COMPOSITES

Fiber: In terms of composite fillers, a

Composite: It is a mixture of two or more than
fiber is a filler with one long dimension.
two constituents or phases which has properties
different than the individual element or Matrix: The part of the composite that
binds the filler.
constituent. The constituents should not be
soluble in each other and they should Particle: In terms of composite fillers, a
particle is a filler with no long
make an interface between them.
dimension.

Composite materials refer to materials containing strong fibers-

continuous or noncontinuous-embedded in a weaker material or matrix.
The matrix keeps the geometric arrangement of fibers and transmits to
these fibers the load acting on the composite component.

The resulting composite material is capable of intermediate mechanical

performance, that is, superior to those of the matrix but lower than those
of the fibrous reinforcement.
 ❑The Roman artisans were
nanotechnology pioneers
❑The glass matrix was embedded with
silver and gold nanoparticles with
size as small as 50 nm in diameter (i.e.,
< one-thousandth the size of a grain of
table salt).
❑ Presence of trace quantities of gold
What is the colorful secret of a 1,600 years about 40 ppm and silver about 300
old “Roman Lycurgus Cup” at the British ppm in the glass matrix.
Museum?

The Lycurgus Cup bears a scene involving

King Lycurgus of Thrace, appears jade
green when lit from the front but
blood-red when lit from behind a
property that puzzled scientists for
decades after the museum acquired the
cup in the 1950s.

Zeeya Merali, SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, SEP, 2013

 Ceramic Polymer Metals

Brittle Low Lighter Flexible Hig Medium High

CTE h CTE density
CTE
Medium to high High thermal Low dielectric Low thermal High
dielectric constant conductivity constant conductivity conductivity
e.g., AlN, Al2O3, SiO2,
BN, Si3N4, etc.

Composites
Composites
• Good Electrical and
High thermal Low CTE Lighter Low dielectric Thermal properties
conductivity constant • Lighter
• Flexible
 What is polymer matrix composite?

Polymer matrix +
Filler or reinforcement powder

A B

Fibers or Particulates
( reinforcements)
Matrix
(continuous phase)
Interface

Composite
Effect of filler size on properties of composite
For a given volume fraction of filler Size reduction from
micro to nano
5 µm 5 µm (N=1)
1 particle
50 nm (n=106)
A
5 nm (n=109)
0.5 µm or 500 nm

Actual 200 particles ×5 B

0.05 µm or 50 nm

Actual 200 particles ×5000

Fig. 1 Schematic model for the filler
interface in a polymer composite
Fig. 2 Normalized modulus as a function of particle size
Fig. 13 Proposed microstructure evolution in polymer-filler

Fig. 16 a–d Percolation stages in conductive composite

and the corresponding electrical conductivity in each
step.
Polymer
matrix

100

90

Specific wear rate (x10-6mm3/N.m)

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
MS PEEK 0.5% AlN 1 % AlN 2 % AlN 4.2 % AlN 9 % AlN 14.5 % AlN

Volume % nano-AlN in PEEK

Factors affecting properties of composite?

Composite Properties Depend

upon:
• Type of reinforcement
• Volume fraction
• Size & shape
• Distribution
• Adhesion between constituents

Poor Uniform
dispersion dispersion
 Ceramics filled polymer
composites

Effect of volume % and

type of ceramics

Effect of volume % and

Particle size of ceramics
Fig 2. Specific strength of the composites vs noncomposites.
 Fig.1. Fracture toughness of the structural ceramics is
substantially increased by the use of a reinforcing phase

Key point: The substantial cost associated with many “advanced composites” is
justified not so much by their absolute strength, but by the fact that they can
provide adequate strength in some very low density configurations. The savings
in fuel costs alone can frequently justify the higher material costs. The higher
material costs of advanced composites can be offset by reduced assembly
costs (e.g., one- piece automobile frames), as well as by high specific strength
values.
FIGURE 1.4
Specific strength and stiffness values of conventional materials and composites.

