composite matrials report file

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CHAPTER-1
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
1.1 Introduction
A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite) is a
material made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or
chemical properties that, when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from
the individual components. The new material may be preferred for many reasons: common
examples include materials which are stronger, lighter, or less expensive when compared to
traditional materials. More recently, researchers have also begun to actively include sensing,
actuation, computation and communication into composites, which are known as Robotic
Materials.Typical engineered composite materials include:
 Composite building materials, such as cements, concrete.
 Reinforced plastics, such as fiber-reinforced polymer.
 Metal composites.
 Ceramic composites (composite ceramic and metal matrices).
Composite materials are generally used for buildings, bridges, and structures such as boat hulls,
swimming pool panels, race car bodies, shower stalls, bathtubs, storage tanks, imitation granite
and cultured marble sinks and countertops. The most advanced examples perform routinely on
spacecraft and aircraft in demanding environments.
Fig.1.1Composites are formed by combining materials

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1.2 Compositematerialsare commonlyclassifiedatfollowing two distinctlevel
The first level of classification is usually made with respect to the matrix constituent. The major
composite classes include Organic Matrix Composites (OMCs), Metal Matrix Composites
(MMCs) and Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs). The term organic matrix composite is
generally assumed to include two classes of composites, namely Polymer Matrix Composites
(PMCs) and carbon matrix composites commonly referred to as carbon-carbon composites.
The second level of classification refers to the reinforcement form fibre reinforced composites,
laminar composites and particulate composites. Fibre Reinforced composites (FRP) can be
further divided into those containing discontinuous or continuous fibres.
Fibre Reinforced Composites are composed of fibres embedded in matrix material. Such a
composite is considered to be a discontinuous fibre or short fibre composite if its properties
vary with fibre length. On the other hand, when the length of the fibre is such that any further
increase in length does not further increase, the elastic modulus of the composite, the composite
is considered to be continuous fibre reinforced. Fibres are small in diameter and when pushed
axially, they bend easily although they have very good tensile properties. These fibres must be
supported to keep individual fibres from bending and buckling.
Laminar Composites are composed of layers of materials held together by matrix. Sandwich
structures fall under this category. Particulate Composites are composed of particles distributed
or embedded in a matrix body. The particles may be flakes or in powder form. Concrete and
wood particle boards are examples of this category.
The ‘composites’ concept is not a human invention. Wood is a natural composite material
consisting of one species of polymer — cellulose fibres with good strength and stiffness in a
resinous matrix of another polymer, the polysaccharide lignin. Nature makes a much better job
of design and manufacture than we do, although Man was able to recognize that the way of
overcoming two major disadvantages of natural wood that of size (a tree has a limited
transverse dimension), and that of anisotropy (properties are markedly different in the axial and
radial directions) was to make the composite material that we call plywood. Bone, teeth and

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mollusc shells are other natural composites, combining hard ceramic reinforcing phases in
natural organic polymer matrices. Man was aware, even from the earliest times, of the concept
that combining materials could be advantageous, and the down-to-earth procedures of wattle-
and-daub (mud and straw) and‘pide’(heather incorporated in hard-rammed earth) building
construction, still in use today, pre-date the use of reinforced concrete by the Romans which
foreshadowed the pre-tensioned and post-tensioned reinforced concretes of our own era. But it
is only in the last half century that the science and technology of composite materials have
developed to provide the engineer with a novel class of materials and the necessary tools to
enable him to use them advantageously.
The simple term ‘composites’ gives little indication of the vast range of individual
combinations that are included in this class of materials. We have mentioned some of the more
familiar ones, but the gives a clearer idea of the scope for ingenuity which is available to the
Materials Scientist and his customer, the Design Engineer. First, within each group of materials
metallic, ceramic and polymeric there are already certain familiar materials which can be
described as composites. Many members of the commonest and largest group of engineering
materials, the family of steels, consist of combinations of particles of hard ceramic compounds
in a softer metallic matrix. These particles are sometimes plate-like, sometimes needle-shaped,
and sometimes spherical or polygonal. Polymers, too, are often two-phased, consisting of a
matrix of one polymer with distributions of harder or softer particles contained within it; wood
is a perfect example of this, as we have seen. And concretise a classic example of a
ceramic/ceramic composite, with particles of sand and aggregate of graded sizes in a matrix of
hydrated Portland cement. The idea of mixing components across the materials class
boundaries is a natural extension of this idea. Making additions of hard, or fire-resistant, or
simply cheap, ceramic powders to plastics to make skills. polymers; and making additions of
very hard, or abrasive, or thermally stable ceramic particles to metals to make the class of
materials known as ‘cermets’ to produce machine tool tips capable of cutting hard metals at
high speeds or high temperatures; are only two examples of important developments in our
exploitation of these materials. But even more significant is the extension of this principle to
incorporate filamentary metals, ceramics and polymers into the bulk forms of any of these three

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classes of materials to make fibre composites reinforced plastics, like CFRP and GRP, metal-
matrix composites (MMCs) like silicon-carbide-fibre-reinforced aluminium, and ceramic-
matrix composites (CMCs) like carbon fibre-reinforced glass.
METALS AND
metal-filled plastics
(particulate and fibre fill)
alloys:
steels,
aluminium alloys,
copper& brasses,
titanium, etc.
metal-matrix composites,
ceramic-matrix composites,
(including ordinary reinforced
concrete and steel-fibre rein-
forced concrete)
plalasti:
resins (epoxies, etc.),
thermoplastics,
rubbers,
foams,
textile fibres
CERAMICS &
glass
glass,
fired ceramics,
concrete,
fiber-reinforced plastics
(includingGRP, CFRP,
glass/PTFE coatedfabrics),
FRP-reinforced concrete
Figure 1.2 Relationships between classes of engineering materials, showing the evolution of composites.
Ideally, the properties of engineering materials should be reproducible and accurately known.
And since satisfactory exploitation of the composite principle depends on the design
flexibility that results from tailoring the properties of a combination of materials to suit a
particular requirement, we also need to be able to predict those properties successfully.
1. Classification of Composites Materials
1. Matrices Composite Materials:
1. Organic Matrix Composites.
2. Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs).
a. Thermosets(Epoxy, Polyester).
b. Thermoplastics(Polystyrene, Nylons)
3. Carbon-carbon composites.
4. Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs).
a. (Steels, Aluminiums (CMCs).
5. Ceramic Matrix Composites Alloys.
a. Glass,Ceramics(Semi conductors),Cements.

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2. Reinforcements Composite Materials:
1. Fibres reinforced composites
a. Silicon Carbide
b. Carbon Fibres
c. Silicon Carbide fibres
d. Glass Fibres
e. organic fibres.
f. Inorganic fibres.
The arrangement of the reinforcement (distribution, size, shape, and orientation matters)
2. Laminar composites materials
a.Single crystals
3. Particulate composites materials
1.3 Conventional Materials and Their Limitations
It is difficult to draw up a table of materials characteristics in order to assess the relative
strengths and weaknesses of metals, plastics and ceramics because each of these terms covers
whole families of materials within which the range of properties is often as broad as the
differences between the three classes. A comparison in general terms, however, can identify
some of the more obvious advantages and disadvantages of the different types of material. At
a simplistic level, then:
• Plastic:-They are of low density. They have good short-term chemical resistance but
they lack thermal stability and have only moderate resistance to environmental
degradation (especially that caused by the photo-chemical effects of sunlight). They
have poor mechanical properties, but are easily fabricated and joined.
• Ceramics:-may be of low density (although some are very dense). They have great
thermal stability and are resistant to most forms of attack (abrasion, wear, corrosion).
Although intrinsically very rigid and strong because of their chemical bonding, they
are all brittle and can be formed and shaped only with difficulty.
• Metals: - are mostly of medium to high density only magnesium, aluminium and
beryllium can compete with plastics in this respect. Many have good thermal stability
and may be made corrosion.

