Efficient enhancement of the toughness of epoxy resins has been a bottleneck for expanding their suitability for advanced applications. Here, polysulfone (PSF) was adopted to toughen and modify the epoxy. The influences of PSF on the mechanical and thermal properties of the epoxy resin were systematically studied by optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analyzer (TG), dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMA), mechanical tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The dissolution experimental results showed that PSF presents a good compatibility with the epoxy resin and could be well dissolved under controlled conditions. The introduction of PSF was found to promote the curing reaction of the epoxy resin without participating in the curing reaction and changing the curing mechanism as revealed by the FT-IR and DSC studies. The mechanical properties of PSF/epoxy resin blends showed that the fracture toughness and impact strength were significantly improved, which could be attributed to the bicontinuous phase structure of PSF/epoxy blends. Representative phase structures resulted from the reaction induced phase separation process were clearly observed in the PSF/epoxy blends during the curing process of epoxy resin, which presented dispersed particles, bicontinuous and phase inverted structures with the increase of the PSF content. Our work further confirmed that the thermal stability of the PSF/epoxy blends was slightly increased compared to that of the pure epoxy resin, mainly due to the good heat resistance of the PSF component.

Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most promising bio-based materials, but its inherent hydrophobicity limits its application. Although nanocellulose (NCC) is a desirable reinforcement for PLA, the poor interface compatibility between the two has been a challenge. In this work, hydroxyapatite (HAP) modified NCC was prepared, and the obtained NCC/HAP reinforcement was used to prepare PLA/NCC-HAP composites. Different ratios of NCC to HAP were studied to explore their effects on the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of the composites. When the ratio of NCC to HAP was 30/70, the tensile strength and tensile modulus of the composite film reached 45.6 MPa and 2.34 GPa, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis results indicate that thermal stability of the composites was significantly improved compared with pure PLA, reaching 346.6 °C. The above revelations show that NCC/HAP significantly improved the interface compatibility with PLA matrix.

To satisfy the light weight requirements of vehicles owing to the aggravation of environmental pollution, carbon-fiber (CF)-reinforced epoxy composites have been chosen as a substitute for traditional metal counterparts. Since the current processing methods such as resin transfer molding (RTM) and compression molding (CM) have many limitations, an integrated and optimal molding method needs to be developed. Herein, we prepared high-performance composites by an optimized molding method, namely compression resin transfer molding (CRTM), which combines the traditional RTM and CM selectively and comprehensively. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rotational rheometry were performed to optimize the molding parameters of CRTM. In addition, metallurgical microscopy test and mechanical tests were performed to evaluate the applicability of CRTM. The experimental results showed that the composites prepared by CRTM displayed superior mechanical properties than those of the composites prepared by RTM and CM. The composite prepared by CRTM showed up to 42.9%, 41.2%, 77.3%, and 5.3% increases in tensile strength, bending strength, interlaminar shear strength, and volume fraction, respectively, of the composites prepared by RTM. Meanwhile, the porosity decreased by 45.2 %.

The rapid development of hydrogen fuel cells has been paralleled by increased demand for lightweight type IV hydrogen storage vessels with high hydrogen storage density, which raises the performance requirements of internal plastic liners. An appropriate manufacturing process is important to improve the quality of polymer liners. In this paper, DSC, WAXD, a universal testing machine and a differential pressure gas permeameter were used to investigate the effect of the cooling rate of the rotational molding polyamide 11 on the thermal, crystallization, mechanical and barrier properties. The cooling rate is formulated according to the cooling rate that can be achieved in actual production. The results suggest that two PA11 liner materials initially exhibited two-dimensional (circular) growth under non-isothermal crystallization conditions and shifted to one-dimensional space growth due to spherulite collision and crowding during the secondary crystallization stage. The slower the cooling process, the greater the crystallinity of the specimen. The increase in crystallinity significantly improved the barrier properties of the two PA11 liner materials, and the gas permeability coefficient was 2-3-fold higher than at low crystallinity. Moreover, the tensile strength, the tensile modulus, the flexural strength, and the flexural modulus increased, and the elongation at break decreased as the crystallinity increased.

This paper develops a material-structure integrated design and optimization method based on a multiscale approach for the lightweight design of CFRP car doors. Initially, parametric modeling of RVE is implemented, and their elastic performance parameters are predicted using the homogenization theory based on thermal stress, exploring the impact of RVE parameters on composite material performance. Subsequently, a finite element model of the CFRP car door is constructed based on the principle of equal stiffness, and a parameter transfer across microscale, mesoscale, and macroscale levels is achieved through Python programming. Finally, the particle generation and updating strategies in the Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm are improved, enabling the algorithm to directly solve multi-constraint and multi-objective optimization problems that include various composite material layup process constraints. Case study results demonstrate that under layup process constraints and car door stiffness requirements, plain weave, twill weave, and satin weave composite car doors achieve weight reductions of 15.85%, 14.54%, and 15.35%, respectively, compared to traditional metal doors, fulfilling the requirements for a lightweight design. This also provides guidance for the lightweight design of other vehicle body components.