Cairo University

Faculty of Engineering
Mining, Petroleum and Metallurgy Department
4th Year Metallurgy

Elective Course (2) -

Composite Materials
MET 443
LECTURE 3
By Dr. Ahmed Hatem Al-Khoribi
• Fibers
• Types of fibers

• There are many types of fibers. However, the

are three types of fibers that are commonly
used in engineering applications. These are: the
carbon fiber, the glass fiber, and the aramid
fiber.
• Fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) can be
classified based on the type of fibers that are
used as the reinforcement phase.
• Glass is the least expensive Fiber used in
reinforcing polymers. The cost of glass is between
$1.5/kg and $10/kg depending upon the specific
type of glass fiber. However, carbon fiber is
significantly more expensive than glass fiber
where its prices usually range from $40-$100/kg
(48-80 K heavy tow) to $20/kg (12 K tow). Aramid
fibers currently cost $24-$60/kg.

• Less common fibers types include: boron (high

modulus or high strength), silicon carbide (high
temperature resistant), high-density
polyethylene, natural fibers (flax, hemp, sisal,
etc.).
• Carbon fibers
• Carbon fibers refer to fibers which are at least
92 % (in weight) carbon in composition. They
can be short (discontinuous) or continuous.
• Their structure can be crystalline, amorphous,
or partly crystalline. The crystalline form has
the crystal structure of graphite (which is
hexagonal) as shown in Figure. For that reason,
carbon and graphite fibers are used
interchangeably.
• Usually, carbon fibers are commercially
available in long and continuous tows. A typical
tow is a bundle of 1000 to 160000 parallel
filaments (a 12 K tow has 12000 filaments).
• Structurally, carbon fibers contain a blend of
amorphous carbon and graphitic carbon. The
proportion of graphite (graphitic carbon) in a
carbon fiber can range from 0 to 100 %. When
the proportion is high, the fiber is said to be
graphitic and is called a graphite fiber.
• The high tensile modulus of carbon fibers
results from the graphitic (hexagonal) form, in
which carbon atoms are arranged in a
crystallographic structure of parallel planes or
layers. The carbon atoms in each plane are
arranged at the corners of inter-connecting
regular hexagons as shown in Figure.
• The figure below shows arrangement of carbon
atoms in a graphite crystal.
• The distance between the planes (3.4 A°) is larger
than that between the adjacent atoms in each
plane (1.42 A°).
• Strong covalent bonds exist between the carbon
atoms in each plane, but the bond between the
planes/layers is due to van der Waals forces,
which is much weaker than covalent bonds and so
the carbon layers can easily slide with respect to
one another.
• This results in highly anisotropic physical and
mechanical properties for the carbon fiber. The
basal (hexagonal) planes in graphite crystals are
aligned along/parallel to the fiber axis as shown in
Figure.
• The figure below shows structure of carbon
fiber.
• However, in the transverse direction, the
alignment of the carbon layers can be either
circumferential, radial, random, or a
combination of these arrangements as shown in
Figure.
• As a result, carbon fibers have a higher tensile
modulus parallel to the fiber axis (due to the
strong covalent bonds between the carbon atoms
forming the hexagons in each carbon layer) than
perpendicular to the fiber axis.
• Also in a similar manner, the electrical and
thermal conductivities of carbon fibers are higher
along/parallel to the fiber axis, and the
coefficient of thermal expansion is lower
along/parallel to the fiber axis.
Arrangement of graphite crystals in a direction transverse to the fiber axis:
(a) circumferential, (b) radial, (c) random, (d) radial-circumferential, and
(e) random-circumferential.
• Among the advantages of carbon fibers are their
exceptionally high tensile strength-to-weight
ratios (specific strength) as well as tensile
modulus-to-weight ratios (specific modulus), very
low coefficient of linear thermal expansion
(which provides dimensional stability in such
applications as space satellites and antennas),
high fatigue strengths, and high thermal
conductivity (which is even higher than that of
copper).
• The disadvantages of carbon fibers are their low
failure strain (due to inherent brittleness), low
impact resistance, and high electrical conductivity
which may cause “shorting” in unprotected
electrical machinery. They tend to require high
energy requirements in their production which
leads to high cost.
• Glass fibers

