Structural Materials and Processes in Transportation
Synopsis
Dirk Lehmhus, Matthias Busse, Axel S. Herrmann, Kambiz Kayvantash (Ed.): Structural Materials and Processes in Transportation, Wiley-VCH, 2013
ISBN: 9783527327874
DOI:10.1002/9783527649846.
Dirk Lehmhus, Stefan Bosse, Matthias Busse, Chapter 17, Sensorial Materials, pp. 517-548
Abstract
This book is meant to provide an introduction to current developments in the field
of structural materials for the transportation industry. This includes rail, maritime,
automotive, and aerospace industries, with a focus on the last two. Deliberately
excluded from the scope are purely functional materials.
Quite literally, structural characteristics of materials are the backbone of any
engineering design. They provide self-supporting capabilities to components where
mechanical stability is a secondary concern. Whenever the bearing of mechanical
loads becomes the primary role, and materials are optimized in view of this
demand, we speak of structural materials. Solutions that address this challenge are
what this book revolves around. The perspective chosen to deal with the topic is that
of materials science and engineering. We have structured our work accordingly by
dedicating the central parts to the main material classes.
However, any structural material we see in a specific application is in fact a
combination of material and process. Its properties are defined by both, and thus,
treating one aspect while neglecting the other is not a viable option. Besides,
it is development tools which are built on similarly advanced modeling and
simulation techniques that finally enable usage of emerging materials by allowing
their evaluation in diverse application environments. With this in mind, we have
included these aspects in our book. In all of them, the perspective is forward-facing:
We do not intend to comprehensively cover the fundamentals of the various fields.
Instead, we have attempted to identify major trends and highlight those that we
see at the threshold to practical application.
Materials are evolving. So are the processes associated with them, as well as
the tools and methodologies that allow their development and application. The
rate of change in material development is dictated by external pressure. We have
defined the major periods in the development of early mankind by the structural
materials that dominated them. When bronze technology evolved, stone had to
yield. The same occurred to bronze once iron became available on a larger scale.
In transportation, we have seen change from wood and other natural materials to
metal, and nowadays to composites. The rate of change steps up once pressure
rises. The period of time that one material prevails appears to become shorter and
shorter. On the other hand, since the shift from natural to technical materials,
we mostly observe additions to the spectrum of materials rather than complete
replacement. This may not be true for individual exponents of a material class,
but definitely so for the classes themselves. Transportation, in all its width, is
currently under considerable pressure to increase resource efficiency. One major
handle to achieve this is lightweight design. This affords either new structural
concepts or new materials offering improved performance. Very often, both go
hand in hand. While such general pressure strengthens the motivation to search
for entirely new approaches, it will also fuel inter-area competition.
The past has shown that this may significantly speed up developmental processes within one
class of materials. A good example in this respect is the recent evolution of highstrength
steels, which took place at least partly in response to aluminum-centered
automotive body designs entering volume production. A comparable situation can
be observed in the commercial aircraft industry, where large-scale introduction of
carbon-fiber-reinforced composites challenges the established status of aluminum
alloys. New production processes support such tendencies are enablers of crossfertilization
between modes of transport: considering their properties, automotive
design could profit greatly from application of carbon-fiber-based composites, too,
but the sheer cost of state-of-the-art aerospace materials and processes forbids
immediate takeover. Adaptation of processes to match another industry’s needs,
like transition from single part to large-scale series production, can help diminish
such barriers. As a result, we currently see an extremely high rate of change
in the range of available materials for load-bearing structures in the transport
industry. With this in mind, it is the conviction of editors and authors of this book
that a work is needed that familiarizes materials scientists, design engineers, and
innovation managers in industry with developments in structural materials science
and engineering that are likely to find their way into high-technology products
within the next 5–10 years. We do give some background on the various materials
and technologies, but the major focus is on what is currently on the verge of
application.
Besides our primary target audience, we are confident that students and graduates
in mechanical engineering, as well as academic researchers in the field, will find
this compilation helpful to first get and then adjust their bearings through a highly
dynamic field of research. In this sense, we intend our book to serve as a guideline
for both groups. As such, it is meant to give them the first idea of the respective
material class as well as a clear vision of where the present focus of developmental
work will lead it within the near to mid-term future. This knowledge base shall
allow them to decide which material classes and subclasses to study in more detail
in view of their specific interest. Suggestions on where to search for in-depth
fundamental information and keep track of future advances shall complete the
picture.
The book is structured along the major material classes relevant for transport
industry structural applications. All of these are treated in separate parts, starting
with metals (Part I) and proceeding via polymers (Part II) and composites (Part III)
to cellular materials (Part IV). Each part covers associated processes on the level
of its individual chapters, that is, for the exemplary case of metals separately for
iron-, aluminum-, magnesium-, and titanium-based materials (Chapters 1–4). In
a further section (Part V), selected aspects of modeling and simulation techniques
are being treated. Highlights have been set here in terms of modeling approaches
covering multiple scales of material description (Chapter 13) and adaptation of
artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to material modeling (Chapter 14). The use of
fundamental ab initio techniques in designing new metallic material compositions
and states is treated in yet another subsection (Chapter 15). Finally, specific trends
that go beyond an individual class of materials are discussed in Part VI.
An example are hybrid design approaches, which attempt to locate the optimum
material for a purpose at the place where best use can be made of its properties,
thus leading to complex, multimaterial structures (Chapter 16). In extrapolating
trends already discussed in terms of structural health monitoring for composite
materials (Chapter 8), material-integrated sensing and intelligence, summarized
under the descriptive term of sensorial materials, are covered in Chapter 17. Additive
manufacturing as an approach with promise for highly versatile production and
structural complexity that in some respects cannot be reached by other processes
is presented in the final chapter (Chapter 18).
We have attempted to organize each of the main chapters in Parts I–IV and
Part VI in a similar way. In these predominantly material-related chapters, we start
with some fundamentals and go on to detail new developments. In this, we do not
separate material and process because of the close link between both. However, we
do subdivide the chapters according to distinctions that are already established for
the respective class of materials. An example is the distinction between wrought
and cast alloys realized in the chapters on aluminum and magnesium. A similar
approach, though adapted to the specifics of such composites, is reflected in
the separation between processes involving thermoplastic versus those employing
thermoset matrices in the chapter on polymer matrix composites. The major
chapters are concluded with a section on further reading for intensified study and a
hint at major organizations, conferences, or other events dedicated to the respective
topic.
Content
- Steel and Iron Based Alloys
- Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys
- Magnesium and Magnesium Alloys
- Titanium and Titanium Alloys
- Thermoplastics
- Thermosets
- Elastomers
- Polymer Matrix Composites
- Metal Matrix Composites
- Polymer Nanocomposites
- Polymeric Foams
- Metal Foams
- Advanced Simulation and Optimization Techniques for Composites
- An Artificial-Intelligence-Based Approach for Generalized Material Modeling
- Ab Initio Guided Design of Materials
- Hybrid Design Approaches
- Sensorial Materials*
- Additive Manufacturing Approaches
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