| This research supports the development of a mechanical battery, and includes the fabrication and testing of Fiber-Reinforced Elastomer (FRE) strips that are used to store strain energy. The current work is a continuation of research by a previous graduate student, Dustin Grant. In this work, high elongation and robustness of FRE strips are optimized. Optimized FRE strips have higher energy densities and last longer. Experimental work also included design of new grips and development of a simple geometric model to calculate expected deformation of the FRE composite strip.;The effect of bandwidth (spacing between adjacent fiber tows) on the residual damage of a FRE strip under cyclic tensile loads was the primary focus of the current study. Experiments were carried out to evaluate various configurations of FRE specimens. The damage of the strips was a direct function of bandwidth. Elastomer composite strips at +/-60° with no space between the adjacent tows had the highest stiffness, but fail after 30% strain, after only two or three cycles. FRE strips at +/-60° with gap of 100% of the tow bandwidth, have lower fiber volume fractions, thus lower stiffness, but can sustain strains of 65% without any damage and last for many more cycles. The FRE strips which had gaps of 50% of the tow bandwidth were considered optimum because they elongated to 50% strain without any failure and stored the maximum energy for use in a mechanical battery. |
