MATS324A1 Basics

Basics and terminology
John Summerscales
Structure of modules:
MATS324 and STAD 322
• one lecturer
o John Summerscales (JS)
• two themes
o materials selection and characterisation
o manufacturing processes
Composites students also take MATS320
• lecturer
• Stephen Grove (SMG)
• one theme
o stress analysis
• one assignment
Practical
• manufacture and test of a composite plate
• attendance at Health and Safety lecture
is an essential prerequisite for coursework
o list of attendees circulated for signature
o if your name is not on the list,
you will not be allowed to do the practical
o if you do not do the practical you will fail the
coursework element and hence the module.
Support materials for module
• Home page on Extranet
o http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/sme/mats324/
• Lecture schedule, notes and PowerPoint:
o http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/sme/mats324/PowerPoint
• Home page also includes:
o subject index
o map of local composites companies
o links to ILS Reading Lists
... and other useful resources ;-)
• but see Student Portal for assessments
Civil and structural engineering
• Bridges
• Rehabilitation
o Enhanced carrying capacity of offshore rigs
o Repairs to LUL tunnels, plus bridges & pipework
• Cladding
o (~30 years) Mondial/Montedison House
• Buildings
o (not so) temporary structures
Outline of lecture
• Anisotropy
• Fibre volume fraction (Vf)
• Areal weight of fabric (WF)
• Basic rule-of-mixtures
• Glass transition temperature (Tg)
• Crystalline melting point (Tm)
• Stacking sequence notation
Anisotropy
Degree of Principal Properties Example
anisotropy axes
Isotropic Orthogonal Constant regardless of direction Metals
Square Orthogonal Two different principal axes Unidirectional

symmetric fibres or woven
cloth
Orthotropic Orthogonal Three different principal axes Unidirectional
weave with light
weft
Anisotropic Any angle Constant relative to axes Filament wound
tube or many
crystals
Aeolotropic Any angle May change with position Timber
Fibre volume fraction (Vf)
• n = the number of layers

• AF = the areal weight of the fabric
• ρf = density of the fibre, and
• t = the thickness of the laminate.
nAF
Vf 
ft
Basic rule-of-mixtures 1
• Elastic properties (e.g. density or modulus)
of composite calculated by rule-of-mixtures
EC = κ . η d . η L . η O . V f . Ef + V m . Em
• if the first term of the equation is large,
the second term can be neglected
Basic rule-of-mixtures 2a
• EC = modulus of composite
• Vx = volume fraction of component x
• Ex = modulus of component x
• subscripts f and m are
fibre and matrix respectively
Basic rule-of-mixtures 2b
• κ = fibre area correction factor*

• ηd = fibre “diameter” distribution factor*
• ηL = fibre length distribution factor
• ηO = fibre orientation distribution factor
*
these two factors are set to unity for man-made fibres
(but see lecture A9 on natural fibres)
ηL = fibre length distribution factor

• 1 for continuous fibres
• fractional for long fibres
• 0 if fibre below a “critical length”
ηO = fibre orientation distribution factor

• a weighted function of fibre alignment,
essentially cos4θ:
o 1 for unidirectional
o 1/2 for biaxial aligned with the stress
o 3/8 for random in-plane
o 1/4 for biaxial fabric on the bias angle
• Vf = fibre volume fraction

o 0.15-0.3 for random
o 0.35-0.6 for fabrics
o 0.6-0.75 for unidirectional
• consolidation pressure:
o no pressure gives low value above
o Vf increases with pressure
• Ef = elastic modulus of fibre

o glass= ~70 GPa
(equivalent to aluminium)
o aramid = ~140 GPa
o carbon = ~210 GPa
(equivalent to steel)
• figures above are lowest values
i.e. for standard fibres
Transition temperatures
in ascending order
• Tg = glass transition temperature
• Tc = peak crystallisation temperature
• Tm = crystalline melting point
typically Tm = Tg + 200±50°C
nb: no melting point in amorphous materials
• Tp = processing temperature
typically Tp = Tm + ~30°C for “semi”-crystalline polymers
Tg follows cure temperature in thermosets
• Td = degradation/decomposition temperature
may limit Tp (especially for PVC)
Glass transition temperature (Tg)
• Temperature at which
segmental motion of the chain is frozen out
o below Tg polymer is elastic/brittle
o above Tg polymer is viscoelastic/tough
o more rigorous than heat distortion temperature
• Tg for thermoplastics = Tm - ~200°C
• Tg for thermosets follows cure temp.
Crystalline melting point (Tm)
• all polymers have a Tg
• only some polymers have a Tm
o they must be able to form crystals
 normally a regular repeating structure
 rarely 100% crystalline
o they might degrade before melting

 usually the case for thermoset
Stacking sequence notation
• typical laminate stacking sequence is:
o [0º/+45º/-45º/90º]ns
• where the subscripts are:
o n is the number of repeats of the sequence
o Q indicates antisymmetric laminate
o s means the laminate is symmetric
o T is the total number of plies
o overbar denotes that the laminate is
symmetric about the mid-plane of the ply
• Thus for n = 2 above, the sequence will be:
o 0º/+45º/-45º/90º/0º/+45º/-45º/90º*90º/-45º/+45º/0º/90º/-45º/+45º/0º
o with * denoting the line of symmetry.

I-beam vs stacking sequence
Beam stiffness reduces from left to right:
Composite plate: 0° layer or 90° layer
Equivalent beam: high EI vs low EI

Key points of this lecture
• resources on Student Portal and Extranet
• anisotropy
• fibre volume fraction (Vf)
• areal weight of fabric (WF)
• basic rule-of-mixtures
• glass transition temperature (Tg)
• crystalline melting point (Tm)
• stacking sequence notation

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Basics and terminology

Square Orthogonal Two different principal axes Unidirectional

• n = the number of layers

• κ = fibre area correction factor*

ηL = fibre length distribution factor

ηO = fibre orientation distribution factor

• Vf = fibre volume fraction

• Ef = elastic modulus of fibre

o they might degrade before melting

o with * denoting the line of symmetry.

Composite plate: 0° layer or 90° layer

Equivalent beam: high EI vs low EI

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