(Adapted from Brandt, J.,

http://www.netcomposites.com/images
/ CompositeN_Aerospace.pdf, 2012.
Advantages of Composites
❖They exhibit their high specific stiffness and strength. Therefore, the component
weight can be drastically reduced by using composites (Figure 1.4).
❖For example, if a component is to be made for a particular load-bearing capacity, the
GFRP component will weigh only one-fourth of steel component. Similarly, if
stiffness is the criterion for the selection of material, the CFRP component will
weigh only one-tenth of the steel component. Weight reduction is a major concern
in aerospace and automobile sectors.
❖They are energy efficient. The polymer composites can be produced at ambient
temperature or slightly above ambient temperature and may be a few hundred
degrees above ambient temperature. Hence, very little energy is required for the
production of composites.
❖Due to use of CFRP/GFRP, aircrafts and automobiles will reduce the total weight
and thus increase the fuel efficiency.
 Composite is a judicious combination of two or more materials that
produces a synergistic effect. A material system composed of two
or more physically distinct phases whose combination produces
aggregate properties that are different from those of its
constituents.
A composite material consists of two phases:
⚫ Primary
• Forms the matrix within which the secondary phase is imbedded
• Any of three basic material types: polymers, metals, or ceramics
⚫ Secondary
• Referred to as the imbedded phase or called the reinforcing agent
• Serves to strengthen the composite. The imbedded phase is most
commonly one of the following shapes: Fibers, Particles, Flakes.
• Can be one of the three basic materials or an element such as carbon or
boron.
⚫ Matrix material serves several functions in the composite

• provides the bulk form of the part or product

• holds the imbedded phase in place
• shares the load with the secondary phase
17
 Classification of composite material

⚫ Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs)

• Include mixtures of ceramics and metals, such as cemented
carbides and other cermets, as well as aluminum or
magnesium reinforced by strong, high stiffness fibers
⚫ Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs)
• Least common composite matrix. Aluminum oxide and
silicon carbide are materials that can be imbedded with
fibers for improved properties, especially in high
temperature applications
⚫ Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs)
• Thermosetting resins are the most widely used polymers in
PMCs. Epoxy and polyester are commonly mixed with fiber
reinforcement. Thermoplastic polymer matrix composites
are also used.

18
 Composite Materials
Fibre

Matrix

Interface

Particulate Discontinuous Continuous

Composite fiber fiber
composite composite

Increasing modulus, strength and costs

 Composite Materials

Polymer
Matrix Metal
Ceramic
Glass
Fibres Carbon
Composite Polymers
Reinforcement
Materials
Rigid
Particulates Elastomer

Coupling Agents: improve the wettability of the fibers and/or

promote the formation of bonds at the fiber/matrix interface

Fillers: reduce the cost and increase the dimensional stability

Synthesis of fibers (Glass and carbon)
Glass Fibers for Reinforced Plastic Composite Materials

• Glass fiber reinforced plastic composite materials have

high strength-weight ratio, good dimensional stability,
good temperature and corrosion resistance and low cost.
➢ ‘E’ Glass : 52-56% SiO2, + 12-16% Al2O3, 16-25%
CaO + 8-13% B2O3
❖ Tensile strength = 3.44 GPa, E = 72.3 GPa
➢ ‘S” Glass : Used for military and aerospace
application.
➢ 65% SiO2 + 25% Al2O3 + 10% MgO
❖ Tensile strength = 4.48 GPa, E = 85.4 GPa
 Production of Glass Fibers
• Produced by drawing monofilaments from a furnace
and gathering them to form a strand.
• Strands are held together with resinous binder.
• Higher elongation.
• Low cost and hence
commonly used.
 Carbon Fibers for Reinforced Plastics
• Light weight, very high strength and high stiffness.
• 7-10 micrometer in diameter.
• Produced from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and pitch.
• Steps:
➢ Stabilization: PAN fibers are stretched and oxidised in air at
about 200 0C.

➢ Carbonization: Stabilized carbon fibers are heated in inert

atmosphere at 1000-1500 0C which results in elimination of O, H
and N resulting in increase of strength.

➢ Graphitization: Carried out at 18000C and increases modulus of

elasticity at the expense of strength
• Tensile strength = 3.1-4.45 GPa, E = 193-241 GPa, density = 1-7-2.1 g/cc.
 Aramid Fibers for Reinforcing Plastic Resins
• Aramid = aromatic polyamide fibers.
• Trade name is Kevlar
➢ Kevlar 29: Low density, high strength, and used for ropes and cables.
➢ Kevlar 49:- Low density, high strength and modulus and used for
aerospace and auto applications.
Table 11.1

• Hydrogen bonds bond fiber together.

• Used where resistance to fatigue, high
strength and light weight is important.
 Comparison of Mechanical Properties
• Carbon fibers provide best combination of properties.
• Due to favorable properties, carbon and aramid fiber reinforced
composites have replaced steel and aluminum in aerospace applications.
 Matrix Materials
• Polyester and epoxy resins are the two important matrix materials.
• Polyester resins: Cheaper but than epoxy resins.
➢ Applications: Boat hulls, auto and aircraft applications.
• Epoxy resins: Good strength, low shrinkage.
➢ Commonly used matrix materials for carbon and aramid-fiber
composite.

Table 11.2

Fiberglass-polyester
 Fiber Reinforced-Plastic Composite Materials
• Fiberglass-reinforced polyester resins:
➢ Higher the wt% of glass, stronger the reinforced plastic is.

