Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Additive manufacturing (AM) has shown boundless potential for the manufacturing of inexpensive, highly-customized thermoplastic composites with tailored properties. The lightweight and high specific stiffness and strength of polymer composites combined with the flexible manufacturability of AM offers a unique opportunity for applications that require high load-bearing capacities and precise control over structure geometry. This large project mainly involves the manufacturing of composites using AM processes for structural and acoustic applications. In this project, we propose to (O1) develop high performance materials to be used in the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process, (O2) develop analytical tools to predict mechanical behavior of the FDM printed materials, (O3) develop an advanced FDM process for manufacturing of high performance structural composites featuring high mechanical strength and acoustic properties, and flexible manufacturability, and (O4) develop an advanced AM approach for the direct deposition of abradable materials on composites with complex surfaces. In addition, the project will pursue (supplementary objective, SO1) the development of simulation tools and models for the composites manufactured by resin transfer molding (RTM), which is a continuation of an NSERC Industrial Chair with Safran S.A. (France). This multidisciplinary project will be a collaboration between a diversified academic research team at Polytechnique Montreal and the industrial partner, Safran S.A. This five-year research project is a unique opportunity for the training of several highly qualified personnel (HQP) consisting principally of graduate students (7 PhD and 5 MS) and 6 postdoctoral fellows in a multidisciplinary environment and very specialized areas. The project will provide a balanced training between experimental work and theoretical modeling and will generate important knowledge advancements in various fields including composites, advanced manufacturing, and acoustic materials. This project is directly related to the development of safer public transportation and environmentally friendly "greener" airplanes supported by the Canadian and Quebec governments.