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Resistant by alloying. They have useful mechanical properties and high toughness, and they
are moderately easy to shape and join. It is largely a consequence of their ductility and
resistance to cracking that metals, as a class, became (and remain) the preferred engineering
materials. On the basis of even so superficial a comparison it can be seen that each class has
certain intrinsic advantages and weaknesses, although metals pose fewer problems for the
designer than either plastics or ceramics.
1.4 Fibres Types
The engineer who uses materials for structural or load-bearing purposes is quickly aware of
an important feature of engineering solids, which is that they are never as strong as we would
expect the to be from our knowledge of the strengths of the chemical bonds which hold them
together. The reason for this is that all materials contain defects of various kinds which can
never be entirely eliminated in practical manufacturing operations. For example, the strength
of bulk glass and other ceramics is determined not by their strong covalent or ionic bonds, but
by the many tiny pores or sharp cracks that exist either on the surface or in the interior. The
most highly polished and dense bulk ceramic will rarely have a strength that exceeds one
thousandth of the theoretically predicted strength. Similarly, metals contain faults in the
stacking of atoms in their crystalline arrays, and the most damaging of these imperfections
dislocations cause most bulk metal samples to deform plastically at loads which are, again,
perhaps a thousandth or less of the theoretically calculated shear strength.
Fig.1.3. Fibers

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If the flaw sizes can be reduced by careful control of the manufacturing process, the general
level of strength of the material will be raised and its variability reduced. Glass fibres, for
example, are manufactured by drawing molten glass very rapidly down to form fine filaments
of the order of only ten microns (10μm) in diameter. The resulting freshly formed surface is
free of macroscopic defects and the fibre itself is too fine to contain any defects of the size
that are found in bulk glass. Careful measurements of the strengths of freshly drawn glass
fibres show them to be up to 5GPa by comparison with the very modest 100MPa or so of
bulk glass. The fresh fibre needs to be protected from abrasion by contact with hard objects
and from corrosion by moisture in the atmosphere, both of which would result in the
reintroduction of surface flaws and loss of the high strength achieved by drawing.
Similarly, the strengths of polymeric filaments, such as the polyacrylonitrile fibres used to
make ‘acrylic’ textiles, are limited by the weak chemical bonding between the molecular
chains which make up the filament and by the defects caused by the manufacturing process.
By subjecting such filaments to carefully controlled stretching, oxidation and carbonisation
processes, however, the polymer can be converted into fibres which are chemically almost
entirely carbon, and with a crystal structure that is approximately that of graphite, in which
the proportion of strong C-C bonds that lie in the direction of the fibre axis is very great. The
load-bearing ability of these filaments, which are about 7μm in diameter, is high, and the
sizes of the residual defects are very small. As a result, each filament, finer than a human
hair, is capable of supporting a load of 10-20g without breaking, which is equivalent to
strengths of up to 5GPa. And so it is with the many other types of fibres, organic and
inorganic, that are used in composite materials. The finer the filament that can be made from
a given solid, the stronger it will be.
The theoretical strength of a given type of solid is determined by the strengths of the atomic
or molecular bonds that hold the solid together. An appreciation of the nature and magnitude
of chemical bonding leads us to scan the Periodic Table for elements in which there is a high
density of covalent or mixed covalent/ionic bonds, and we naturally alight on the area
containing light elements with directional bonds. The elements most likely to provide what
we seek are those like carbon, boron and silicon. In the 1950s,when ideas about composite

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materials were first being formulated, the plain elements would not have been considered to
be particularly promising as high-performance structural materials, but the invention of
carbon fibres at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, in the UK, and the
simultaneous development of high-strength boron fibres at Texaco in the USA, resulted in a
very rapid expansion of research and development programs to exploit these new filamentary
materials in engineering composites.
1.4.1 Glass Fibres
Glass fibres are manufactured by drawing molten glass into very fine threads and then
immediately protecting them from contact with the atmosphere or with hard surfaces in order
to preserve the defect free structure that is created by the drawing process. Glass fibres are as
strong as any of the newer inorganic fibres but they lack rigidity on account of their
molecular structure. The properties of glasses can be modified to a limited extent by changing
the chemical composition of the glass, but the only glass used to any great extent in
composite materials is ordinary borosilicate glass, known as E-glass. The largest volume
usage of composite materials involves E-glass as the reinforcement. S-glass (called R glass in
France) has somewhat better properties than E-glass, including higher thermal stability, but
its higher cost has limited the extent of its use.
1.4.2 SiliconCarbide fibres
Continuous Sic monofilaments were first produced by pyrolytic decomposition of gaseous
silanes onto fine filaments of carbon or tungsten. These are thick fibres, of the order of
100μm in diameter, which continue to be of major interest to manufacturers of metal- and
ceramic-matrix composites. The alternative production method, analogous to that for carbon
described earlier, is based on the controlled thermal degradation of a polymer precursor . This
process typically takes a precursor such as some mixture of dimethyl dichlorosilane and
diphenyl dichlorosilane and converts it in an auto clave to polycarbosilane from which a
continuous fibre is made by melt-spinning.

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1.4.3 Carbon Fibres
By oxidising and paralysing a highly drawn textile fibre such as poly acrylo nitride (PAN),
preventing it from shrinking in the early stages of the degradation process, and subsequently
hot-stretching it, it is possible to convert it to a carbon filament with an elastic modulus that
approaches the value we would predict from a consideration of the crystal structure graphite,
although.
Table1.1 Typical properties of some familiar reinforcing fibre
Although the fibre is highly organized and graphite-like, the structure is not identical with
that of graphite and the fibres should not, strictly speaking, be referred to by that name,
although this is common in the US (and in UK advertising jargonfor sports equipment!).
Fig.1.4.Carbon fibre composite materials.
Material Trade name Density, Fibre
diameter,
µm
Young's
Modulus,
GPa
Tensile
Strength,
GPa
High-carbonsteel wire
Shortfibres:
-Al2O3 (whisker crystals)
-Al2O3 + SiO2 (discontinuous)
Continuous fibres:(inorganic)
-Al2O3
Al2O3 + SiO2 + B2O3 (Mullite)
Al2O3 + SiO2
Boron (CVD on tungsten)
Carbon (PAN precursor)
Carbon (PAN precursor)
Carbon (pitch precursor)
SiC (+O)
SiC (low O)
SiC (+O+Ti)
SiC (monofilament)
Silica (E glass)
Silica (S or R glass)
Silica (Quartz)
Continuous fibres (organic)
Aromatic polyamide
Polyethylene (UHMW)
eg.piano wire
Saffil (UK)
FP (US)
Nextel480 (US)
Altex (Japan)
VMC (Japan)
T300(Japan)
T800(Japan)
Thornel P755(US)
Nicalon(Japan)
Hi-Nicalon(Japan)
Tyranno(Japan)
Sigma
Kevlar 49 (US)
Spectra 1000 (US)
7.8
3.96
2.1
3.9
3.05
3.3
2.6
1.8
1.8
2.06
2.6
2.74
2.4
3.1
2.5
2.6
2.2
1.5
0.97
250
1-10
3
20
11
10-15
140
7
5.5
10
15
14
9
100
10
10
3-15
12
38
210
450
280
385
224
210
410
230
295
517
190
270
200
400
70
90
80
130
175
2.8
20
1.5
1.8
2.3
2.0
4.0
3.5
5.6
2.1
2.5-3.3
2.8
2.8
3.5
1.5-2.0
4.6
3.5
3.6
3.0

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1.4.5 Alumina and Alumina/Silica Compounds
The earliest work involving Al2O3 as a reinforcement for composite materials concerned the
use of tiny filamentary crystals, of the order of 50μm long and a few microns in diameter,
which could be grown from the vapour phase in a highly perfect state and which, in
consequence, had great strength and stiffness. These crystals, known as ‘whiskers’, proved to
be very expensive and difficult to handle in processing operations, and their potential could
not be satisfactorily realized. The DuPont Company in the USA subsequently developed an
improved alumina fibre in the form of a polycrystalline yarn known as FP fibre (Dhingra,
1980). Like SiC, this fibre also had a rough surface and was potentially well-suited for the
reinforcement of metals such as aluminium and magnesium on account of its chemical
inertness, high-temperature stability, and its ability to form a good bond with matrix alloys.
As far as can be ascertained at present, however, FP has never been an economic prospect for
its manufacturer, and alternative forms of alumina, usually containing other constituents, like
Sumitomo’s Alter fibre, for example, are currently preferred.
1.4.6 Organic Fibres
The other major development in organic fibres over the last three decades has been the
production by Dupont of aromatic polyamide fibres, collectively known as aramids, of which
the best known for many Years in the composites industry has been Kevlar-49.These
solutions contain highly-ordered extended-chain domains which are randomly oriented In the
absence of force, but which may be oriented by inducing shear forces in the liquid. Highly-
oriented fibres can therefore be produced by wet-spinning these solutions, and
Poly(paraphenylene terephthalamide) fibres such as Kevlar and Twaron have strengths of the
order of 2.6gpa and moduli up to 130gpa, depending on the degree of alignment of the
polymer chains. Having Properties intermediate between those of carbon and glass, aramids
offer an extra degree of flexibility in Composite design. Extremely difficult to cut on Account
of its febrile structure. Laser and water-jet methods are essential for trimming bare fabrics
and Composites containing them. Kevlar/resin composites are noted for their extremely high
levels of Toughness and resistance to impact damage. One disadvantage of aramids, by
comparison with carbon Fibres, for example, is that they are sensitive to moisture.

