ROURKELA: The National Institute of Technology - Rourkela (NIT-R) has secured a patent for developing a machine to measure and predict the lifespan of composite panels used in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
Prof. Subrata Kumar Panda of Mechanical Engineering along with his BTech students of 2018 batch Souvik Biswas and Chetan Kumar Hirwani, developed the machine titled Fatigue and Creep Testing Machine for Nonmetallic/Composite Materials.
NIT-R sources said the trio on behalf of NIT-R had filed the patent application in 2018. The patent office of the Union government recently granted it approval under the Patents Act, 1970 for 20 years. They said Fatigue and Creep Testing Machine provides a platform for estimating the fatigue life-cycle of composite panels.
Composite panels are sandwich structures that consist of multiple layers bonded together to create multilayer sheets, cored laminates, or industrial structural panels. They are made from a variety of metal, plastic, wood, ceramic, glass, and fibre-based composite materials. They are often used extensively for external walls, internal structures and roof construction on commercial buildings.
Elaborating on the functionality Panda said, "When we use the charger of a mobile, the wire often gets damaged by extensive folding, messing up or using it. Through this machine, one can estimate how many times the folding or bending of the flexible material can be done before it fails. Same way, when composite panels are used in the construction of buildings or anything where bending is a common mode of failure, one can predict the entire product life cycle. It is expected to have wide utilisation in the field of defence, aviation and automobile and allied industries."