• Glass fibers are the most common of all

reinforcing fibers for FRPs.
• The main advantages of glass fibers are their low
cost, high tensile strength, high chemical
resistance, and excellent insulating properties.
• The disadvantages are relatively low tensile
modulus, high density (among the commercial
fibers), low humidity and alkaline resistance,
sensitivity to abrasion during handling (which
frequently decreases its tensile strength),
relatively low fatigue resistance/strength, and
high hardness (which causes excessive wear on
molding dies and cutting tools).
• Glass fibers are a processed form of glass, which
is composed of a number of oxides, together
with other raw materials (such as limestone,
fluorspar, boric acid, clay). The principal oxide in
all glass fibers is silica (SiO2). Other oxides, such
as B2O3 and Al2O3, are added to modify the
network structure of SiO2 as well as to improve
its workability (ability of a material/metal to be
shaped in a forming process without the
formation of cracks).
• The internal structure of glass fibers is a three-
dimensional, long network of silicon, oxygen,
and other atoms arranged in a random fashion.
Thus, glass fibers are amorphous (non-
crystalline) and isotropic (equal properties in all
directions).
• There are four main types of glass that can be
used for fiber production. These are: E-glass, S-
glass, A-glass and C-glass.
• E-glass fibers have the lowest cost of all
commercially and industrially available
reinforcing fibers. For that reason, E-glass fibers
are enjoining a widespread use in the FRP
industry.
• S-glass fibers, originally created and developed
for aircraft components and missile casings, have
the highest tensile strength among all fibers in
use. However, the compositional difference and
higher manufacturing cost make it more
expensive than E-glass. A lower-cost version of S-
glass, called S-2-glass, is also available.
• C-glass fibers are used in chemical
applications that demand greater corrosion
resistance to acids than that is provided by E-
glass fibers.
• A-glass fibers made from soda lime silicate.
They are used where electrical resistivity of E-
glass is not needed. A-glass or soda lime glass
is the main glass used for containers and
window panes (boards that make a window).
• A-glass: Alkali glass.
• AR-glass: Alkali resistant glass.
• E-glass: Electrically resistive glass.
• S-glass: Strength glass.
• C-glass: Corrosive resistant glass.
• R-glass: Reinforcement glass.
• The Table below shows composition of
commercial glass fibers.
• Aramid fibers

• Aramid fibers are highly-crystalline aromatic

polyamide fibers that are characterized by the
lowest density and the highest tensile
strength-to-weight ratio (specific strength)
among the currently used reinforcing fibers.
Kevlar is the trade name of one of the aramid
fibers available in the market (originally
created by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in
1965). It is considered the most famous and
most used aramid fiber. For that reason,
aramid and Kevlar fibers are used
interchangeably.
• Aramid fibers are used as reinforcement in
many engineering applications such as civil,
marine, and aerospace applications where
light weight, high tensile strength, and
resistance to impact damage (e.g. caused by
accidentally dropping a hand tool) are
important. Like carbon fibers, aramid fibers
also have a negative coefficient of thermal
expansion in the fiber direction (longitudinal
direction). Thus, aramid fibers are used in
designing low-thermal expansion composite
structures and panels.
• The molecular structure of aramid fibers
contains aromatic rings. The aromatic ring
gives the aramid fiber a higher chain stiffness
(modulus) as well as better chemical and
thermal stability over other commercial
organic fibers (e.g. nylons).
• Aramid fibers have low density, high tensile,
fatigue, and impact strengths.
• The disadvantages of aramid fibers are: low
compressive strength (since molecular chains
are linked together by weak hydrogen bonds),
reduced long-term strength (stress rupture) as
well as high sensitivity to UV radiation.