COMPOSITE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES

UNIT I

STRESS STRAIN RELATION

A composite material is defined as a material which is composed of two or more materials at

a
microscopic
scale
and
has
chemically
distinct
phases.
Thus, a composite material is heterogeneous at a microscopic scale but statistically
homogeneous at macroscopic scale. The materials which form the composite are also called
as constituents or constituent materials. The constituent materials of a composite have
significantly different properties. Further, it should be noted that the properties of the
composite formed may not be obtained from these constituents. However, a combination of
two or more materials with significant properties will not suffice to be called as a composite
material. In general, the following conditions must be satisfied to be called as a composite
material:
1. The combination of materials should result in significant property changes. One can
see significant changes when one of the constituent material is in platelet or fibrous
from.
2. The content of the constituents is generally more than 10% (by volume).
3. In general, property of one constituent is much greater
property of the other constituent.

than the corresponding

Most Engineering materials are neither homogeneous nor isotropic in nature.

A homogeneousmaterial is one where properties are uniform throughout, i.e. they do

not depend on position in body.
An isotropic material is one where properties that are same in every direction at a
point in a body.

Composites are inhomogeneous (or heterogeneous) as well as nonisotropic in nature.

An inhomogeneous (or heterogeneous) materials properties vary from pointto

point.
An orthotropic material has a material property that is different in three mutually
perpendicular directions at a point in the body, here the composite has atleast two
orthogonally plane of symmetry.
An Anisotropic material has a material property that is different in all direction at a
point in the body, here the composite has no plane of symmetry

The following are the advantages of composites:

1. Specific stiffness and specific strength:
The composite materials have high specific stiffness and strengths. Thus,these
material offer better properties at lesser weight as compared to conventional materials.
Due to this, one gets improved performance at reduced energy consumption.
2. Tailorable design:
A large set of design parameters are available to choose from. Thus,making the design
procedure more versatile. The available design parameters are:
1. Choice of materials (fibre/matrix), volume fraction of fiber and matrix,
fabrication method, layer orientation, no. of layer/laminae in a given direction,
thickness of individual layers, type of layers (fabric/unidirectional) stacking
sequence.
2. A component can be designed to have desired properties in specific directions.
3. Fatigue Life:

The composites can with stand more number of fatigue cycles than that of
aluminum. The critical structural components in aircraft require high fatigue life. The
use of composites in fabrication of such structural components is thus justified.
4. Dimensional Stability:
Strain due to temperature can change shape, size, increase friction, wear and thermal
stresses. The dimensional stability is very important in application like space antenna.
For composites, with proper design it is possible to achieve almost zero coefficient of
thermal expansion.
5. Corrosion Resistance:
Polymer and ceramic matrix material used to make composites have high resistance to
corrosion from moisture, chemicals.
6. Cost Effective Fabrication:
The components fabricated from composite are cost effective with automated methods
like filament winding, pultrusion and tape laying. There is a lesser wastage of the raw
materials as the product is fabricated to the final product size unlike in metals.
7. Conductivity:
The conductivity of the composites can be achieved to make it a insulator or a highly
conducting material. For example, Glass/polyesters are nonconducting materials.
These materials can be used in space ladders, booms etc. where one needs higher
dimensional stability, whereas copper matrix material gives a high thermal
conductivity.
8. Toughness
9. High wear resistance
10. High chemical resistance
11. High environmental degradation resistance
12. Reduced weight
13. Electrical insulation or conductivity
14. Acoustic insulation
15. Radar transparency
16. Energy dissipation
17. Attractiveness

The following are the disadvantages of composites:

1. Some fabrics are very hard on tooling.
2. Hidden defects are difficult to locate.
3. Inspection may require special tools and processes.
4. Filament-wound parts may not be repairable. Repairing may introduce new problems.
5. High cost of raw materials.
6. High initial cost of tooling, production set-up, etc.
7. Labour intensive.
8. Health and safety concerns.
9. Training of the labour is essential.
10. Environmental issues like disposal and waste management.
11. Reuse of the materials is difficult.
12. Storage of frozen pre-pregs demands for additional equipments and adds to the cost of
production.
13. Extreme cleanliness required.
14. The composites, in general, are brittle in nature and hence easily damageable.
15. The matrix material is weak and hence the composite has low toughness.
16. The transverse properties of lamina or laminate are, in general, weak.
17. The analysis of the composites is difficult due to heterogeneity and orthotropy.
The applications of the composites are given in the following as per the area of application.
Aerospace:

Aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, space telescopes, space shuttle, space station, missiles,
boosters rockets, helicopters (due to high specific strength and stiffness) fatigue life,
dimensional stability.

