Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Spring 2019

Department

Mechanical Engineering Technology

Committee Chair

Craig Johnson

Second Committee Member

Dr. John Choi

Third Committee Member

Professor Charles Pringle

Abstract

A great deal of composite waste is generated in the construction of wings for the Boeing 777. These carbon fiber “wing trimmings” are currently being disposed of in a landfill. These carbon fiber boards are made of several layers laminated together, making them very rigid and hard to recycle. This report proposes a method to delaminate the layers of these composite wing trimmings using a hydraulic press and a V-shaped steel die so that they may be more easily shredded and thus recycled. A top, “male” die with two points is pressed into a bottom, “female” die with three points to bend the composite material and cause maximum delamination. Previous testing has revealed that a single three point bend in the material will produce delamination of less than 50%. This design will allow for the wing trimmings to be bent first in one direction, and then the other, a method that has been shown to provide much better delamination percentage in tests done on a hydraulic press. This tooling has been attached to a hydraulic press and integrated into a larger system built by other students in the Central Washington University MET department designed to feed the material through the delaminater and into a shredder. In testing delamination was greater than 50%. A recommendation for a future design would be to use a press brake instead of a hydraulic press to increase the rate of material processing.

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