Dia-Stron and the FiBreMoD project

In September 2018, the Dia-Stron team were excited to welcome Carol Rodricks from the FiBreMoD project to our Andover offices for a five-week secondment.

The FiBreMoD project aims to train 13 researchers to become multi-talented and interdisciplinary in the field of composites, with a strong background in both modelling and experiments. The end goal is to develop and apply state-of-the-art models to the design of lightweight materials and fibre-reinforced composites to reduce their environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions.  The project is comprised of 9 beneficiaries and 3 partner organisations, and researchers are supported by strong industry participation and an extensive international network, taking part in secondments to academic and industrial partners such as KU Leuven and Dia-Stron.

Carol is a PhD researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel), and she has been utilising the technical fibre instrumentation in the Dia-Stron laboratory as part of her research into interfacial properties between fibre and matrix, constituents of composites. Her research project is a study on the use of new bio-inspired structural designs to generate toughness and strength increase in polymer-based fibre composites. Her work with Dia-Stron included measuring the diameter and tensile strength of quartz and glass fibre specimens, and using the Dia-Stron Interfacial Shear Strength (IFSS) module to evaluate adhesion between fibre and polymer matrix based on the micro-bond method.

Carol presented interesting results to the team on her final day, and we’re all keen to find out where her research journey will take her next. Wishing Carol and the FiBreMoD researchers the best of luck in their endeavours!