Facilities and services

Located in the Advanced Engineering Building (AEB), and part of the Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing and Processing (AMPAM), the UQ Composites Group has access to world-class facilities for the manufacturing, testing and characterisation of composite materials.

Clean Room

A separate contaminant-free area also referred as ‘clean room’ is dedicated to the manufacturing of composites including laying-up of prepreg materials, vacuum bagging and wet lay-up. The room temperature and humidity are continuously monitored, giving UQ Composites the capability to manufacture composite components following the aerospace industry requirements.

Ovens

The UQ Composites Lab includes two large ovens (internal dimensions W600 x D400 x H500) for processing composite materials, such as curing of thermoset resins, and high temperature resin infusion. The ovens can reach a maximum temperature of 240 °C.

Thermal Press

Our group lab includes a thermal press, for processing materials which require a high temperature and high pressure, such as PEEK and other thermoplastics. The press has a 300 x 300 mm working area reaching temperature up to 350 °C and pressure up to 23 metric tons. The Thermal Press has an integrated cooling system with heat exchanger, which allows fast cooling rates. The PID temperature controller system allows both the heating and cooling rates to be controlled during processing.

Laboratory Scale Autoclave

A high-pressure chamber was specifically designed by our research group in order to reproduce industrial autoclave processing capabilities on a laboratory scale. Our smaller scale autoclave has a working volume of 200 x 200 x 70 mm, and is inserted into the thermal press to reach temperatures up to 350 °C and a pressure up to 8 bars under inert nitrogen gas atmosphere (air atmosphere can also be used, if required). The smaller scale of our autoclave gives us a more accurate control of temperature and pressure profiles during heating and also cooling at a negligible cost compared to industrial autoclaves.

Resin infusion setup

The UQ Composites Lab has a dedicated area for resin infusion, which facilitates the process and allows its safe operation. Mixing of the resin and the infusion process itself can be conducted under a fume hood, to minimise volatiles. Resin infusion at higher temperatures can also be performed in the large oven permitting cure temperatures up to 200 °C.

Tile saw

Our laboratory is equipped with a diamond coated tile saw for cutting large composites panels, containing carbon, glass, or Kevlar fibres with minimal damage.

Sample preparation

Sample preparation tasks such as cutting, grinding, polishing, but also pelletizing are undertaken in a separate ‘sample preparation’ room to ensure none of these tasks can interfere or contaminate other activities in the lab. Two grinding and polishing stations are used to prepare finely polished embedded samples for analyses via optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).

Fume cupboard

Our large fume cupboard allows multiple tasks, which require high ventilation to be undertaken simultaneously. These typically consist of mixing reactive resin, chemical etching, or the use of solvents for cleaning tools.

Freezer

The UQ Composites Group has two large freezer for storing reactive materials, such as pre-impregnated materials, and other epoxy adhesives. These materials are stored at -32 °C to minimise their reaction, normally taking place at room temperature, and consequently extend their shelf life.

Laser Vibrometer

The Laser vibrometer (Polytec OFV-303) enables to measure guided waves induced surface displacements or velocities. The measurement is based on the Doppler effect between the emitted beam and the beam reflected from the sample. Displacement measurements are advised for large amplitude. The frequency range of measurement is 50 kHz to 20 MHz.

Shaker

The shaker (The Modal Shop Inc, model 2007E) is a mechanical vibrating pot that delivers a low frequency vibration from 0 to 8 kHz. This device is employed in nonlinear acoustics methods. It acts as a pumping wave that activates the nonlinear behaviours of a defect. Adding a high frequency wave at the same time, nonlinear effect such as modulation can be observe in case of damaged samples.

Differential Amplifier

An in-house differential amplifier has been developed in the UQ Composite ultrasonic lab. One of the channels is used as the reference for the amplification. Both entries are inverted and summed and then amplified. Since the input signals are chosen to be out of phase with one another, they will constructively interfere, doubling the amplitude and removing the common noise.

Transducers

Several types of transducer are available to perform different experiments. Longitudinal and shear transducers (frequency of 5 and 10 MHz) can be mounted on wedges to generate a wave in a sample with a specific angle of incidence. Broadband thin “pinducers” and a wide range of PZT cristals are also commonly used in the lab.

Instrumentation of structures

The UQ Composites Ultrasonic lab has the capabilities to equip composite material structures with bonded piezo-ceramic actuators (PZT) for guided wave Structural Health Monitoring. The correct choice of PZT dimensions enable to generate a particular mode of guided waves based on material properties and plate thickness.

