Introduction

There is an unabated quest for new materials which will satisfy the specific requirements for various
applications like structural, medical, house-hold, industrial, construction, transportation, electrical;
electronics, etc. Metals are the most commonly used materials in these applications. In the yore of time,
there have been specific requirements on the properties of these materials. It is impossible of any
material to fulfill all these properties. Hence, newer materials are developed. In the course, we are going
to learn more about composite materials. First, we will deal with primary understanding of these materials
and then we will learn the mechanics of these materials.

In the following lectures, we will introduce the composite materials, their evolution; constituents;
fabrication; application; properties; forms, advantages-disadvantages etc.  In the present lecture we will
introduce the composite materials with a formal definition, need for these materials, their constituents and
forms of constituents.

Definition of a Composite Material

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 orconstituent
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 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   than the corresponding
property of the other constituent.

The composite materials can be natural or artificially made materials. In the following section we will see
the examples of these materials.

Why we need these materials?

There is unabated thirst for new materials with improved desired properties. All the desired properties are
difficult to find in a single material. For example, a material which needs high fatigue life may not be cost
effective. The list of the desired properties, depending upon the requirement of the application, is given
below.
 1. Strength
2. Stiffness
3. Toughness
4. High corrosion resistance
5. High wear resistance
6. High chemical resistance
7. High environmental degradation resistance
8. Reduced weight
9. High fatigue life
10. Thermal insulation or conductivity
11. Electrical insulation or conductivity
12. Acoustic insulation
13. Radar transparency
14. Energy dissipation
15. Reduced cost
16. Attractiveness

The list of desired properties is in-exhaustive. It should be noted that the most important characteristics of
composite materials is that their properties are tailorable, that is, one can design the required properties.

History of Composites

The existence of composite is not new. The word “composite” has become very popular in recent four-five
decades due to the use of modern composite materials in various applications. The composites have
existed from 10000 BC. For example, one can see the article by Ashby [1].  The evolution of materials
and their relative importance over the years have been depicted in Figure 1 of this article. The common
composite was straw bricks, used as construction material. 

Then the next composite material can be seen from Egypt around 4000 BC where fibrous composite
materials were used for preparing the writing material. These were the laminated writing materials
fabricated from the papyrus plant. Further, Egyptians made containers from coarse fibres that were drawn
from heat softened glass.

One more important application of composites can be seen around 1200 BC from Mongols. Mongols
invented the so called “modern” composite bow. The history shows that the earliest proof of existence of
composite bows dates back to 3000 BC - as predicted by Angara Dating. The bow used various materials
like wood, horn, sinew (tendon), leather, bamboo and antler. The horn and antler were used to make the
main body of the bow as it is very flexible and resilient. Sinews were used to join and cover the horn and
antler together. Glue was prepared from the bladder of fish which is used to glue all the things in place.
The string of the bow was made from sinew, horse hair and silk. The composite bow so prepared used to
take almost a year for fabrication. The bows were so powerful that one could shoot the arrows almost 1.5
km away. Until the discovery of gun-powder the composite bow used to be a very lethal weapon as it was
a short and handy weapon.
As said, “Need is the mother of all inventions”, the modern composites, that is, polymer composites came
into existence during the Second World War. During the Second World War due to constraint impositions
on various nations for crossing boundaries as well as importing and exporting the materials, there was
scarcity of materials, especially in the military applications. During this period the fighter planes were the
most advanced instruments of war. The light weight yet strong materials were in high demand. Further,
applications like housing of electronic radar equipments require non-metallic materials. Hence, the Glass
Fibre Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) were first used in these applications. Phenolic resins were used as the
matrix material. The first use of composite laminates can be seen in the Havilland Mosquito Bomber of
the British Royal Air Force.

The composites exist in day to day life applications as well. The most common existence is in the form of
concrete. Concrete is a composite made from gravel, sand and cement. Further, when it is used along
with steel to form structural components in construction, it forms one further form of composite. The other
material is wood which is a composite made from cellulose and lignin. The advanced forms of wood
composites can be ply-woods. These can be particle bonded composites or mixture of wooden
planks/blocks with some binding agent. Now days, these are widely used to make furniture and as
construction materials.

An excellent example of natural composite is muscles of human body. The muscles are present in a
layered system consisting of fibers at different orientations and in different concentrations. These result in
a very strong, efficient, versatile and adaptable structure. The muscles impart strength to bones and vice
a versa. These two together form a structure that is unique. The bone itself is a composite structure. The
bone contains mineral matrix material which binds the collagen fibres together.  

The other examples include: wings of a bird, fins of a fish, trees and grass. A leaf of a tree is also an
excellent example of composite structure. The veins in the leaf not only transport food and water, but also
impart the strength to the leaf so that the leaf remains stretched with maximum surface area. This helps
the plant to extract more energy from sun during photo-synthesis.

What are the constituents in a typical composite?

In a composite, typically, there are two constituents. One of the constituent acts as a reinforcement and
other acts as a matrix. Sometimes, the constituents are also referred as phases.

What are the types of reinforcements?

The reinforcements in a composite material come in various forms. These are depicted through Figure
1.1.
           