➢ Nonparallel alignment of glass fibers reduces strength.

• Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resins:

➢ Carbon fiber contributes to rigidity and strength while

epoxy matrix contributes to impact strength.

➢ Polyimides, polyphenylene sulfides are also used.

➢ Exceptional fatigue properties.

➢ Carbon fiber epoxy material is laminated to meet strength

requirements.
 Properties of Fiber Reinforced Plastics
Table 11.3
Fiberglass polyester

Table 11.4
(Carbon fibers and epoxy)
Fatigue Characteristics of Fiber Reinforced Plastics

Lamination
POLYMER MATRIX COMPOSITES
The most important of the three classes of synthetic composites.
FRP are most closely identified with the term composite.
FRP
⚫ A composite material consisting of a polymer matrix imbedded
with high-strength fibers.
⚫ Widely used in rubber products such as tires and conveyor
belts.
⚫ Principle fiber materials are: glass, carbon, and Kevlar 49 with
glass (E-glass) the most common fiber material.

⚫ Advanced composites – use boron, carbon, Kevlar as the

reinforcing fibers with epoxy as the common matrix polymer.

32
 POLYMER MATRIX COMPOSITES
Hybrids
When two or more fibers materials are combined in the composite.
• Intraply hybrids (within) - Alternate strands of different
fibers in a single layer or ply.
• Interply hybrid (across) – Different plies of different fibers.
⚫ The most widely used form if a laminar structure, made by
stacking and bonding thin layers of fiber and polymer until the
desired thickness is obtained.
Attractive features of FRP:
• high strength-to-weight ratio
• high modulus-to-weight ratio
• low specific gravity
• good fatigue strength
• good corrosion resistance, although polymers are soluble in
various chemicals
• low thermal expansion, leading to good dimensional stability
• significant anisotropy in properties.
33
 Hand Lay-Up
Hand Lay-Up Hand lay-up molding is the method of laying down fabrics made of
reinforcement and painting with the matrix resin layer by layer until the desired
thickness is obtained.
This is the most time and labor consuming, composite processing method but majority
of aerospace composite products are made by this method in combination with the
autoclave method.
Due to the hand assembly involved in the lay-up procedure, one can align long fibers
with controlled orientational quality. Another advantage of this method is the ability to
accommodate irregular-shaped products. Such advantages are utilized in low
performance composites including fiber-glass boat and bath tub manufacturing. Hand
lay-up is the oldest and simplest method used for producing reinforced plastic
laminates. Capital investment for the hand lay-up processes is relatively low. The most
expensive piece of equipment typically is a spray gun for resin and gel coat application.
Some fabricators pour or brush the resin into the molds so that a spray gun is not
required for this step. There is virtually no limit to the size of the part that can be made.
The molds can be made of wood, sheet metal, plaster, and FRP composites.
 Open Mold Process for Fiber Reinforced Plastics
1. Hand lay-up process:
➢ Gel coat is applied to open mold.
➢ Fiberglass reinforcement is placed in the mold.
➢ Base resin mixed with catalysts is applied by pouring, brushing or spraying.
❑ Oldest and most commonly used manufacturing
method
❑ Usually used to produce polyester or epoxy resin parts
such as boat hulls, tanks and vessels, pick-up truck
canopies.
❑ The method is quite simple, the resin and reinforcement
is placed against the surface of an open (one sided)
mold and allowed to cure.
❑ Often a gel coat is applied to the mold prior to produce a Figure 11.17a
better surface quality & protect the composite from the Gelcoat is typically made from a
elements.
combination of resins, pigments,
❑ A gel coat is a resin usually 0.4 to 0.7 mm thick,
and catalysts. The most common
commonly seen on the outer surface of smaller boats
gelcoats are made from
thermosetting polymers like
polyester or epoxy.
 Pros and Cons of Hand Lay-Up
❑ The pros of this process include:
low initial start up cost,
easy to change mold/design,
on-site production possible (i.e., portable process)
❑ The cons include:
labor intensive,
the quality of parts depends on operator’s skill and
therefore inconsistent, only one good side to the part
 Open Mold Process for Fiber Reinforced Plastics
2. Spray-up Molding
❑ Spray-up molding is much less labor intensive than the hand
layup method by utilizing a spray gun and a fiber cutter.
❑ However, only short fiber reinforced composites can be made.
A continuous fiber is fed into the cutter and chopped.
❑ The chopped fiber is sprayed upon a mold with the stream of
resin mist and catalyst delivered through separate nozzles.
❑ The sprayed mixture of fiber and resin soon cures on the mold
at room temperature and the product is produced.
❑ Because of the spraying operation, large and complex-shaped
objects can be easily made.