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1.5 ClassificationStyles ofReinforcement
Reinforcements for the composites can be fibres, fabrics particles or whiskers. Fibres are
essentially characterized by one very long axis with other two axes either often circular or
near circular. Particles have no preferred orientation and so does their shape. Whiskers have a
preferred shape but are small both in diameter and length as compared to fibres. Shows types
of reinforcements in composites.
Many reinforcing fibres are marketed as wide, semi-continuous sheets of ‘prepare’ consisting
of single layers of fibre tows impregnated with the required matrix resin and flattened
between paper carrier sheets. These are then stacked, as discussed in chapter 3, the
orientations of each ‘ply’ being arranged in accordance with design requirements, and hot
pressed to consolidate the laminate. This process is able to cope with curved surfaces,
provided the degree of curvature is not too great, but there may be a possibility of local
wrinkling of the fibres when prepregs are pressed into doubly curved shapes. One means of
overcoming this problem is to use the reinforcement in the form of a woven cloth since textile
materials can readily be ‘draped’ over quite complex formers. Many of the fine filamentary
reinforcing fibres like glass, carbon and Sic can be readily woven into many kinds of cloths
and braids, the fibres being effectively placed by the weaving process in the directions
required by the designer of the final composite structure.
Figure.1.5 shows types of reinforcements in composites

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Fig. 1.6Typical reinforcement types
1.5.1 The Scope For Reinforcement Of Conventional Materials
The composite matrix is required to fulfil several functions, most of which are vital to the
Performance of the material. Bundles of fibres are, in themselves, of little value to an
engineer, and it is only the presence of a matrix or binder that enables us to make use of
them. The rôles of the matrix in fibre-reinforced and particulate composites are quite
different. The binder for a particulate aggregate simply serves to retain the composite mass in
a solid form, but the matrix in a fibre composite performs a variety of other functions which
must be appreciated if we are to understand the true composite action which determines the
mechanical behaviour of a reinforced material.
1.6 Functions Of The Matrix:
 The matrix binds the fibres together, holding them aligned in the important stressed
directions. Loads applied to the composite are then transferred into the fibres, the
principal load-bearing component, through the matrix, enabling the composite to
withstand compression, flexural and shear forces as well as tensile loads. The ability
of composites reinforced with short fibres to support loads of any kind is dependent

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on the presence of the matrix as the load-transfer medium, and the efficiency of this
load transfer is directly related to the quality of the fibre/matrix bond.
 The matrix must also isolate the fibres from each other so that they can act as separate
entities. Many reinforcing fibres are brittle solids with highly variable strengths.
When such
 materials are used in the form of fine fibres, not only are the fibres stronger than the
monolithic form of the same solid, but there is the additional benefit that the fibre
aggregate does not fail catastrophically.
 The matrix should protect the reinforcing filaments from mechanical damage and
from environmental attack. Since many of the resins which are used as matrices for
glass fibres permit diffusion of water, this function is often not fulfilled in many GRP
materials and the environmental damage that results is aggravated by stress. In
cement.
 A ductile matrix will provide a means of slowing down or stopping cracks that might
have Originated at broken fibres: conversely, a brittle matrix may depend upon the
fibres to act as matrix crack stoppers.
 Through the quality of its ‘grip’ on the fibres (the interfacial bond strength), the
matrix can also be an important means of increasing the toughness of the composite.
By comparison with the common reinforcing filaments most matrix materials are weak and
flexible and their strengths and module are often neglected in calculating composite
properties. We consider now the likely qualities of various classes of matrix materials.
1.6.1 Metals
Metals owe their versatility as engineering materials to the fact that they can be plastically
deformed and can be strengthened by a variety of methods which, by and large, act by
inhibiting the motion of dislocations. As a consequence of the non-directional nature of the
metallic bond, dislocations are highly mobile in pure metals which are therefore very soft.
But by controlling the number and distribution of dislocations the materials scientist can
adjust the properties of a metal or alloy system to suit specific requirements. There are
limitations, however. Increases in strength can usually be achieved only at the expense of the
capacity for plastic deformation, with the consequence that the strongest alloys often lack
tolerance of defects or other stress-concentrators. Alloys strengthened by precipitation
hardening, such as the strong aluminium alloys, alloys depending on phase transformations of

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the martensitic type, such as steels, and heavily cold worked metals which depend simply on
the presence of a high dislocation density, as in piano wires and lamp filaments, will all
soften at elevated temperatures.
1.6.2 Polymeric Materials
Few polymers are thermally stable by comparison with metals or ceramics and even the most
stable, like the polyamides, or poly(ether ether ketone) (known as PEEK) are degraded by
exposure to temperatures above about 300°C, There is nothing that reinforcement can do to
combat chemical degradation, but the associated fall in strength and increase in time-
dependent (creep or visco-elastic) deformation, a feature common to all polymers, though
less serious in cross-linked resin systems than in thermoplastics, can be delayed by fibre
reinforcement. The nature of composites a more serious problem in polymers is their very
low mechanical strength and stiffness in bulk form: and, like metals, the weakest plastics tend
to be ductile but the strongest tend to be brittle, although there are exceptions. Polymers are
traditionally insulators and in their application as such strength is usually a secondary
consideration. The electrical conductivity of plastics reinforced with carbon fibres is of
importance in many aeronautical applications, however, where protection of avionics systems
from external electrical activity (ex. lightning strike) is of importance. Most polymers are
already low-density materials, and the addition of fibres confers no density advantage. it is
likely that there is still scope for improvement.
1.6.3 Glasses Ceramics and Cement
Glasses have high chemical stability, but many lose their mechanical strength at relatively
low temperatures as they pass through the glass transition. Special glasses have been
developed with high transition temperatures (however, and many are at least as resistant as
some of the less stable steels. The principal problem with glassy materials is that they are
always brittle and their measured strengths are very variable at ordinary temperatures. They
are not able to relieve stress concentrations at crack tips by plastic deformation and they are
not, therefore, fail-safe. A constant disadvantage, aggravated by low thermal conductivity, is
that glass usually has poor thermal shock resistance unless, like borosilicate glass, it also has
a low thermal expansion coefficient. Many of these difficulties can be overcome by
reinforcement with fibres like carbon, and with the added bonus of a saving in weight. Most
ceramics suffer from the same defects as glasses in that, although they are potentially high

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strength solids, they are also brittle and notch-sensitive. Most ceramics retain their strength to
very high temperatures, however, unlike glasses, and several have good resistance to thermal
shock. In design, the tensile load-bearing ability of the concrete is ignored. Reinforcement of
concrete in the composite sense has been widely studied, with attempts to produce stronger,
stiffer and tougher structural materials by adding fibres of asbestos, glass, steel, polymeric
materials, and carbon. Improved properties can be obtained, although usually only at the
expense of a severe economic penalty, given the fact that concrete is the cheapest structural
material available. The addition of even a few percent of the cheapest reinforcing fibres may
still raise the price sufficiently to lead the engineer to use a thicker section of plain concrete
in preference to a more expensive thinner section of reinforced concrete. The scope for
improvement of bulk poured concrete is probably negligible: it is much more likely that the
present trend towards changes in design philosophy and the use of speciality products in
fibre-reinforced concrete will continue.
1.6.4 Carbon
Carbon is a unique material with many attractive engineering qualities. It can be prepared in a
variety of forms conventional hot-pressed carbons and graphites, dandified impermeable
graphite, paralytic graphite, and vitreous carbon with a wide range of engineering properties.
It is valuable for its lubricating properties, its electrical properties, its nuclear characteristics
and, in the pyrolytic and vitreous forms, for high strength and resistance to oxidative and
chemical attack (Cahn and Harris,1969). The opportunity to improve the mechanical
properties of such an important material and reduce its brittleness somewhat has been the
driving force for the development of an invaluable material, carbon-fibre-reinforced carbon
that has been used for rocket nozzles, aero space components (including the ablative shields
of space vehicles), and surgical implants.
1.6.5 Whiskers
Single crystals grown with nearly zero defects are termed whiskers. They are usually
discontinuous and short fibres’ of different cross sections made from several materials like
graphite, silicon carbide, copper, iron etc. Typical lengths are in 3 to 55 N.M. ranges.
Whiskers differ from particles in that, whiskers have a definite length to width ratio greater
than one. Whiskers can have extraordinary strengths up to 7000 MPa. Whiskers were grown
quite incidentally in laboratories for the first time, while nature has some geological