1. Fibre: Fibre is an individual filament of the material. A filament with length to diameter ratio above
1000 is called a fibre. The fibrous form of the reinforcement is widely used. The fibres can be in
the following two forms:
 a. Continuous fibres: If the fibres used in a composite are very long and unbroken
or cut then it forms a continuous fibre composite. A composite, thus formed using
continuous fibres is called as fibrous composite. The fibrous composite is the
most widely used form of composite.

b. Short/chopped fibres: The fibres are chopped into small pieces when used in
fabricating a composite. A composite with short fibres as reinforcements is called
as short fibre

What are the types of fibres?

The fibres that are used in the fabrication of a composite can be divided into two broad categories as
follows:

A. Natural fibres and

B. Advanced fibres

A. Natural fibres

The natural fibres are divided into following three sub categories.

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

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

B. Natural fibresAdvanced fibers:

An advanced fibre is defined as a fibre which has a high specific stiffness (that is, ratio of Young’s
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,  ).

What are the advanced fibres?

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
Boron Fiber

This fibre was first introduced by Talley in 1959 [15]. In commercial production of boron fibres, the method
of Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) is used. The CVD is a process in which one material is deposited
onto a substrate to produce near theoretical density and small grain size for the deposited material. In
CVD the material is deposited on a thin filament. The material grows on this substrate and produces a
thicker filament. The size of the final filament is such that it could not be produced by drawing or other
conventional methods of producing fibres. It is the fine and dense structure of the deposited material
which determines the strength and modulus of the fibre.

In the fabrication of boron fibre by CVD, the boron trichloride is mixed with hydrogen and boron is
deposited according to the reaction

In the process, the passage takes place for couple of minutes. During this process, the atoms diffuse into
tungsten core to produce the complete boridization and the production of   and  . In the
beginning the tungsten fibre of 12   diameter is used, which increases to 12   . This step induces
significant residual stresses in the fibre. The core is subjected to compression and the neighbouring boron
mantle is subjected to tension.

The CVD method for boron fibres is shown in Figure 1.7.

Figure 1.7: Schematic of reactors for silicon carbide fibres by Chemical Vapour Deposition

The key features of this fibre are listed below:

 These are ceramic monofilament fiber.

 Fiber itself is a composite.
 Circular cross section.
 Fiber diameter ranges between 33-400   and typical diameter is 140   .
 Boron is brittle hence large diameter results in lower flexibility.
 Thermal coefficient mismatch between boron and tungsten results in thermal residual stresses
during fabrication cool down to room temperature.
  Boron fibres are usually coated with SiC or    so that it protects the surface during contact with
molten metal when it is used to reinforce light alloys. Further, it avoids the chemical reaction
between the molten metal and fibre.
 Strong in both tension and compression.
 Exhibits linear axial stress-strain relationship up to 650 .
 Since this fibre requires a specialized procedure for fabrication, the cost of production is relatively
high.

The boron fibre structure and its composite is elucidated in Figure 1.8.

Figure 1.8: Boron fibre structure and its composite

 
Introduction

In this lecture we are going see some more advanced fibres. Further, we will see their key features,
applications and fabrication processes.

Alumina Fibre

 These are ceramics fabricated by spinning a slurry mix of alumina particles and additives to
form a yarn which is then subjected to controlled heating.
 Fibers retain strength at high temperature.
 It also shows good electrical insulation at high temperatures.
 It has good wear resistance and high hardness.
 The upper continuous use temperature is about 1700   .
 Fibers of glass, carbon and alumina are supplied in the form of tows (also called rovings or
strands) consisting of many individual continuous fiber filaments.
 Du Pont has developed a commercial grade alumina fibre, known as Alumina FP
(polycrystalline alumina) fibre. Alumina FP fibres are compatible with both metal and resin
matrices. These fibres have a very high melting point of 2100  . They can withstand
temperatures up to 1000  without any loss of strength and stiffness properties at this
elevated temperature. They exhibit high compressive strengths, when they are set in a matrix.
 The Alumina whiskers are available and they exhibit excellent properties. Alumina whiskers
can have the tensile strength of 20700 MPa and the tensile modulus of 427 GPa.
 What are the applications of Alumina fibres?

 The Alumina has a unique combination of low thermal expansion, high thermal conductivity
and high compressive strength. The combination of these properties gives good thermal
shock resistance. These properties make Alumina suitable for applications in furnace use as
Aramid Fibre

 These fibres are from Aromatic polyamide, that is, nylons family.
 Aramid is derived from “Ar” of Aromatric and “amid” of polyamide.
 Examples of fibres from nylon family: Polyamide 6, that is, nylon 6 and Polyamide 6.6, that is,
nylon 6.6
 These are organic fibers.
 Melt-spun from a liquid solution.
 Du Pont developed these fibers under the trade name Kevlar. From poly (p-phenylene
terephthalamide (PPTA) polymer.
 Morphology – radially arranged crystalline sheets resulting into anisotropic properties.
 Filament diameter about 12   and partially flexible.
 High tensile strength.
 Intermediate modulus.
 Significantly lower strength in compression.
 5 grades of Kevlar with varying engineering properties are available. Kevlar-29, Kevlar-49,
Kevlar-100, Kevlar-119 and Kevlar-129.

Silicon Carbide Fibre (SiC)

Silicon carbide fibres are ceramic fibers. These fibres are produced in similar fashion as boron fibres are
produced. The fibres are produced by two methods as follows:

 CVD on Tungsten or Carbon Core

 NICALON™ by NIPPON Carbon Japan

What are the applications of the composite materials?

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