All composite voyager aircraft flew nonstop around the world with refueling.

Carbon/carbon composite is used on the leading edges nose cone of the shuttle.

B2 bomber - both fiber glass and graphite fibers are used with epoxy matrix and
polyimide matrix.

The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA - Tejas) has Kevlar composite in nose
cone, Glass composites in tail fin and carbon composites form almost all part of the
fuselage and wings, except the control surfaces of the wing.

Further, the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH Dhruvh) has carbon
composites for its main rotor blades. The other composites are used in tail rotor,
vertical fin, stabilizer, cowling, radome, doors, cockpit, side shells, etc.

Missile:

Rocket motor cases

Nozzles

Igniter

Inter stage structure

Equipment section

Aerodynamic fairings

Launch Vehicle:

Rocket motor case

Interstage structure

Payload fairings and dispensers

High temperature Nozzle

Nose cone

Control surfaces

Composite Railway Carrier:

Composite railway auto carrier

Bodies of Railway Bogeys

Seats

Drivers Cabin

Stabilization of Ballasted Rail Tracks

Doors

Sleepers for Railway Girder Bridges

Gear Case

Pantographs

Sports Equipments

Tennis rockets, golf clubs, base-ball bats, helmets, skis, hockey sticks, fishing rods,
boat hulls, wind surfing boards, water skis, sails, canoes and racing shells, paddles,
yachting rope, speed boat, scuba diving tanks, race cars reduced weight, maintenance,
corrosion resistance.

Automotive

Lower weight and greater durability, corrosion resistance, fatigue life, wear and
impact resistance.

Drive shafts, fan blades and shrouds, springs, bumpers, interior panels, tires, brake
shoes, clutch plates, gaskets, hoses, belts and engine parts.

Carbon and glass fiber composites pultruted over on aluminum cylinder to create
drive shaft.

Fuel saving braking energy can be stored in to a carbon fiber super flywheels.

Other applications include: mirror housings, radiator end caps, air filter housing,
accelerating pedals, rear view mirrors, head-lamp housings, and intake manifolds, fuel
tanks.

Infrastructure Structures:

Corrosion is a major design consideration such as in the chemical and on off- shore
oil plate forms

Skeletal Structures

Walls and Panels

Doors, Windows, Ladders, Staircases

Chemical and Water Tanks

Cooling Towers

Bridge Decks

Antenna Dishes

Bridge enclosures

Aerodynamic fairings

Industrial:

Drive,

conveyer belts,

hoses,

tear and puncture resistant fabrics,

rotor vanes,

mandrels,

ropes,

cables.

Medical:

Wheelchairs,

Crutches,

Hip joints,

Heat valves,

Dentistry,

Surgical equipments

Electronic:

Chips in electronic computing devices are laminated hybrid systems composed of a

number of layers (materials) which serve different functions.

Chip must have good heat transfer properties and must be able to withstand induced
thermal stresses without delaminating.

The composite finds a vast usage in electronic packaging materials. The Styrofoam,
particle bonded materials formed from paper pulp, air-bubble cushioned plastic

sheets, etc. are some of the popular materials used in the packing.
Military:

Helmets,

bullet proof vests,

impact resistant vehicles,

lighter and less detectable ships,

portable bridges.

Marine:
The Glass reinforced fibre plastics are used in:

Ship and Boat Hulls

Masts

Instrument Panels

Hydrofoils

Hovercrafts

Propellers

Propulsion shafts

Rudders

Heat exchangers

Flywheel

Piping

Ventilation ducts

Engine and equipment foundations

Wind Power Engineering:

Rotor blades including blade shell, integral webs, spars or box structure.