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structures that can be described as whiskers. Initially, their usefulness was overlooked as they
were dismissed as incidental by-products of other structure.
1.6.6 Flake Composites
Flakes are often used in place of fibers as can be densely packed. Metal flakes that are in
close contact with each other in polymer matrices can conduct electricity or heat, while mica
flakes and glass can resist both. Flakes are not expensive to produce and usually cost less
than fibers. But they fall short of expectations in aspects like control of size, shape and show
defects in the end product. Glass flakes tend to have notches or cracks around the edges,
which weaken the final product. They are also resistant to be lined up parallel to each other in
a matrix, causing uneven strength. They are usually set in matrices, or more simply, held
together by a matrix with a glue-type binder. Depending on the end-use of the product, flakes
are present in small quantities or occupy the whole composite.
1.6.7 Microspheres
Microspheres are considered to be some of the most useful fillers. Their specific gravity,
stable particle size, strength and controlled density to modify products without compromising
on profitability or physical properties are it’s their most-sought after assets.Solid glass
Microspheres, manufactured from glass are most suitable for plastics.
Hollow microspheres have a lower specific gravity than the pure resin. This makes it possible
to use them for lightning resin dominant compounds. They find wide applications in
aerospace and automotive industries where weight reduction for energy conservation is one
of the main considerations. But their use in systems requiring high shear mixing or high-
pressure moulding is restricted as their crush resistance is in no way comparable to that of
solid spheres. Microspheres, whether solid or hollow, show properties that are directly related
to their spherical shape let them behave like minute ball bearing, and hence, they give better
flow properties. They also distribute stress uniformly throughout resin matrices.

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CHAPTER-2
MANUFACURING COMPOSITE MATERIALS
2.1 The Combining Of Materials
In considering the scope for reinforcing conventional materials, we have already examined
the Functions of the matrix in a composite and the general nature of available reinforcing
filaments. The Problem facing the manufacturer of composites is to develop suitable methods
for combining the Matrix and the reinforcement so as to obtain the required shape of
component with properties Appropriate to the design requirements. In the early days of the
subject, attention was focused on first Producing a ‘piece’ of the composite a sheet, or rod, or
billet, with the fibres arranged in one or more Directions and then using that intermediate
product to construct a finished ‘component’ in much the Same way as steel castings were
bolted together to build a car engine or steel plates were welded together To make a pressure
vessel. Early use of composites in practical applications was on the basis of piecemeal
Substitution of the composite for a metallic part of identical shape without any consideration
of the Special nature of the composite, notably its anisotropic mechanical properties.
It is essentially the reinforcement ‘architecture’ that determines the load-bearing
characteristics of a Fibre composite, and the beauty of modern composites design and
manufacturing procedures is that in Many cases the composite material and the finished
component can be created and final in a single Operation. A typical example is in the process
of resin-transfer moulding (RTM) which we shall discuss later. A fibre perform a skeleton of
the approximate shape of the finished component with the fibres Arranged in the directions
determined by the design requirements is placed into a closed mould, and Pre-catalysed resin
is injected into the mould, which is often pre-heated. The resin cures in a short time, and the
finished component, requiring only final cleaning up, is removed from the mould, the
composite Material and the finished article being formed in a single operation. The rate-
controlling step in this nearnet-Shape manufacturing process is probably the manufacture of
the fibre perform. In the filament winding of hollow containers, fibres wetted by catalysed
resin are wrapped onto a mandrel and, again, as the resin cures the component and the
material are formed simultaneously. In this case, the locations of the fibres may have been

18
determined by a computer programme and the same computer code can then be used to
control an automatic filament-winding machine a good example of cad cam.
The range of processes used for manufacturing composites is now wide. Almost all of the
basic Metal, polymer and ceramic forming processes have been adapted, with greater or less
success, and for each class of composites fibre-reinforced plastics (fraps), mmcs and cmcs
there is a range of Preferred techniques, depending on the required product. In many cases,
there has been technology Transfer from one field to another, so that similar processes,
suitably modified, may be used for different Types of composite.
What is feasible for the manufacturer is often limited by the available forms of the
reinforcing Filaments. The thick monofilamentary reinforcements like boron and sic are
produced in continuous Single filaments and because of their diameters they cannot easily be
handled except as regular arrays of Continuous fibres.
2.2 Manufacturing Processes (Matrix)
This book is not about manufacturing, yet it is necessary to know something of the nature of
the main processing methods used in order to appreciate how what happens during processing
may affect the properties of the product. The major composite classes include Organic Matrix
Composites (OMCs), Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) and Ceramic Matrix Composites
(CMCs). The term organic matrix composite is generally assumed to include two classes of
composites, namely Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs) and carbon matrix composites
commonly referred to as carbon-carbon composites.
Fig.2.1 Matrices

19
2.2.1 Moulding Process For Polymer-Matrix Composites
The wide range of processes used to produce reinforced plastics is partly new, and partly
derived from established methods of processing ordinary polymeric materials. The manner of
combining fibres and matrix into a composite material depends very much on the particular
combination in question and on the scale and geometry of the structure to be manufactured.
Figure 2.2. Shows kinds of thermo plastics.
The commoner varieties of thermoplastic-based materials, like glass-filled Nylon and glass-
filled polyacetal, are made largely by the injection moulding of granules of material in which
the chopped fibres and matrix have been pre-compounded. The principal problem in such
cases is that the flow of material during moulding may be non-uniform, especially in moulds
of complex geometry. There may be regions in which the fibres are highly oriented and
others where the degree of orientation is almost nil, as well as variations in fibre content from
place to place. Preferential fibre orientation is often useful, but only if it can be adequately
controlled. Some very sophisticated recent developments in multiple live-feed injection
moulding by Bevis and co-workers have enabled the inventors to produce short-fibre filled
Continuous-fibre thermoses’ composites are produced by quite different methods.
Cylindrically symmetric structures such as pressure vessels, tanks, rocket-motor casings,
centrifuge cylinders, and a variety of pipes, can be made by winding fibres or tapes soaked
with pre-catalysed resin onto expendable or removable mandrels.
Figure 2.3.shows some kinds of thermosets

20
Variations in winding pattern or in the combination of stresses subsequently applied to the
structure will clearly change the extent to which the fibres are loaded purely in tension or to
which shear stresses are introduced between separate layers of winding. After the resin has
hardened the mandrel is removed and, if size permits, the product may be post-cured at an
elevated temperature.
2.2.1.1 Matched-die Mould Methods
Several moulding techniques fall under the matched-die moulding method. The common
feature in all these techniques is that the mould consists of two parts that form a cavity in
between them. The shape of the cavity corresponds to that of the part to be moulded. The
moulds are usually fabricated with cast iron, steel and aluminium alloy. Fibre reinforced
plastics or wooden moulds are also used in some cold moulding processes.
2.2.1.2 Contact Mould Methods
Contact mould methods are also known as open mould processes. In the open mould, there is
only one mould (male or female) and as the name suggests the mould surface is open. The
moulds are normally fabricated from cast iron, steel and aluminium alloy for application in
hot processes, and fibre reinforced plastics and wood for cold processes.
2.2.1.3 Filament Winding
The filament winding process is employed for fabrication of a continuous fibre reinforced
composite structure having an axis of revolution. Common examples of such structures are
tubes, pipes, cylindrical tanks, pressure vessels, rocket motor cases, etc. Continuous fibre
strands or rovings are first coated with resin in a resin bath and then fed through rollers to
squeeze out excess resin and finally wound, under constant tension, around a collapsible
mandrel.
2.2.2 FabricationProcesses ForMetalMatrix Composites
The basic attributes of metals reinforced with hard ceramic particles or fibres are improved
strength and stiffness, improved creep and fatigue resistance, and increased hardness, wear
and abrasion resistance, combined with the possibility of higher operating temperatures than
for the unreinforced metal (or competing reinforced plastics). These properties offer potential
for exploitation in a range of pump and engine applications, including compressor bodies,

