OpportunitiesinComposites

CompositesDesignTutorial3

StephenW.Tsai
Aeronautics&Astronautics
StanfordUniversity
September2,2008

Wewishtowelcomeallparticipantsofthistutorial.Thisisthe3rd timethatwehave
offeredthis.Eachsessionhasbeenupdated,plusnewonesinSteveHuybrechts that
youjustheardandinRanKimontestmethods.
Welookforwardtoworkingwithallofyou.
Inmybriefintroductionheretoday,Iwishtoshowsomeofthemotivationsofour
tutorials.Wefirmlybelievethatcompositeshavemuchtooffer.Weneedtobuilta
solidknowledgeandempoweredwitheffectivetoolstomakecompositescompetitive.
Wewillgiveyousomeexamplesofthegreatopportunities.

Weight=>Fuel=>Green
B-787
20 percent
lighter now,
50 percent
possible
Toyota Prius
2/3 lighter,
twice as
fuel
efficient

GEnx
66 percent
lighter,
100 percent
stronger,
Infinite life!

Thedriverofourtechnologyisfuelefficiencyanddurability.
WehavethecaseofBoeing787thattookaboldactioninextendingtheuseof
compositesfromtheminorroletoamajorcomponentoftheentirestructure.Itopens
thedoorforotherstofollow.
TheGEnx engineisanotherexampleofacompanythatpioneeredintheuseof
compositesforfanblades.NotonlyGE90anditsderivativeengineshaveanunrivaled
safetyandweightadvantage,itisthesoleengineforBoeing777200and300.
ToyotaisanotherworldleaderinfuelefficientcarswithitPrius thathassetastandard
forotherstofollowwithplugincarsandotherproducts.Thekeyperformanceis
derivedfromtheuseofcomposites.

Strength Paramides
TestbasedBlocksvsMMF

Ontheleftisthetraditionaltestbasedbuildingblockapproach.Thebasicblockisaply
ofunidirectional,NCF,fabric,oranothermaterial.Itisanempiricalapproachthat
requiresthousandsofteststocharacterizethebasicmaterial,andextensionstosmooth
laminates,andlaminateswithopenorfilledholes.Thereisno attempttomodelor
simulatefailuresofcomposites.
Ontherightisourapproach,calledMMF:MicromechanicsofFailures.Itgoesonelevel
belowthebasicply.Fiber,matrixandtheirinterfacearethebuildingblocks.The
numberofvariablesaresignificantlyreducedto6:twoforfiber,twoformastrix and
twoforinterface.Whenwegoonelevellowerwecanbuildasystemofdatabasefor
designandmanufacturingmuchsimplerandeasiertoacquirethan thetestbased
approachshownontheright.
ThistutorialisdedicatedtoshowhowMMFcanchangethemindsetofthetraditional
compositesdesignleadingtomorecompetitivecomposites.

DecreasingNumber/Complexity
Allowable dataset:US$20,000,000and2years

$20x106

$2x106

$105

Oneexampleofthetraditionaltestbasedbuildingblockapproachisthenumberof
specimens,theirtestingandthetimerequiredtoaccomplishthe test.Thedesign
allowableusingthismethodcosts20millionUSdollarsandtakes2years.Oncesuch
datasetisestablisheditisrigidlyfollowedandmakesmaterialandprocessingchanges
nearlyimpossibletobeaccepted.Notchedspecimenssuchaslaminateswithopen
andfilledholeareusedtoaspartofthedatabase.Suchspecimensleadtooneofthe
reasonsofthecostandtimeofthisdesignallowablegeneration.
Ifwelearntousemodelsandsimulationtopredictspecimenswithholesfromsmooth
specimensthecostandtimewillreducebyanorderofmagnitude.Thusthefirststep
tochangeourmindsetindatagenerationistodevelopmethodsforprediction.Then
thenumberofspecimenswithholeswillbelimitedtothoserequiredforvalidation.
Finallyourapproachgoesonelevellowerthantheplies.Wego totheconstituentsas
wementionedearlier.Thenthenumberofspecimensandtimerequiredcanbe
reducedbyanotherorderofmagnitude.Furthermore,wecanintroducetimeand
temperaturedependentstrength,suchascreepruptureandfatigue,withinthesame
frameworkofsimulation.Thisapproachwillbeexplainedbyseveralofourlecturers
laterinthistutorial.