Mast

Generator housing

REINFORCEMENT AND MATRICES:

The functions of a reinforcing agent (Reinforcement) are:

1. These are the main load carrying constituents.
2. The reinforcing materials, in general, have significantly higher desired properties.
Hence,
they contribute the desired properties to the composite.
3. It transfers the strength and stiffness to the matrix material.
The matrix performs various functions. These functions are listed below:
1. The matrix material holds the fibres together.
2. The matrix plays an important role to keep the fibres at desired positions. The
desired distribution of the fibres is very important from micromechanical point of
view.
3. The matrix keeps the fibres separate from each other so that the mechanical abrasion
between them does not occur.
4. It transfers the load uniformly between fibers. Further, in case a fibre is broken or
fibre discontinuity, then it helps to redistribute the load in the vicinity of the break
site.
5. It provides protection to fibers from environmental effects.
6. It provides better finish to the final product.
7. The matrix material enhances some of the properties of the resulting material and
structural component (that fibre alone is not able to impart). For example, such
properties are: transverse strength of a lamina, impact resistance
The fibres that are used in the fabrication of a composite can be divided into two broad
categories as follows:

Natural fibres and

Advanced fibres

The natural fibres are divided into following three sub categories.

Animal fibers: silk, wool, spider silk, sinew, camel hair, etc.

Plant/vegetable fibers: cotton (seed), jute (stem), hemp (stem), sisal (leaf),
ramie, bamboo, maze, sugarcane, banana, kapok, coir, abaca, kenaf, flax,
raffia palm, etc.

Mineral fibers: asbestos, basalt, mineral wool, glass wool.

B. Advanced fibers:
An advanced fibre is defined as a fibre which has a high specific stiffness (that is, ratio of
Youngs modulus to the density of the material,

) and a high specific strength (that is

the ratio of ultimate strength to the density of the material,

The fibres made from following materials are the advanced fibres.
1. Carbon and/or Graphite
2. Glass fibers
3. Alumina

).

4. Aramid
5. Silicon carbide
6. Sapphire
The reinforcements in a composite material come in various forms:
1. Fiber: Fiber is an individual filament of the material. A filament with length to
diameter ratio above 1000 is called as a fiber. The fibrous form of the reinforcement
is widely used. The fibers can be in the following two forms:
a. Continuous fibers: If the fibers used in a composite are very long
and unbroken or cut then it forms a continuous fiber composite. A
composite, thus formed using continuous fiber is called as fibrous
composite. The fibrous composite is the widely used form of
composite.
b. Short/chopped fibers: The fibers are chopped into small pieces
when used in fabricating a composite. A composite with short fibers
as reinforcements is called as short fiber composite.
In the fibre reinforced composites, the fibre is the major load carrying constituent.

2. Particulate: The reinforcement is in the form of particles which are of the order of a
few microns in the diameter. The particles are generally added to increase the
modulus and decrease the ductility of the matrix materials. In this case, the load is
shared by both particles and matrix materials. However, the load shared by the
particles is much larger than the matrix material. For, example in an automobile type
carbon black (as a particulate reinforcement) is added in rubber (as matrix material).
The composite with reinforcement in particle form is called asparticulate
composite.
3. Flake: Flake is a small, flat, thin piece or layer (or a chip) that is broken from a
larger piece. Since these are two dimensional in geometry, they impart almost equal
strength in all directions of their planes. Thus, these are very effective reinforcement
components. The flakes can be packed more densely when they are laid parallel,
even denser than unidirectional fibres and spheres. For example, aluminum flakes
are used in paints. They align themselves parallel to the surface of the coating which
imparts the good properties.
Whiskers: These are nearly perfect single crystal fibres. These are short, discontinuous and
polygonal in cross-section.
The matrix materials used in composites can be broadly categorized as: Polymers, Metals,
Ceramics
and
Carbon
and
Graphite.
The polymeric matrix materials are further divided into:

1. Thermoplastic which soften upon heating and can be reshaped with heat and
pressure.
2. Thermoset which become cross linked during fabrication and does not soften upon
reheating.
The

metal

matrix

materials

are:

Aluminum,

Copper

The ceramic materials are: Carbon, Silicon carbide, Silicon nitride.

The classification of matrix materials is shown in Figure

and

Titanium.