21
vanes and rotors, piston sleeves and inserts, connecting rods, and so forth. Components of
this type are still under development, but few are in commercial production apart from one or
two limited applications in Japanese automobiles.
Some of the techniques that have been described in detail are
• Unidirectional solidification of eutectics or other constitutionally-appropriate alloys.
• Liquid-metal infiltration, often under vacuum, of pre-packed fibre bundles or other
performs.
• Liquid-phase infiltration during hot pressing of powder compacts containing
whiskers or fibre bundles.
• Hot pressing of compacts consisting of matrix alloy sheets wrapped or interleaved
with arrays of reinforcing wires.
2.2.2.1 Diffusion Bonding
The diffusion bonding employs the matrix in the solid phase, in the form of sheet or foil.
Composite laminates are produced by consolidating alternate layers of precursor wires or
fibre mats and metal matrix sheets or foils under temperature and pressure. The precursor
wires are collimated filaments held together with a fugitive organic binder.
2.2.2.2 Powder Metallurgy Process
Almost all metals and their alloys can be converted into powder form. Metal powders are
commonly produced by atomization techniques. A stream of molten metal is disrupted either
by impacting another fluid (gas or water) jet under high pressure or by applying mechanical
forces and electrical fields leading to formation of fine liquid metal droplets which then
solidify resulting in fine powder particles.
2.2.2.3 Casting
Casting or liquid infiltration is the process in which molten matrix is infilatrated into a stack
of continuous fibre reinforcements or discontinuous reinforcements (short fibres and
particulates) and is then allowed to solidify between the inter-reinforcement spaces. In the
case of discontinuous reinforcements, they can also be pre-mixed with molten matrices prior
to casting, using techniques such as mechanical agitation, mixing by injection with an
injection gun, centrifugal dispersion and dispersion of pellets (formed by compressing the
metal matrix and reinforcements) in a mildly agitated melt.

22
2.2.3 Ceramic-MatrixComposites
Fabrication processes are complex and need to be carefully optimised because of the
inevitable sensitivity of materials properties to microstructures controlled by processing
conditions and interactions. Much of the recent work on CMCs in the US, Japan and Europe
has largely followed relatively familiar routes in attempting to reinforce glasses (like
borosilicate) and glass-ceramics with fibres such as the commercial Nicalon and Tyranno
varieties of silicon carbide. Substantial improvements in mechanical properties have been
achieved, by comparison with early carbon-fibre/glass composites. If the matrix is a glass-
ceramic, the final stage in manufacture is the ‘cramming’ process, the final heat treatments to
convert the glass to a fully dense ceramic. Companies like Corning in the US offer such
materials for commercial sale. Critical control of manufacturing conditions is needed to
produce appropriate interfacial conditions for the optimum combination of strength and
toughness.
2.2.4 Hybrid Composites
Reference to hybrid composites most frequently relates to the kinds of fibre-reinforced
materials, usually resin-based, in which two types of fibres are incorporated into a single
matrix. As such, the definition is much more restrictive than the reality. Any combination of
dissimilar materials could in fact be thought of as a hybrid. A classic example is the type of
structural material in which a metal or paper honeycomb or a rigid plastic foam is bonded to
thin skins of some high-performance FRPs, the skins carrying the high surface tensile and
compressive loads and the core providing lightweight (and cheap) structural stability. The
combination of sheets of aluminium alloy with laminates of fibre-reinforced resin, as in the
commercial product ARALL (aramid-reinforced aluminium) is a related variety of layered
hybrid, and the mixing of fibrous and particulate fillers in a single resin or metal matrix
produces another species of hybrid composite.
2.3 Defects in Manufactured Polymeric Composites
All practical reinforced plastics composites are likely to contain defects of various kinds
arising from the processes of manufacture. Indeed, composites are noted for the variability of
mechanical properties they exhibit unless they have been produced under the most rigorously
controlled conditions. The variability of material produced by hand lay-up methods is more
marked than that of composites made by mechanised processes. The specific nature and

23
severity of the defects found in any manufactured product will also be characteristic of the
manufacturing process.
The defects that may be present in manufactured composites include:
• Incorrect state of resin cure, especially that resulting from variations in local.
exothermal temperatures in thick or complex sections during autoclaving.
• Incorrect overall fibre volume fraction.
• Misaligned or broken fibres.
• Non-uniform fibre distribution, with resultant matrix-rich regions.
• Gaps, overlaps or other faults in the arrangement of plies.
• Pores or voids in matrix-rich regions.
• Disbanded inter laminar regions.
• Resin cracks or transverse ply cracks resulting from thermal mismatch stresses.
• disbands in thermoplastic composites resulting from failure of separated flows to
Re-weld.
• During moulding.
• Mechanical damage around machined holes.
2.4 Methods Of Non-Destructive Evaluation For Polymer Composites
Since the presence of defects in reinforced plastics, either ab initio or as a consequence of
damage in service, is to some extent inevitable, it follows that manufacturers and users need
sensitive techniques for the detection of these defects and damage. Much of the technology
previously developed for metallic engineering materials and structures has been transferred
across, with appropriate modifications, for use with fibre composites. The time of writing
there is a high level of activity in R & D work on fibre-optic sensors specifically for use with
reinforced plastics. Brief details of some of these NDT tools are given below.
2.4.1 OpticalInspection
In translucent GRP, inspection by transmitted light can give indications of the presence of
pores, poor wetting-out, delimitations’, and gross inclusions. The detection of surface
cracking may be enhanced by dye-penetrant methods. Moiré methods require photographic
grids to be printed on the surface of the composite and irradiated with coherent light. The
resulting interference fringes give clear indications of local stress concentrations and
deformation, including those arising from sub-surface damage. Laser holographic methods

24
and electronic speckle-pattern interferometry (ESPI) are also used for non-translucent
materials.
2.4.2 Radiographic Methods
Radiography is not easily applied in the field, but information about composite quality can be
Obtained by x-ray inspection. Contact radiography with sources of 50kV or less yields high-
contrast photographs from low-density materials like GRP because of their low inherent
filtration. The fibre distribution, quality of weave, and the presence of large laminating
defects can be easily investigated.
2.4.3 ThermalImaging
When a uniform heat flux is supplied to a plate, any anomalous variations in the resulting
Temperature distributions in the plate are indications of structural flaws in the material.
Similarly, in an otherwise uniform material working under variable loads, local damage will
give rise to changes in the hysteretic thermal losses in the body of the material. Thermal
imaging, with limiting detection of temperature differences of about 0.2°C, is easily carried
out by means of infra-red television photography.
2.4.4 Ultrasonic Techniques
Ultrasonic inspection techniques are perhaps the most widely-used NDE methods for
composites The velocity and attenuation of an ultrasonic pulse passing through a material
provide information about the general physical properties (i.e. the stiffness) and the structure
(i.e. the defect/damage state) in a material, provided certain basic features of the material,
such as the anisotropy, are taken into account.
2.4.5 OpticalFibre Sensors
Optical fibre sensors have a number of advantages over other types of sensor in that they are
immune from electromagnetic interference, they can be embedded in a composite material
during manufacture rather than simply being surface mounted, they can be used to monitor
several parameters, including temperature, pressure, strain, and chemical characteristics, and
they offer important possibilities for online application, both for process optimization and in-
service health monitoring.