Tensile and Compression Testing Equipment

UQ Composites has access to a well-equipped Material Testing Laboratory, within the Advanced Engineering Building (AEB). 5 Instron testing machines, including 2 electromechanical (EM) frame machines (Instron 5584 and Instron 4505), and 3 servohydraulic machines (Instron 1342, Instron 8031, and Instron 8841). Mechanical testing can be performed using multiple confirguration and in various environments, from elevated to cryogenic temperatures. The UQ Composites group has invested in an ARAMIS measuring system developed by GOM. This system consists of two 2448 pixel by 2050 pixel resolution cameras that can capture images at a frame rate up to 15 Hz. The ARAMIS software provides full calculation of 2D and 3D displacement and strain fields. Strain measuring ranges from 0.02% to > 100% with an accuracy up to 0.01%.

Electronic hardware

Electronic hardware includes function generator (Stanford research Systems DS345), oscilloscopes (Tektronix DS 420A, Rigol DS1074), amplifier (Krohn-Hite 7500) and 2 axis translation system (Newport ESP300) for the laser. These devices can be controlled using an in-house Labview interface that enables for example to generate, measure and store signals.

Impact testing

The UQ Composites group specifically designed an impact testing machine adapted for testing of composite materials. The testing machine is capable of reaching energy levels from 0.2 to 50 Joules and is equipped with a rebound prevention system. The testing setup has been a successful tool for conducting research projects which investigated the impact performance of carbon fibre epoxy composites as well as hybrid titanium composite laminates.

Tensile and Compression Testing Equipment

Thermal analysis

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis of polymers and composite materials measures the heat flow of the material during a heating cycle allowing to determine physical changes such as the glass transition temperature (Tg), melting temperature (Tm) or also the heat of reaction during curing of thermosetting resins. Through its collaboration with the Translational Polymer Research Group (TPRG) UQ Composites has access to a Thermal Analysis (TA) Instrument Q2000, also capable of running modulated DSC analysis up to 400 °C.

Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA)

Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) is use for measuring the weight loss of a specimen during heating, often associated with thermal degradation or other chemical changes. This is key for determining thermal stability of composite materials, or other degradation reaction in thermoplastics. A TGA from Mettler Toledo, is used for composite analysis, through the use of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF), equipment at UQ.

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) is useful for determining changes in mechanical properties, such as elastic modulus, under cyclic loading and during a heating/cooling cycle. For composite materials, this is key for determining physical properties such as glass transition temperature (Tg) and other changes such as brittleness or softening of the polymer matrix. The DMA used is a Mettler Toledo model DMA/STDA861e, available through the ANFF Queensland node at UQ. Our group has developed several years of expertise in determining mechanical properties of composites materials through different DMA configurations.

Chemical analysis

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)

Infra-red spectroscopy consists in detecting frequencies of the spectrum that are absorbed by a material. Each frequency is specific to the resonant vibrational frequency of a functional group, and can thus provide useful information on the chemical composition and molecular structure of a polymer or composite material. UQ Composites uses a Perkin Elmer Spectrum 400 located in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB) for investigation of composite materials, adhesives and related polymers.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon based upon the quantum mechanical magnetic properties of an atom's nucleus. Its primary use is in structural characterisation of molecules, from small molecules to large over 100,000 Da. This can be key for determining small changes in a polymer structure, which would not otherwise be detectable. Small changes, such as reverse monomeric addition, or the presence of functional group can contribute to different properties of composite and affect adhesion of the material or thermal stability. UQ Composites uses the NMR equipment through the Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) at UQ, with access to high resolution NMR equipment, as well as solid state NMR.

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)

Through the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM), UQ Composites has access to an X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) for chemical analysis of the first 5-10 nm of a composite material. The sample is illuminated with monochromatic X-rays which have sufficient photon energy to cause the photoemission of the core level electrons whose binding energies are characteristic of the elements present. This is critical for detecting surface contamination, or verifying adequate surface preparation prior to adhesive bonding of composite materials.

Microanalysis

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Scanning Electron Microscopy provides a high resolution analytical tools for imaging as well as chemical analysis through the use of back scattered electrons and X-rays emitted from the sample. For instance this is found useful for analysing fracture surface of composites materials and provides additional information on the failure mechanisms. UQ Composites has access to a range of Scanning Electron Microscopes through the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM) at UQ.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) provides topographical information and local mechanical properties of a material surface or cross-section. The UQ Composite group has accumulated several years of expertise in characterising polymer film surface and composite cross-sections through AFM. The equipment is being accessed through the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM) at UQ.