Engineered Interleaved Random Glass Fiber Composites Using Additive Manufacturing: Effect of Mat Properties, Resin Chemistry, and Resin-Rich Layer Thickness.

Standard lay-up fabrication of fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) suffer from poor out-of-plane properties and delamination resistance. While advanced manufacturing techniques (e.g., interleaving, braiding, and z-pinning) increase delamination resistance in FRCs, they typically result in significant fabrication complexity and limitations, increased manufacturing costs, and/or overall stiffness reduction. In this work, we demonstrate the use of facile digital light processing (DLP) technique to additively manufacture (AM) random glass FRCs with engineered interleaves. This work demonstrates how vat photo-polymerization techniques can be used to build composites layer-by-layer with controlled interleaf material, thickness, and placement. Note that this engineering control is almost impossible to achieve with traditional manufacturing techniques. A range of specimens were printed to measure the effect of interleaf thickness and material on tensile/flexural properties as well as fracture toughness. One important observation was the ≈60% increase in interlaminar fracture toughness achieved by using a tough resin material in the interleaf. The comparison between AM and traditionally manufactured specimens via vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) highlighted the limitation of AM techniques in achieving high mat consolidation. In other words, the volume fraction of AM parts is limited by the wet fiber mat process, and engineering solutions are discussed. Overall, this technique offers engineering control of FRC design and fabrication that is not available with traditional methods.

Analysis of total phenolic compounds in tea and fruits using diazotized aminobenzenes colorimetric spots.

The present work describes a novel and rapid approach for evaluating total phenolic compounds (TPCs) in tea and fruits using colorimetric spots and the digital image-based (DIB) method. Colorimetric spots were formed by reacting diazotized aminobenzenes namely sulfanilic acid, sulfanilamide, or aniline with TPCs in the extract to form an azo dye. The limit of detection (LOD) was 6.5, 5.5, or 5.1 mg GAE (gallic acid equivalent) L-1 and the analytical range was 25-500, 20-500, or 18-200 mg GAE L-1, respectively. Correlation with the Folin-Ciocalteu assay was significant (Pearson coefficient, R = 0.970-0.991) while the antioxidant activity assay was moderate to high (R = 0.737-0.977). The method developed was successfully applied to the analysis of tea and fruits and showed RSD (n = 3) not exceeding 9.6, 8.5, and 9.7%, respectively. Ecologically, the DIB method developed could determine the variation of TPCs within cultivars and was found to be strongly dependent on the growing environment.