from functionalized fibre-based materials. Novel 
devices such as rollable displays, conformable sensors and biodegradable electronics have been achieved by using flexible electronic circuit components. Non-volatile memory is an essential flexible component for portable and self-contained electronics. Although the global use of fibre-based composites has significantly grown in the past decade, there are still expectations to use them as an alternative to metals in high value, heavy engineering applications to provide lightweight multi-functionality, high structural integrity and enhanced safety. It has been demonstrated that nano-scale additives with appropriate functionalization can increase flexibility, fracture toughness, impact strength, post-impact properties and fatigue resistance of composites, making them less susceptible to mechanical damage. The use of carbon nanostructures will enable multiple properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity combined with outstanding mechanical performance to be realized within one composite.
Aims
MODCOMP aims to develop novel engineered fibre-based materials for technical, high value, high performance products for non-clothing applications at realistic cost, with improved functionality and safety. Demonstrators will be designed to fulfil scalability towards industrial needs and focus on TRL5/TRL6. End users from a wide range of industrial sectors (transport, construction, leisure and electronics) will adapt the knowledge gained from the project and test the innovative high added value demonstrators. An in-depth and broad analysis of material development, coupled with dedicated multi-scale modelling, recycling and safety studies will be conducted in parallel for two types of materials (concepts):
Meanwhile, standardization, up-scaling, cost-effectiveness and production of reference materials will also be considered.
This vision will be realized through MODCOMP via the following specific objectives
Challenge: New approaches to improve functionality are important.
Limited multi-functionality has often prevented composites from being more widely adopted. In the aerospace industry metals are still incorporated into structures to impart mechanical integrity and electrical conductivity. It is well known that some surface treatments etching the fibre surface may enhance fibre/matrix interface adhesion and hence the stress transfer within composite due to increased contacting area and possibly strengthened bonding. However, etching can also adversely affect the strength of fibres. The final properties of the fibre-based materials depend on the net contribution of these two opposing effects. It is therefore imperative to optimize the method and extent of treatment to gain the maximum possible enhancement in the performance of composite. MODCOMP will provide new approaches to improve functionality in particular electrical and thermal properties as well as structural performance of fibre-based materials, by integrating nanostructures and/or using environmentally-benign surface treatment technologies.
More information: www.modcomp-project.eu
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