MEEG 455/655: Principles of Composites Manufacturing

Assignment no:1
Due Date: Thursday, September 22, 2016
Q1-Q3 MEEG 455 and MEEG 655
Q4- MEEG 655 only

Q1. You have been asked to select a composite manufacturing process due to your
familiarity with the processes as a result of the course you took at the University of
Delaware. Your company is considering the option to make the following 10 components
and would like you to recommend which process and what feed stock should be
considered with a single sentence explanation as to why you selected that process and
feedstock. Use the Fuzzy Factors in Process Selection that we discussed in class to justify
your explanation.

1. Short fiber reinforced dashboards for the new Acura car.

2. Telephone poles for the city of Newark
3. 40 meter long Wind Blades
4. Axi-symmertic casing for the rocket motor
5. Fuselage of Boeing 787
6. Window Frames for a house
7. Tennis Racquet
8. Hockey Stick
9. Fishing rod
10. Seats in an Airplane

Q2. Composite materials are replacing traditional materials in many applications. List at
least 5 examples of polymer composite material being used in different applications since
2000. Also state the reasons for the replacement. Can you think of a component or an
application that is currently not being made of composite materials but will benefit
greatly if it was?
Q3. Consider unidirectional stretching of a cylinder as shown in the figure
below. At any time, t, assume that R(t) is independent of z.

(a) Using only the conservation of mass show that the velocity field is given by
Uz Ur
uz = L(t) and ur = - 2L(t)

b) find the components of the strain rate tensor

c) Neglecting surface tension and inertia, calculate the force F required to pull the cylinder
for a Newtonian fluid.

r
z

L(t)

R(t)

Q4. MEEG 655 only

A schematic diagram is shown below of a

parallel plate viscometer. A resin
containing chopped fibers is placed in
the gap of thickness B between two
circular disks. Develop a formula for
deducing the suspension viscosity
from the measurement of Torque T
required to turn the upper disk at
angular velocity . Ignore the effect of
the orientation of the fibers. Begin by
postulating that for small values of ,
the velocity and the pressure profiles have the form: vr=0, vz=0 and v= z f(r) and
p(r,z). Using these assumptions in physical laws with appropriate boundary
conditions, obtain the velocity profile and calculate the torque required to turn the
upper disk.