Understanding complex fibre architectures of large moulded CFRPs

Carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites (CFRPs) are ideal for light weighting in automotive, facilitating the shift to low-emission mobility. Hybrid CFRPs combining short and continuous fibres can specifically achieve a 40% weight reduction compared to traditional metals. The complex flow mechanisms in the moulding process results in an intricate fibre architecture to the material properties and part strength. Non-destructive analysis with X-ray microCT is critical to optimising the manufacturing process, understanding the fibre morphology and defects, enabling coupling with advancing predictive modelling capabilities. Here we exploit BM18s hierarchical phase contrast imaging to correlate the micro and meso scale features over large automotive relevant parts.