25
2.4.6 Microwave Methods.
The dielectric constant of glass is much greater than those of resins at microwave
frequencies, and any technique for measuring the average dielectric constant of a GRP
composite can therefore be correlated reasonable satisfactorily with the glass content of the
material. A typical instrument consists of an open-ended coaxial resonator which can be
applied to a GRP surface in order to close the resonant cavity. As the instrument is moved
over the surface, changes in the local average glass content are indicated by changes in the
resonant frequency.
2.5 The Use of Composites
In order to make good use of engineering materials, we have to understand their behaviour
sufficiently well to be able predict performance in both the short term and the long term. In
the context of composite materials, this means developing mathematical models which
represent reasonably closely the known experimental response of real composites to applied
stresses and environmental conditions. If we can predict the behaviour of any given
composite accurately as a result of this modelling, then we can have confidence that the
material we have designed will meet the service requirements of the application concerned.
One of the problems with composites is that there is such a diverse range of materials, and it
is necessary to have a thorough understanding of each class: we cannot simply read across
from the characterisation of one group of composites to another without carrying out
extensive checks of the validity of the old models for the newer materials. Theories of the
elastic behaviour of composite materials are very well developed, and predictions of elastic
response are often very satisfactory. Problems arise, however, when attempts are made to
predict processes of failure.
2.6. Structure of Composites Matrials
A composite material consists of two or more components. The components have different
mechanical properties.There are the following types of composites:
A. composites reinforced by particles;
B. composites reinforced by chopped strands;
C. unidirectional composites;
D. laminates;

26
E. fabric reinforced plastics;
F. honeycomb composite structure
Fig2.4.composite structure
Composite materials are widely used in aerospace structures, passenger airplanes, cars, and
Sporting goods. The use of armid fibre reinforced plastics
(1) Carbon fibre reinforced plastics
(2) hybrid fiber (aramid + carbon) reinforced plastics
(3) glass fiber reinforced plastics
(4) decreases the weight of passenger airplanes
Fig.2.5 passenger airplanes

27
2.7 Advantages of Composite Materials
The advantages of composites are many, including lighter weight, the ability to tailor the
layup for optimum strength and stiffness, improved fatigue life, corrosion resistance, and,
with good design practice, reduced assembly costs due to fewer detail parts and fasteners.
Summary of the advantages exhibited by composite materials, which are of significant use in
aerospace industry are as follows:
 High resistance to fatigue and corrosion degradation.
 High ‘strength or stiffness to weight’ ratio. As enumerated above, weight savings
are significant ranging from 25-45% of the weight of conventional metallic designs.
 Due to greater reliability, there are fewer inspections and structural repairs.
 Directional tailoring capabilities to meet the design requirements. The fibre pattern
can be laid in a manner that will tailor the structure to efficiently sustain the applied
loads.
 Fibre to fibre redundant load path.
 Improved dent resistance is normally achieved. Composite panels do not sustain
damage as easily as thin gage sheet metals
 It is easier to achieve smooth aerodynamic profiles for drag reduction. Complex
double-curvature parts with a smooth surface finish can be made in one
manufacturing operation.
 Composites offer improved torsional stiffness. This implies high whirling speeds,
reduced number of intermediate bearings and supporting structural elements. The
overall part count and manufacturing & assembly costs are thus reduced.
 High resistance to impact damage.
 Thermoplastics have rapid process cycles, making them attractive for high volume
commercial applications that traditionally have been the domain of sheet metals.
Moreover, thermoplastics can also be reformed.
 Like metals, thermoplastics have indefinite shelf life.
 Composites are dimensionally stable i.e. they have low thermal conductivity and
low coefficient of thermal expansion. Composite materials can be tailored to
comply with a broad range of thermal expansion design requirements and to
minimise thermal stresses.

28
 Manufacture and assembly are simplified because of part integration (joint/fastener
reduction) thereby reducing cost.
 The improved weather ability of composites in a marine environment as well as
their corrosion resistance and durability reduce the down time for maintenance.
 Close tolerances can be achieved without machining.
 Material is reduced because composite parts and structures are frequently built to shape
rather than machined to the required configuration, as is common with metals.
 Excellent heat sink properties of composites, especially Carbon-Carbon, combined with
their lightweight have extended their use for aircraft brakes.
 Improved friction and wear properties.
 The ability to tailor the basic material properties of a Laminate has allowed new
approaches to the design of aero elastic flight structures.
2.8 Limitations &DisadvantagesCompositesMaterials
2.8.1 Disadvantages of Composites Materials.
Some of the associated disadvantages of advanced composites are as follows:
 High cost of raw materials and fabrication.
 Composites are more brittle than wrought metals and thus are more easily
damaged.
 Transverse properties may be weak.
 Matrix is weak, therefore, low toughness.
 Reuse and disposal may be difficult.
 Difficult to attach.
 Repair introduces new problems, for the following reasons:
 Materials required refrigerated transport and storage and have limited shelf
life.
 Hot curing is necessary in many cases requiring special tooling.
 Hot or cold curing takes time
 Analysis is difficult.
 Matrix is subject to environmental degradation

29
However, proper design and material selection can circumvent many of the above
disadvantages. New technology has provided a variety of reinforcing fibres and matrices
those can be combined to form composites having a wide range of exceptional properties.
Since the advanced composites are capable of providing structural efficiency at lower weights
as compared to equivalent metallic structures, they have emerged as the primary materials for
future use.
In aircraft application, advanced fibre reinforced composites are now being used in many
structural applications, viz. floor beams, engine cowlings, flight control surfaces, landing gear
doors, wing-to-body fairings, etc., and also major load carrying structures including the
vertical and horizontal stabiliser main torque boxes. Composites are also being considered for
use in improvements to civil infrastructures, viz., earthquake proof highway supports, power
generating wind mills, long span bridges, etc.
2.8.2 Comparison Composites with Metals
Requirements governing the choice of materials apply to both metals and reinforced plastics.
It is, therefore, imperative to briefly compare main characteristics of the two.
• Composites offer significant weight saving over existing metals. Composites can
provide structures that are 25-45% lighter than the conventional aluminium structures
designed to meet the same functional requirements. This is due to the lower density of
the composites.
Depending on material form, composite densities range from 1260 to 1820 kg/in
3
(0.045 to
0.065 lb/in
3
) as compared to 2800 kg/in
3
(0.10 lb/in
3
) for aluminium. Some applications may
require thicker composite sections to meet strength/stiffness requirements, however, weight
savings will still result.
 Unidirectional fibre composites have specific tensile strength (ratio of
material strength to density) about 4 to 6 times greater than that of steel and
aluminium.
 Unidirectional composites have specific -modulus (ratio of the material
stiffness to density) about 3 to 5 times greater than that of steel and
aluminium.
 Fatigue endurance limit of composites may approach 60% of their ultimate
tensile strength. For steel and aluminium, this value is considerably lower.

30
 Fibre composites are more versatile than metals, and can be tailored to meet
performance needs and complex design requirements such as aero-elastic
loading on the wings and the vertical & the horizontal stabilisers of aircraft.
 Fibre reinforced composites can be designed with excellent structural
damping features. As such, they are less noisy and provide lower vibration
transmission than metals.
 High corrosion resistance of fibre composites contributes to reduce life- cycle
cost.
 Composites offer lower manufacturing cost principally by reducing
significantly the number of detailed parts and expensive technical joints
required to form large metal structural components. In other words, composite
parts can eliminate joints/fasteners thereby providing parts simplification and
integrated design.
2.9 Properties of Composites materials
 High Strength to Weight Ratio-Fibre composites are extremely strong for their
weight. By refining the laminate many characteristics can be enhanced. A common
laminate of say 3mm Chopped strand mat, is quite flexible compared to say a 3 mm
ply. However it will bend a long way more than the ply before yielding. Stiffness
should not be confused with Strength.
 Lightweight-A standard Fibreglass laminate has a specific gravity in the region of 1.5,
compared to Alloy of 2.7 or steel of 7.8. When you then start looking at Carbon
laminates, strengths can be many times that of steel, but only a fraction of the weight.
A DVD case lid was produced using carbon fibre to reduce the case's overall weight
so that it could be carried as cabin baggage whilst travelling, and for improved
security. It was used by support crew for the All Blacks during their 1999 Rugby
World Cup campaign.
 Fire Resistance-The ability for composites to withstand fire has been steadily
improving over the years. There is two types of systems to be considered. Fire
Retardant Are self extinguishing laminates, usually made with chlorinated resins and
additives such as Antimony trioxide. These release CO2 when burning so when the
flame source is removed, the self extinguish. Fire Resistant More difficult and made
with the likes of Phenolic Resins. These are difficult to use, are cured with

31
formaldehyde, and require a hi degree of post curing to achieve true fire resistance.
Other materials are also becoming more readily available to be used as intumescent
layers, which expand and blanket the surface, preventing spread of flame.
 Electrical Properties-Fibreglass Developments Ltd produced the Insulator Support
straps for the Tranz Rail main trunk electrification. The straps, although only 4mm
thick, meet the required loads of 22kN, as well as easily meeting insulation
requirements.
 Chemical & Weathering Resistance-Composite products have good weathering
properties and resist the attack of a wide range of chemicals. This depends almost
entirely on the resin used in manufacture, but by careful selection resistance to all but
the most extreme conditions can be achieved. Because of this, composites are used in
the manufacture of chemical storage tanks, pipes, chimneys and ducts, boat hulls and
vehicle bodies.FDL manufactured architectural panels for the construction of the
Auckland Marine Rescue Centre.
 TranslucencyPolyester- resins are widely used to manufacture translucent mouldings
and sheets. Light transmission of up to 85% can be achieved.
 Design Flexibility-Because of the versatility of composites, product design is only
limited by your imagination.
 Low Thermal Conductivity-Fibreglass Developments has been involved in the
development and production of specialised meat containers which maintain prime cuts
of chilled meat at the correct temperature for Export markets. They are manufactured
using the RTM process, with special reinforcing and foam inserts.
 Manufacturing Economy-Fibreglass Developments produces several models of fuel
pump covers for Fuel quip. Fibreglass is an ideal material for producing items of this
type for many reasons, including being very economical.