MicromechanicsofFailure:MMF
Unidirectional
ply failure

Constituent
failures

MATRIX

Cm
Tm
INTERFACE
FIBER

Cf
Tf

TheessenceofMMF micromechanicsoffailure issimple.

Ittakestheconstituentfailuresinmatrix,interfaceandfiber andlinkswiththefailureof
aunidirectionalply.Ontheleftthereare6basicdatapoints:2eachformatrix,
interfaceandfiber.
Indoingso,theresultingfailureenvelopenotonlyagreeswell withdatabutalsohave
failuremodesexplicitlyidentified.Thisishowontheleft.
Thisapproachisdifferenttheconventionalbuildingblockapproachthatstartswiththe
plyproperties.Instead,MMFderivessuchproperties;i.e.,failureenvelopesofpliesare
derivednotassumedlikethecasesofmaxstress,maxstrain,TsaiWu,Hashin and
others.
Inaddition,withMMFfailureenvelopesfortimeandtemperature dependentfailure
modessuchascreepruptureandfatiguecanbesimilarlygenerated.Thusthe
traditionalpointdesignapproachoffatigue,forexample,cannowbereplacedbyMMF.
SungHawillshowhowthesetoolscanbeusedtogeneratefailureenvelopesforsingle
materialandhybridcomposites.

MMF:FatigueLifePrediction
TIME-TEMPERATURE DEPENDENT
MATRIX PROPERTIES
FATIGUE LIFE OF LAMINATES

MMF

Intheupperleftisthemastercurvestoragemodulusoftypical epoxybasedontime
andtemperaturedependentbehaviorofaviscoelastic material.
WithMMFitispossibletolinkthemastercurveofthismatrixmaterialtothoseof
laminatedstructures.Thecreepruptureandfatigueofcompositelaminatescanbe
predicted.Again,correspondingfailureenvelopescanbeeasily generated.Thisishow
onthelowerrightshowingsuccessivefatiguefailureenvelopesofalaminateexpressed
inlifeornumberofcycles.

10PercentRule:/4Laminates
100

/4 laminate : [0n1/(+/-45)n2/2/90n3]

80

n1+n2+n3=100%
[9

0]

90

Pe
rc
en
t

70

Percent [0]

60

Examples

50

[05/(+/-45)2/2/904]= [05/(+/-45)1/904]

40

[04/(+/-45)6/2/900]= [04/(+/-45)3]

30

[08/(+/-45)0/2/902]= [04/901]

20
10
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percent [+/-45]

70

80

90

100

11! - 8! = 66 - 30
= 36 Laminates

Balance Laminates

Ifourfamilyoflaminatesisbasedon10percentincrements,we willhaveatotalof11!
or66laminateswithcombinationsof[0],[90]and[+45/45]plyangles.Thisisshownin
thecarpetplot above.
Thereisadesignpracticebymanyorganizationsknownasthe10 percentrule:there
mustbe10percentplyineachofthefourplyangles.Thatis, noneofthefourangles
canbezero.
Ifthisruleisimposed,thepossiblelaminatesinthisfamilyareboundedbythered
triangleinthecarpetplotabove.Thenumberofpossiblelaminatesreducesfrom66to
36,alossof20possiblelaminates.
There areadditionalpenalties.Theminimumthicknessorgageofthelaminategoesup
formanylaminates.Ifanotherdesignrulesaysthatalllaminateshavetobesymmetric,
thispenalty isdoubled;i.e.,twiceasbad.

SeverePenaltiesImposedbyRules:
4plyangles;10%rule;symmetriclaminate;test
based

Thedesignrulesof4plyangles,10percentrule,symmetriclaminatesandtestbased
buildingblockapproach.
Theresultsofthesepenaltiesareshowninthisplotoftheeffectivelaminatestiffness
alongthe1axisasfunctionsofpercentagesof[0],[90]and[45].Whenthese
percentagesare25wehaveaquasiisotropiclaminateshownbyahexagon.Thevalue
isshownbyahorizontalline.WedesignateitasaQuasiisotropiccutoff.Itmeansthat
compositelaminateshouldnotbedesignedtohaveastiffnesslowerthanthisvalue.
Itturnsoutthatmostcarbon/epoxycompositeshavesuchvaluethatisaboutthesame
asaluminum.Mostcompositesusedtodayhavestiffnessnearlytothisaluminumvalue.
Soitisoftenreferredtoastheblackaluminum.Itismuchtooconservative.
Whatisworse,anisotropyisessentiallyignored.Manydesignpracticeofaluminumis
carriedover.Exampleistheuseofallowablebasedonstrain. Wewouldpreferthat
stressbyused.

