This award supports a planning workshop for a new Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) aimed at improving composite material joining and repair (CJAR). Composite materials are vital to the health and competitiveness of several important economic sectors, including automotive, manufacturing, energy, and aerospace. As composites have different compositions and element concentration/orientation and tolerances that vary widely, current CJAR practices are highly specialized, labor-intensive, and require experienced technicians to complete the work successfully and reliably. Partner institutions Oakland University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville will work collaboratively with both the civilian and defense industries, in the automotive, aerospace, and energy sectors of the US economy. The Oakland University D-CJAR will primarily work with firms in the automotive (GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, BMW, General Dynamics Land Systems), manufacturing (John Deere), and civil aircraft engine (Pratt & Whitney) industries, and also with the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Faculty and student teams at the partner universities will work with industry members to develop and disseminate basic and applied precompetitive research on methodologies, technologies, tools, and workforce innovations to facilitate rapid, reliable, and cost-effective composite joining and repair, with an overall goal of reducing costs, cycle time, and variation of CJAR operations within 10 years.
The scope of work for the Oakland University D-CJAR center will include components of automotive, aircraft, infrastructure (wind turbine blades, etc.) and protective equipment that are wholly or partially made with composite materials, with the goal of transforming the current labor-intensive and specialized processes into science-based, automated, digital CJAR processes. We expect advances in several fields and knowledge domains around CJAR, including (1) design and analysis, (2) materials and process engineering, (3) testing and NDE, and (4) data analytics. We will apply diverse advanced digital techniques, including advanced computational modeling, sensing, materials characterization, and machine learning to practical CJAR cases that will also advance the education and workforce preparedness of students working on projects at the partner universities. Development of new materials and processes would facilitate standardization, modeling, and automation of many CJAR tasks and processes, producing cost savings, faster cycle times, and enhanced performance for industry partners across the entire composites supply chain, contributing to the maintenance of U.S. global leadership in this growing sector.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