32
CHAPTER-3
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
3.1 Introduction
The foregoing chapters deal, for the most part, with the mechanical response of composite
materials under what might be called ‘normal’ conditions, that is, under a variety of régimes
of loading, but with no consideration of possible interactions between the applied stress
system and environments that differ appreciably from ordinary laboratory conditions. This is
naturally limiting, and yet this ‘normal’ performance must always be established before the
effects of other more aggressive environments can be distinguished. By and large, it is the
effects of temperature, ultra-violet radiation, and chemical environments, including oxidising
atmospheres, that first come to mind when considering practical applications of composites in
general. But, ironically, it is moist environments that are likely to be the major source of
trouble to designers in most applications.
The combined effect of temperature and moisture is frequently observed to be more
damaging than the effect of either separately. The differing responses of cross-plied epoxy-
based composites reinforced with glass, aramid, and carbon fibres to combined
temperature/humidity cycling are illustrated by some results of Dickson et al (1984.
Water diffuses readily through many of the thermoset and thermoplastic polymers that are
commonly used as matrix materials. And where the environment has access to the
fibre/matrix interface, at the cut edges of a component, for example, water may be ‘wicked
in’ by capillarity along the interface. Moisture therefore has ready access to those parts of the
composite from whence it derives its load bearing properties, to a greater or lesser extent,
depending on the nature of the matrix polymer concerned, and in the long term this can result
in deterioration of composite properties.
Most forms of high-energy radiation are damaging to polymers because of the relatively low
energies required to cause chemical damage. The most obvious effect in long-chain polymers
is the degradation associated with scission of the main chains, which results in a reduction in
the average molecular weight, and additional cross-linking between chains, resulting in
network formation. Scission often causes a lowering of the polymer viscosity and softening

33
temperature and reduction of mechanical strength, and it may also lead, in some cases, to an
increase in the degree of crystallinity.Cross-linking, on the other hand, leads to an increase in
strength and ductility up to some limiting cross-link density beyond which the strength is
again reduced and the polymer embrittled. These are therefore opposing effects which
nevertheless occur simultaneously. But the long-term effect of irradiation is almost always
serious embrittlement of the polymer. Internal stresses are also developed which, in the
presence of an external stress and an aggressive environment, may result in rapid
Disintegration. Exposure of thermoset resin composites to ultra-violet radiation can promote
additional cross-linking in the surface resin which may result in surface micro cracks. Most
practical reinforcing fibres, with the exception of the aromatic polyamides and high-stretch
polyolefins, are unlikely to be affected by uv radiation, and since the bulk of the reinforcing
fibres in a composite will largely be screened from the uv by the surface layers of resin and
fibre or by pigmented paint coatings, the response of a reinforced plastic laminate to uv will
be largely dominated by what happens to the resin.
This kind of damage, which is perhaps likely to be a result of the combined effects of ultra-
violet, regular wetting and drying, and diurnal temperature cycling, is particularly serious in
the case of glass-fibre- or polymer-fibre-reinforced resins since it leaves the reinforcing
elements totally bare of protection against both mechanical damage and further
environmental attack useful illustration of the difficulties facing a designer in relation to
environmental effects is that of the application of composites in space vehicles. Many of the
requirements are the same as those for aeronautical structures, since there is a need to have
low weight and high stiffness in order to minimize loads and avoid the occurrence of
buckling frequencies. But the environmental effects are special. Service temperatures range
from cryogenic to many hundreds of degrees, and the temperature changes are therefore very
great: consequently, severe thermal stresses may arise which may cause serious distortion.
Dimensional stability is at a premium, for stable antennae and optical platforms, for example,
and materials need to be transparent to radio-frequency waves and stable towards both uv
radiation and moisture. Many of these effects lead to residual strains, micro cracking, and
thermal distortion. Porosity and internal deboned also give problems with moisture, so a high
degree of perfection and high-quality adhesive bonding procedures are needed to ensure
dimensional stability.Similar corrosion problems may be expected when carbon-fibre-
reinforced plastics are used in conjunction with metallic components in the presence of the
almost inevitable aqueous environment.

34
3.2 Hydrothermal Sensitivity of ReinforcedPlastics
3.2.1 Fibre Effects
Although reinforcing fibres like carbon, boron, and other ceramic reinforcements are
insensitive to the effects of moisture, others, particularly glass and aramid fibres like Kevlar-
49, are affected by moisture even at low exposure levels. Glass and Kevlar-49 fibres are
known to have mechanical properties that are dependent on time and temperature. The
resulting alkaline environment then attacks the normally-stable SiO2 network and reduces the
strength of the glass fibre. Stress-corrosion essentially results from the conjoint effects of the
corrosive environment and the applied stress. The effect occurs more rapidly in acid or
alkaline environments than in water alone, but even in pure water the rate of loss of strength
is high and the extent of the weakening is substantial. The loss of strength of ordinary E-glass
fibres in the alkaline environment of a damp concrete matrix seriously limited the effective
use of glass-fibrereinforced cement products (GRC) in the building industry.
3.2.2 Resineffects
The open molecular structure of glassy thermoplastic and thermoset polymers permits
relatively rapid diffusion of moisture. Depending on the nature of the polymer, considerable
quantities of moisture may be absorbed into the material, and both the rate of absorption and
the saturation absorption level will depend on the conditions of exposure (ie. temperature and
relative humidity). The wetting and drying of a resin are accompanied by dimensional
changes which generate residual stresses in a resin containing rigid reinforcement. Solvent
attack on resins can cause both physical and chemical effects, the latter usually being either
hydrolysis (of the ester linkages in a polyester, for example) and oxidation, although these
processes are slow at ambient temperatures. Chemical attack naturally reduces the
mechanical properties of the common resins.
3.2.3 Composite effects
In a normal composite material, moisture will enter by diffusion through the bulk resin, by
capillary flow through pores in the resin, and also along the fibre/resin interface. Fickian
kinetics again often appear to apply, but deviations from Ficking behaviour are frequently
observed, such as where accelerated moisture pick-up occurs as a result of the presence of
micro-voids or cracks in the resin. The moisture diffusion in an anisotropic composite lamina

35
is of course also likely to be anisotropic, the rate of diffusion being more rapid in the direction of
fibre alignment because of the continuity of the resin diffusion path.
3.3 Time-Dependent Effects
Their surprise, that the situation was not improved when the strands were impregnated with
resin. The apparent strengths of the impregnated strands fell to one sixth of the normal value,
regardless of whether the impregnating resin was epoxy or polyester (although the epoxy
resin appeared to delay the onset of the strength reduction somewhat) presumably because of
the lower moisture permeability of the epoxy resin.

