Failures in composite materials occur mainly due to interlaminar fracture, also called delamination, between laminates. This indicates that characterizing interlaminar fracture toughness is the most effective factor in the fracture of composite materials. This study reports investigation on mixed-mode interlaminar fracture behaviour in woven carbon fibre/polyetherimide (CF/PEI) thermoplastic co...

A low concentrated polystyrene (PS) additive to epoxy is used, since it is able to reduce the curing reaction rate but not at the cost of increasing viscosity and decreasing glass transition temperature of the curing epoxy. The modified epoxy is cocured with a compatible thermoplastic interleaf during the vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) to toughen the interlaminar of the composit...

A major clinical problem of high relevance in the cardiovascular field is late stent thrombosis after implantation of drug eluting stents (DES). Clinical widely used DES currently utilize durable polymer coatings, which can induce persistent arterial wall inflammation and delayed vascular healing resulting in an impaired endothelialization. In this study we explored the interaction of smooth mu...

Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly has attracted much attention because of its ability to create multifunctional films on surfaces while maintaining bulk properties. The method relies on sequential adsorption of polymers onto bulk surfaces from solution, giving rise to complex multilayered films. LbL assembly is simple to implement and offers extensive control over film properties and composition du...

An innovative hybrid thermoplastic manufacturing process has been investigated, which consists in carbon fibres reinforced poly(ether-ether-ketone) (PEEK) prepreg sandwiched between two amorphous polyetherimide (PEI) films. By using a laser-assisted automated fibre placement (AFP), laminate is produced by the deposition of tapes, layer-by-layer without autoclave. The temperature history control...