TriAngle:[0/]LaminateStiffness
1.5x Al

E1o

(50/50/0)

50% [0]

50% [0]

E6o
9

Insteadofusing4plyangles,weshowwhat3anglescando.On topofthisviewgraph,
wehavethelongitudinalstiffnessE1 asafunctionofthepercentageofangleply
angle[].Atthebottomweshowtheshearmodulusasafunctionofthe angle asit
goesfrom0to90degrees.Volumepercentof[0]istheparameter.
Asalsoshowthequasiisotropicconstantsasareferencepoint.Itisrepresentedby
[0/60]forbothlongitudinalstiffnessE1 andshearmodulusE6.
Tridirectional laminatescanhavegoodstiffnesstocompetewith4anglelaminates
showninpreviouscarpetplots.Anexampleof50percent[0]and[45]isshown.The
[02/45]or(50/50/0)hasthesameshearmodulusasaluminum(at27GPa)withmuch
increasedlongitudinalstiffness,at104GPa and1.5timesthatofaluminum.
Fewerplyangleswillreducenumberoffailuremodes.Itwillbesimplertoselecta
sublaminate fromwhichthicklaminatescanbebuild.Theresultinglaminatewillbe
morehomogenizedandthereforetougher.Morewillbesaidlater inthissessionabout
sublminates andimportanceofhomogenization.

AnglePly[]:acontinuousvariable
Higher stiffness

Higher shear

E6

E1

1.3 x Al
1.5 x Al

Aluminum

27.5
22.5

27.5
22.5

Inthisviewgraphweshowthesamecomparisonif2plyanglesareused.Wecallthis
angleplylaminates.
Ontheleftisthelongitudinalstiffnessof[22.5]withavalue1.5thatofaluminum.
Ontherightisthelongitudinalshearmodulusofthesame[27.5]laminatewitha
value1.3thatofaluminum.
The40percentlighterofCFRPhasnotbeenincluded.Thusona specificstiffnessbasis,
angleplylaminatescanbenearly200percentmoreefficientthanaluminum.This
phenomenaladvantageofcompositeshavenotbeenachievedinmoststructural
applications.Itshowshowmuchmoreadvantageofcompositesaretheretobeused.

10

First andLastPlyFailures
Extension of inact
not admissible

Tensile
Stress

Tensile Strain

Predictionofstrengthisaverydifficultproblem. Laminatesareassumedtobeintact
withoutload.Asstressincreasesmicrocrackingappearsuntilasaturationlevelis
reached.Itisusuallyassumedthatthissaturationlevelisreachedinstantaneously.We
identifythispointasFPF.MostfailurecriteriaincludingMMF canmakesuchprediction
reasonablyaccurately.
WhathappensbeyondFPFisfarmoredifficulttosimulate.Itisnot admissibleto
assumethatthestiffnessofthecompositewillcontinueitsstiffnessafterFPF.Presence
ofmicrocrackwillmakelaminatesofter.
Oneapproximationforthismatrixdegradationistoassumethatall pliesinalaminate
havetwostates:theintactandfullydegraded.Thelatteraredefinedasplieswithfully
saturatedmicrocracks.Thisstatecanbesimulatedbyreducing theeffectivestiffnessof
thematrixtoafractionoftheintactmatrix.Theeffectivestiffnessofthelaminateis
thusreduced.TheLPFoccurswhenfibertensilestrengthisreached. Wecallthis
degradationapproximationasimultaneousfailuremodel.
Forothercombinedstressesthatincludecompressivestresscomponentsmicro
crackingisnotinduced.Therewillbenostiffnessdegradation.ThenFPFandLPFwillbe
thesame. Thepredictionofultimatestrengthofalaminatemayappeartobe
straightforward.Butthiscanbedeceivingbecausethereallife,failuremodesin
laminatesareverycomplicated.Theyincludenotonlymicrocrackingbutalso
delamination andmicrobuckling.Thesemodesinteractandoccursequentially.Wewill
offersimplemodelsandwillcautionparticipantstobeawareof theirlimitations.