36
CHAPTER-4
APPLICATIONS COMPOSITE MATRIALS
4.1 Introduction
Applications include aerospace, transportation, construction, marinegoods,sporting,goods,and
more recently infrastructure, with construction and transportation being the largest. In
general, high-performance but more costly continuous-carbon-fibre composites are used.
1. Aerospace
2. Automotive Engineering
3. Bio Engineering
4. Chemical Engineering4
5. Civil/Structural Engineering
6. Domestic
7. Electrical Engineering
8. Marine Engineering
9. Sport.
4.1.1 Aerospace
A wide range of load-bearing and non-load-bearing components are already in use in both
fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft. Many military and civil aircraft now contain substantial
quantities of lightweight, high-strength carbon, Kevlar and glass-fibre composites, as
laminated panels and mouldings, and as composite honeycomb structures with metallic or
resin-impregnated paper honeycomb core materials. They are used in air frames, wing spars,
spoilers, tail-plane structures, fuel tanks, drop tanks, bulkheads, flooring, helicopter rotor
blades, propellers, and structural components, pressured gas containers, radomes, nose and
landing gear doors, fairings, engine nacelles (particularly where containment capability is
required for jet engines), air distribution ducts, seat components, access panels, and so forth.
For elevated-temperature applications carbon-fibre-reinforced carbon is in use. Concord's
disk brakes use this material, rocket nozzles and re-entry shields have been fashioned from it,
and there are other possibilities for its use as static components in jet engines. Rocket motor

37
casings and rocket launchers are also frequently made of reinforced plastics. A particularly
interesting (and important) application of composites is in its development in Australia as a
means of repairing battle damage (patching) in metal aircraft structures.
4.1.2 Automotive Engineering
There is increasing interest in weight reduction in order to permit both energy conservation
and increased motoring economy. Reduction in the weight of an automobile structure
achieves primary weight-saving and if carried to sufficiently great lengths enables the
designer to use smaller power plants, thus achieving substantial secondary improvements in
fuel economy. The majority of automotive applications involve glass-reinforced plastics
because the extra cost of carbon or aramid fibre is rarely considered to be acceptable in this
market. Even so, the cost of using GRP is usually being weighed against the much lower cost
of pressed steel components, and the substitution is often rejected on purely economic
grounds, leaving aside the question of energy saving. A wide range of car and truck body
mouldings, panels and doors is currently in service, including complete front-end mouldings,
fascias, bumper mouldings, and various kinds of trim. Selective reinforcement of aluminium
alloy components, such as pistons and connecting rods, with alumina fibres is much
discussed with reference to increased temperature capability.
4.1.3 Bio engineering
Carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic and carbon components are in use for prosthetic purposes,
such as in orthopaedic fracture fixation plates, femoral stems for hip replacements,
mandibular and maxillary prostheses (jaw remodelling, for example), and for external
orthotic supports in cases of limb deformity etc. Pyrolytic carbon is used to manufacture heart
valve components, and the substitution of a carbon/carbon composite is not unlikely. There
have also been developments in the use of particulate hydroxyapatite as filler in a
thermoplastic composite for bone remodelling or replacement.
4.1.4 ChemicalEngineering
A substantial amount of GRP is currently in use in chemical plant for containers, pressure
vessels, pipe-work, valves, centrifuges etc. These may be filament-wound or moulded
components for containment of process fluids.

38
4.1.5 Civil/Structural Engineering
Again the bulk of composites used in this field are glass-reinforced plastics. The low inherent
elastic modulus of GRP is easily overcome in buildings by the use of double curvature and
folded-plate structures: thin GRP panels also offer the advantage of translucency, but these
GRC are still regarded with some suspicion by architects who prefer to consider only non-
load-bearing applications for glass-reinforced cement. Available and it requires very little in
the way of expensive reinforcing filaments to be added to it to make it uncompetitive. A good
deal of GRP is used in this industry for folded-plate structures, cladding panels, decorative
‘sculptured’ panels (like those in the doors of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Liverpool),
services mouldings and ducting, racking, pipe work, rainwater mouldings, domestic and
industrial water tanks, form-work for concrete, and complete small structures like foot-
bridges. CFRP have been less used until recently because of the cost, but are increasingly
being considered for building light-weight structures, including a number of bridges. In
recent years there has been a major surge of interest in the use of structural composites in
civil engineering infrastructures. Current applications include the use of pultruded FRP
shapes as individual structural elements and shear stiffeners for concrete structures, as
reinforcing bars for concrete, components in composite/concrete structures, as externally
applied impact containment supports, and as patches for damaged concrete bridgework. A
good deal of upgrading of existing bridge structures by externally applied composite
components is being carried out.
4.1.6 Domestic
Injection-moulded reinforced thermoplastics and polyester moulding compounds are perhaps
the most common composites used in consumer items for the domestic market, and the range
is vast Mouldings of all kinds, from kitchen equipment of all kinds to casings for the whole
gamut of domestic and professional electrical equipment, motor-cycle crash helmets,
television and computer casings, and furniture.
4.1.7 Electrical Engineering
Typical applications are radomes, structural components for switch gear, power generator
coolant containment and large-diameter butterfly valves, high-strength insulators (eg. for
overhead conductor systems), printed circuit boards, and casings for electronic equipment.
The majority of applications in this field again use GRP, although the use of composites

39
which are more thermally stable and more moisture-resistant is increasingly predicated for
sensitive, small-scale electronic components.Many prototype and practical wind-generator
designs incorporate GRP or hybrid blading.
4.1.8 Marine Engineering
Marine applications include surface vessels, offshore structures and underwater applications.
A vast range of pleasure craft has long been produced in GRP, but much serious use is also
made of the same materials for hull and superstructure construction of passenger transport
vessels, fishing boats and military (mine-countermeasures) vessels. Sea-water cooling circuits
may also be made of GRP as well as hulls and other structures. Off-shore structures such as
oil rigs also make use of reinforced plastics, especially if they can be shown to improve on
the safety of steel structures, for fire protection piping circuits, walkways, flooring, ladders,
tanks and storage vessels, blast panels, and accommodation modules. High specific
compression properties also make composite materials attractive for submersibles and
submarine structures, both for oil exploration and for military purposes, and for towed
transducer arrays for sea-bed sonar mapping.
4.1.9 Sport
Perhaps the most visible development in the use of composites has been in the sports goods
industry. Manufacturers have been quick to seize on the potential advantages of new
materials like carbon and boron fibre composites over conventional wood and metal for
sports equipment of all kinds, but whether the average sportsman (and perhaps even some of
the above-average ones) who have been inveigled into buying this more expensive composite
equipment in the hope that it would improve their game have been able to demonstrate
genuine improvement remains uncertain. GRP vaulting poles were perhaps the earliest of the
composite sports gear, but one can now obtain tennis rackets, cricket bats, golf clubs, fishing
rods, boats, oars, archery equipment, canoes and canoeing gear, surf boards, wind-
surfers,skateboards, skis, ski-poles, bicycles, and protective equipment of many sorts in
composite materials of one kind or another. In an industry that is often less directly subject to
controls exercised in other areas of engineering there is often a tendency to dupe customers
with the use of names which incorporate the words ‘carbon’ or ‘graphite’ to describe
expensive, black coloured items which may at the present time legitimately contain little or
no carbon fibre.

40
CONCLUSION
composite materials play a major role in aircrafts parts manufacturing industries. The
characteristics like high strength, high stiffness, light weight and low density are attracting
the research and development department of the aerospace industry to work on composite
material to build the part of aircrafts. The main aspect we need to keep in mind that strength
and stiffness are major considerations for aircrafts whereas stiffness and low coefficient of
thermal expansion are major considerations for space applications. The main objective of the
seminar report on composite materials is to provide an opportunity to undergraduate’s
to identify, observe and practice how engineering is applicable in the real topic. It is not
only to get experience on technical practices but also to observe management practices and
to interact with fellow workers. Also I learnt the way of work in an organization,
the importance of being punctual, the importance of maximum commitment, and the
importance of team spirit. . Excessive treatment may negatively affect the polymer. Excessive
fibre and fillers may give a negative impact. Gradual immersion is not advisable and affect
micro structure of polymer composite. Care must be taken while manufacturing a Hybrid
Polymer composite. Special attention and temperature measurement will require further
investigation, due. to complex contact conditions.

41
REFERENCES
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Collapse."Journal of FieldArchaeology,20,No. 1. Spring,1993. 59-75. JSTOR. Accessed28
January2007
3. Jumpup ^ "Mineralscommoditysummary – cement– 2007". US UnitedStatesGeological
Survey.1 June 2007. Retrieved16 January2008.
4. Jumpup ^ HeatherLechtmanand LinnHobbs "RomanConcrete andthe Roman
Architectural Revolution",CeramicsandCivilizationVolume 3:HighTechnologyCeramics:
Past,Present,Future,editedbyW.D.Kingeryandpublishedbythe AmericanCeramics
Society,1986; and Vitruvius,BookII:v,1;BookV:xii2
5. Jumpup ^ "Composite Materials".TufcotEngineeringLtd.Retrieved2016-03-09.
6. Jumpup ^ "Material Grades".Tufcot EngineeringLtd.Retrieved2016-03-09.
7. http://www.ncsu.edu/bioresources/BioRes_02/BioRes_02_4_534_535_Hubbe_L_BioResJ_E
ditorial_LoveHate.pdf
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ed.(NewYork:Marcel Dekker),p.5 ff.
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