IntroductiontoComposite

Introduction
to Composite
MaterialsandStructures
NachiketaTiwari
Nachiketa
Tiwari
IndianInstituteofTechnologyKanpur

Lecture2
Introduction

Classification of Composites
ClassificationofComposites
Engineered
i
d
Composites

Particulate

Random
Orientation

Fibrous

Preferred
Orientation

SingleLayer

Continuous&
LongFibers

Unidirectional

BiDirectional

MultiLayer

Discontinuous
&ShortFibers

Random
Orientation

Preferred
Orientation

Laminate

Hybrid
Laminate

Classification of Composites
ClassificationofComposites
Particulatecomposites
i l
i haveoneormore
h
materialparticlessuspendedinabinding
matrix.Aparticle bydefinitionisnotlong
visvisitsowndimensions.
Fibrous
Fibrouscompositeshavefibersofreinforcing
composites have fibers of reinforcing
material(s)suspendedinbindingmatrix.
Unlike particles a fiber has high lengthto
Unlikeparticles,afiberhashighlengthto
diameterratio,andfurtheritsdiametermay
be close to its crystal size
beclosetoitscrystalsize.

Classification of Composites
ClassificationofComposites
Particulatecomposites:
P ti l t
it
Randomorientation:Orientationofparticleisrandomlydistributedinall
directions(ex:concrete)
Preferredorientation:Particleorientationisalignedtospecificdirections
(ex:extrudedplasticswithreinforcementparticles)

Note:Particulatecompositesingeneraldonothavehighfracture
resistanceunlikefibrouscomposites.Particlestendtoincrease
stiffnessofthematerials,buttheydonothavesomuchofan
iff
f h
i l b h d
h
h f
influenceoncompositesstrength.Inseveralcases,particulate
compositesareusedtoenhanceperformanceathightemperatures.
In other case these composites are used to increase thermal and
Inothercase,thesecompositesareusedtoincreasethermaland
electricalproperties.Incemets,whichareceramicmetalcomposites,
theaimistohavehighsurfacehardnesssothatthematerialcanbe
used to cut materials at high speeds or is able to resist wear
usedtocutmaterialsathighspeeds,orisabletoresistwear.

Classification of Composites
ClassificationofComposites

FibrousComposites:Ingeneral,materialstendtohavemuchbetterthermo
Fibrous
Composites In general materials tend to have much better thermo
mechanicalpropertiesatsmallscalethanatmacroscale.Thisisshownin
thefollowingtable.
Material
Glass
Tungsten
Beryllium
Graphite

FiberTensileStrength(GPa)
3.5to4.6
4.2
1.3
2.1to2.2.5

BulkTensilestrength(GPa)
0.7 2.1
1.1 4.1
1.1
0.7
Verylow

Atmacroscale,imperfectionsinmaterialhaveanaccumulatedeffectof
g
g
p p
g
y
degradingbulkmechanicalpropertiesofmaterialssignificantly.Thisisone
reasonwhyfibrouscompositeshavebeendevelopedtoharnessmicroscale
propertiesofmaterialsatlargerscales.Manmadefibers,havealmostno
flawsindirectionsperpendiculartotheirlength.Hencetheyareabletobear
large loads per unit area compared to bulk materials
largeloadsperunitareacomparedtobulkmaterials.

Classification of Composites
ClassificationofComposites
FibrousComposites:
Singlelayer:Theseareactuallymadeofseveral
g
y
y
layersoffibers,allorientedinthesamedirection.
Hencetheyareconsideredassinglelayer
y
g
y
composites. Thesecanbefurthercategorizedas:
Co
Continuousandlongfibers:Examplesincludefilament
t uous a d o g be s a p es c ude a e t
woundshells.Thesemaybefurtherclassifiedas:
Unidirectionalreinforcement
Bidirectionalreinforcement

Classification of Composites
ClassificationofComposites
FibrousComposites(continued):
Discontinuousandshortfibers:Examplesincludefiber
glassbodiesofcars.Thesemaybefurtherclassifiedas:
Randomlyorientedreinforcement
Reinforcedinpreferreddirections

Multilayer:Here,reinforcementisprovided,layer
b l
bylayerindifferentdirections.
i diff
di
i
Laminate:Here,theconstituentmaterialinalllayersis
thesame.
h
Hybridlaminates:Thesehavemorethanoneconstituent
materials in the composite structure
materialsinthecompositestructure.

Advantages of Composites
AdvantagesofComposites
Composites
Compositesareengineeredmaterials.Wecan
are engineered materials. We can
engineerthemspecificallytomeetourneedsona
casetocase basis In general following properties
casetocasebasis.Ingeneral,followingproperties
canbeimprovedbyusingcompositematerials.

Strength
St
th
Modulus
Weight
Fatigue
Vibrationdamping
Resistancetowear

Electricalconductivity
El
ti l
d ti it
Thermalconductivity
Behavioratextremetemps.
Acousticalinsulation
Aesthetics
Resistancetocorrosion

Limitations of Composites
LimitationsofComposites
Likeallthingsinnature,compositesmaterialshave
g
,
p
theirlimitationsaswell.Someoftheimportantones
are:
Anisotropy:Alargenumberofcompositeshavedirection
dependentmaterialproperties.Thismakesthemmore
difficulttounderstand,analyzeandengineer,visvis
isotropicmaterials.
Nonhomogenous:Further,thesematerialsbydefinition
are not homogenous Hence their material properties
arenothomogenous.Hencetheirmaterialproperties
varyfrompointtopoint.Thisfactoraswellmakesthem
difficulttomodel,andanalyze.
,
y

Limitations of Composites
LimitationsofComposites
Costly:Compositematerialsareingeneralexpensive.Thus,theyare
usedonlyinapplicationswheretheirbenefitsoutweightheircosts.
d l i
li ti
h
th i b
fit
t i h th i
t
Difficulttofabricate:Further,fabricatingstructuresfromsuch
g
materialsisdifficult,timetaking,andexpensive.
Sensitivity
Sensitivitytotemperature:Laminatedcompositesareparticularly
to temperature: Laminated composites are particularly
sensitivetotemperaturechanges.Theycomeinwithresidual
thermalstresses,becausetheygetfabricatedathightemperatures,
andthencooled.Suchaprocesslocksinthermalstressesintothe
p
structure.
Moisture
Moistureeffects:Laminatedcompositesarealsosensitiveto
effects: Laminated composites are also sensitive to
moisture,andtheirperformancevariessignificantlywhenexposed
tomoistureforlongperiodsoftime.