The following are the thermoplastic materials:

1. polypropylene,
2. polyvinyl chloride,

3. nylon,
4. polyurethane,
5. poly-ether-ether ketone (PEEK),
6. polyphenylene sulfide (PPS),
7. polysulpone.
The key features of the thermoplastic matrix materials are:
1. higher toughness
2. high volume
3. low cost processing
4. The use temperature range is upto225

The thermoset matrix materials are:

1. polyesters,
2. epoxies,
3. polyimides
The key features of these materials are given for individual material in the following.
Polyesters
1. Used extensively with glass fibers
2. Inexpensive
3. Light weight
4. Temperature range upto100

5. Resistant to environmental exposures

Epoxy
1. Expensive
2. Better moisture resistance

3. Lower shrinkage on curing

4. Use temperature is about 175
Polyimide
1. Higher use temperature about 300
2. Difficult to fabricate
3. Limited temperature range.
4. Susceptibility to environmental degradation due to moisture, radiation, atomic
oxygen (in space)
5. Low transverse strength.
6. High residual stress due to large mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion
between fiber and matrix.
7. Polymer matrix cannot be used near or above the glass transition temperature.
8. Comparison between thermoplastics and thermosets.

Thermoplastics

Thermosets

Soften upon heat and pressure

Decompose upon heating

Hence, can be repaired

Difficult to repair

High strains are required for failure

Low strains are required for failure

Can be re-processed

Can not be re-processed

Indefinite shelf life

Limited shelf life

Short curing cycles

Long curing cycles

Non tacky and easy to handle

Tacky and therefore, difficult to handle

Excellent resistance to solvents

Fair resistance to solvents

Higher processing temperature is required. Hence, Lower processing

viscosities make the processing difficult.
required.

temperature

The common metals used as matrix materials are aluminum, titanium and copper.
Advantages:
1. Higher transfer strength,

is

2. High toughness (in contrast with brittle behavior of polymers and ceramics)
3. The absence of moisture and
4. High thermal conductivity (copper and aluminum).
Dis-advantages:
1. Heavier
2. More susceptible to interface degradation at the fiber/matrix interface and
3. Corrosion is a major problem for the metals
The attractive feature of the metal matrix composites is the higher temperature use.
The aluminum matrix composite can be used in the temperature range upward of 300C
while the titanium matrix composites can be used above 800 .
The carbon, silicon carbide and silicon nitride are ceramics and used as matrix materials.
Ceramic:
The advantages of the ceramic matrix materials are:

1. The ceramic composites have very high temperature range of above 2000

2. High elastic modulus

3. Low density
The disadvantages of the ceramic matrix materials are:
1. The ceramics are very brittle in nature.
2. Hence, they are susceptible to flows.
Carbon
The advantages of the carbon matrix materials are:
1. High temperature at 2200
2. Carbon/carbon bond is stronger at elevated temperature than room temperature.
The disadvantages of the carbon matrix materials are:
1. The fabrication is expensive

2. The multistage processing results in complexity and higher additional cost.

It should be noted that a composite with carbon fibres as reinforcement as well as matrix
material is known as carbon-carbon composite. The application of carbon-carbon
composite is seen in leading edge of the space shuttle where the high temperature resistance
is required. The carbon-carbon composites can resist the temperature upto 3000 .
The advantages of these composites are:
1. Very strong and light as compared to graphite fibre alone.
2. Low density
3. Excellent tensile and compressive strength
4. Low thermal conductivity
5. High fatigue resistance
6. High coefficient of friction
The disadvantages include:
1. Susceptible to oxidation at elevated temperatures

2. High material and production cost

3. Low shear strength
Figure 1.12 depicts the range of use temperature for matrix material in composites. It
should be noted that for the structural applications the maximum use temperature is a
critical parameter. This maximum temperature depends upon the maximum use temperature
of the matrix materials.

Figure 1.12: Range of use temperature for matrix materials in

composites
1. Unidirectional lamina:
o

It is basic form of continuous fiber composites.

A lamina is also called by ply or layer.

Fibers are in same direction.

Orthotropic in nature with different properties in principal material

directions.

For sufficient number of filaments (or layers) in the thickness direction, the
effective properties in the transverse plane (perpendicular to the fibers) may
be isotropic. Such a composite is called as transversely isotropic.

2. Woven fabrics:
o

Examples of woven fabric are clothes, baskets, hats, etc.

Flexible fibers such as glass, carbon, aramid can be woven in to cloth fabric,
can be impregnated with a matrix material.

Different patterns of weaving are shown in Figure 1.13.

Typical weaving patterns are shown in Figure 1.13.

Figure 1.13: Types of weave

3. Laminate:
1.

Stacking of unidirectional or woven fabric layers at different fiber

orientations.

2.

Effective properties vary with:

1. orientation
2. thickness
3. stacking sequence

A symmetric laminate is shown in Figure 1.14.