The book covers the state of the art in hybrid manufacturing in terms of processing and resulting properties. The book progresses from traditional hybrid manufacturing processes such as compression molding (CM), injection molding (IM), sheet molding composites (SMC) to emerging hybrid processes. Overmolding is often used to combine the abovementioned process, for example, where short fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites or unreinforced thermoplastic systems are co-cured or bonded to continuous fiber-reinforced laminates or inserts. Fiber reinforced metal laminates (FML) hybrid components are being used where benefits of both FRPs and metal are realized. Emerging trends in hybridization due to the adoption of advanced AM by industries are also covered. AM has enabled unique possibilities for hybrid composites development. Advanced AM processes are integrated with traditional manufacturing processes to enable embodiments such as AM-CM, AM-IM, AM-AFP, AM-thermoforming, and AM-filament winding (FM).
Dr. Kumar's current research area includes developing new composite manufacturing techniques using large-scale polymer additive manufacturing (AM) and traditional & advanced manufacturing processes. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, Japan (Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics) in 2016. He received a prestigious Japanese Government scholarship (MEXT) during his full Ph.D. Course. He also has expertise in the CFRP composites' response to direct lightning strikes and is engaged in designing novel materials to mitigate lightning strike damage. He has published over 100 papers in reputed Journals and peer-reviewed conferences and has4 awarded and 10 pending patents under his name. He is a winner of the 2023 R&D 100 award, a finalist for the 2022 R&D 100 award, and a winner of the CAMX-combined strength award 2022. He also won the SME 2022 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer and SAMPE 2021 Young Professionals Emerging Leadership Awards.