11

LaminateswithOpenorFilledHole

Laminateswithstressconcentrationisofmanypracticalvalues, andwillbepresented.
Itisimportanttolearnhowstrengthandlifecanbepredicted.
Failurepredictionbecomesfarmorecomplicatedthanthecaseofhomogenousstateof
stress; i.e.,thestateofstressisuniformanddoesnotchangefrompointtopoint.This
isusuallythecaseoftestcouponswherethevariationofstressesawayfromthegrips
ortabsisnearlyuniform.Forthecaseofstressconcentration shownabove,thestress
variesfrompointtopoint.Failurethenwouldinitiatefromsomehotspotandgrowsas
loadisincreased.Soprogressivefailurewillbecoveredbyseverallectureslaterinthis
tutorial.
Itisthereforeourapproachtostartthebehavioroftheconstituentsandmoveonto
laminatesandcomponents.Oncethislinkfrommicrotomacrois validated,design
allowablecanbegeneratedwithaconsistentscheme.Moredataforstrengthandlife
canbegeneratedwithfewerbutmorerevealingtestsandspecimens.Wewillgain
moreconfidenceindesignandhavemorecompetitivecomposites. Thatisourgoal.
Simulationandcalculationarethekeystosuccessfuldesign.Philosophymustbe
quantized.Estimateofboundsmustbemadebeforetestsareperformed.Inthis
tutorialwewillshowyouhowtousefromsimpleMicMaccalculatorsto
Simulia/Abaqus 6.7andbeyond.Withsimulationwewillgainconfidenceandmakeour
compositescompetitive.

12

UniqueSizingofComposites
Multiplelaminates
Multipleloads
Selectionandsizingoflaminatesisfundamentallydifferentfromsizingisotropic
materials.Asshowninthetable,wehavemultipleloadsetsshowninthecolumnon
theleft.ThenumberinthecurlybracketsarethreeinplaneloadsN1,N2andN6.N6is
theinplaneshear.
Foraluminum,therequiredthicknessinmmforeachloadiseasilycalculated.Weused
vonMises criterion.Thealuminumstrengthusedis206MPa.Thethicknessrequiredto
takealltheloadsetswillbe21.1,showninred.Ifahigherstrengthisused,the
thicknesswillreduceproportionally.Ifastrengthof412MPa isused,allthicknesses
listedinthiscolumnwillbereducedby1/2.
Forcompositelaminates,theselectionofbestlaminatewillrequiredcalculationofall
possiblelaminatestobeused.Soforeachlaminateandeachload,therequired
thicknesswillbedifferent.Thisisshowninthetablefor5commonlaminates.
Undereachlaminate,therequiredthicknessforeachloadsetbasedontheultimate
strength(LPF)isshown.Thelightestorthinnestlaminateforeachloadsetisfoundin
thelastcolumn.Forthefirstuniaxial tensileloadof{4,0,0},thelightestlaminatewould
be(50/33/16)with4.51mm.Thisisshowninblue.
Ifthislaminatemusttakealltheloadsets,therequiredthicknessisshowninred.For
thefirstlaminate(quasiisotropic)is11.2mmshowninredforalllaminatesinthelast
row.Thusthecontrollingloadforthislaminateispureshearof{0,0,2}.
Sothebestlaminatesforalltheloadsetswillbethesecondlaminatewith(40/40/20);
I.e.,40percent[0],40percent[+45/45],and20percent[90].Thetotalthicknessof
thislaminateforalltheloadswillbe9.57mm,showninblueatthelowerrightcorner.
Thusselectionoflaminatetypeandthicknessisatwostepoperation,notonestepthat
isneededforisotropicmaterials.Onestepistotakeareoftheultimatestrengthand
theotheristocalculatethestrengthforeachlaminateandloadset.Itisamatrix
operationasseeninthetableabove.Prof.HawillpresentafullyautomatedLamRank
softwareaspartoftheSuperMicMacinthistutorial.

13

OptionsforSimultaneousSavings:
Weight/DamageTolerance,andCost

Use3or2plyanglesinsteadof4
Continuousvariable(nodiscretejumpinplies)
Continuousstacking(nosymmetriclayup)
Homogenization(tougher&lesswarpage)
Simplerplydrop
Bondedjoints
Lowerminimumgage
SimplifiedSimulia/Abaqus

14

STRENGTH & LIFE

OF COMPOSITES

15

NewGoals
Toreachaggressivedesign trustMMF
Tocombatblackaluminum 50%wtsavings
Toexploreuseoffewerplyangles
Toincreasehomogenization toughness
Toreinvestweightsavingstoincreasedamage
tolerance
Tointegratedesignwithmanufacturing
Tobuildthemostcompetitivecomposites