Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge's video: Verner Viisainen: Blue Planet - Rising from the Carbon Fibre Ashes

Entered into our 2018 ZEISS Photography Competition by PhD student Verner Viisainen. This video captures the forming behaviour of a biaxial carbon fibre non-crimp fabric over a hemispherical punch. Verner is investigating this fabric in order to better understand and characterise the development of defects, such as wrinkles, during composite manufacturing using textile reinforcements. It is crucial that these defects are minimised in order to ensure the structural integrity of the final component. The surface of the fabric is covered in white dots to create a trackable speckle pattern. The test is conducted under a blue light in order to improve the accuracy of the image tracking system that is capturing the fabric’s deformation from above. The video was recorded using a Canon EOS 1200D camera with a 18-55mm lens that was set up on a tripod. Acknowledgements: The assistance of Simon Marshall from the Fatigue Lab who helped to build the experimental rig and set up the image tracking system; Dimitris Karanatsis of Hexcel for providing the material for the experiment (and the EPSRC for funding it); Verner's supervisor, Professor Michael Sutcliffe, who guided him in this research.