Figure 11.18
Advantages: Disadvantages:
Continuous process Slow
Any materials can be used as mold. inconsistency
Error can be corrected by re-spraying. No control of fiber orientation
Only one side finished
Environmental unfriendly
 Vacuum Bag-Autoclave and Filament Winding
• Vacuum bag-autoclave process:
➢ Long thin sheet or prepeg carbon-fiber epoxy
material is laid on the table.
➢ The sheet is cut and laminate is constructed.
➢ Laminate is put in vacuum bag to remove
entrapped air and cured in autoclave.
• Filament winding:
➢ Fiber reinforcement is fed
through resin bath and
wound around suitable
Figure 11.22
mandrel.
➢ Mandrel is cured and mold part is stripped from
mandrel.
 Closed Mold Process

• Compression and injection molding:

➢ Same as in polymers except that the fiber
reinforcement is mixed with resin.
• Sheet molding compound process:
➢ Highly automated continuous molding process.
➢ Continuous strand fiberglass
roving is chopped and deposited
on a layer of resin-filler paste.
➢ Another layer of paste is
deposited on first layer.
➢ Sandwich is compacted
and rolled into rolls.
Figure 11.24
 Sheet Molding (Cont..)

• The rolled up sheet is stored in a maturation room for

1-4 days.
• The sheets are cut into proper size and pressed in hot
mold (1490C) to form final product.
• Efficient, quick, good quality and uniformity.
• Continuous protrusion: Continuous strand fibers are
impregnated in resin bath, fed into heated die and
drawn.
• Used to produce
beams, channels,
and pipes.

Figure 11.26
12-19 After H. G. DeYoung, Plastic Composites Fight for Status, High Technol., October 1983, p. 63 .
 Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs)

• Continuous fiber reinforced MMCs: Continuous fibers

are reinforced in metal matrix – used in aerospace, auto
industry and sports equipments.
• Example:- Aluminum alloy – Boron fiber composite
➢ Boron fiber is made by depositing boron vapor on tungsten
substrate.
➢ Boron fibers are hotpressed between aluminum foils.
➢ Tensile strength of Al6061 increases from 310 to 1417GPa and
E increases from 69 to 231 GPa
Tungsten filament

Boron

Figure 11.46
After “Engineered Materials Handbook,” vol. 1, ASM International, 1987, p.852.
 Discontinuous fiber and particulate reinforced MMCs

• Particulate reinforced MMCs: Irregular shaped

alumina and silicon carbide particulate are used.
➢ Particulate is mixed into molten aluminum and cast
into ingots or billets.
Tensile strength increased to 496 MPa
➢ Al 6061 + 20% SiC ‘E’ increased to 103 GPa
• Discontinuous fiber reinforced MMcs: Needle like SiC
whiskers (1-3 micron diameter, 20-200 micron in
length) are mixed with metal powder.
➢ Mixture is consolidated by hot pressing
and then forged or extruded.
➢ Tensile strength of Al 6061 increases to
480 MPa and ‘E’ increases to 115 GPa
Figure 11.47a
 Ceramic-Matrix Composites (CMCs)

• Continuous fiber reinforced CMCs:

➢ SiC fibers are woven into mat and SiC is
impregnated into fibrous mat by chemical vapor
deposition.
➢ SiC fibers can be encapsulated by a glass ceramic.
➢ Used in heat exchanger tube and thermal protection
system.
• Discontinuous and particulate reinforced CMCs:
➢ Fracture toughness is significantly increased.
➢ Fabricated by common process such as hot isolatic
pressing.
 Toughening Mechanisms in CMCs

• Toughening is due to fibers interfering with crack

propagation.
➢ Crack deflection: Up on encountering reinforcement,
crack is deflected making propagation more
meandering.
➢ Crack bridging: Fibers bridge the crack and help to
keep the cracks together.
➢ Fiber pullout: Friction caused by pulling out the fiber
from matrix results in higher toughness.
 Equation for Elastic Modulus of Lamellar Composite
• Isostrain condition: Stress on composite causes
uniform strain on all composite layers.
Pc = Pf + Pm Pc = Load on composite
Pf = Load on fibers
σ = P/A Pm = load on matrix
σcAc = σfAf + σmAm

Since length of layers are equal, Figure 11.14

σcVc = σfVf + σmVm Where Vc, Vf and Vm are volume
fractions (Vc =1)
  f V f  mVm
Since strains εc = εf = εm, c
= +
c f m
Ec = EfVf + EmVm
Rule of mixture of binary composites
 Loads on Fiber and Matrix Regions

• Since σ = Eε and εf = εm

Pf  f Af E f  f Af E f Af E f V f
= = = =
Pm  m Am Em m Am Em Am EmVm

Pc = Pf + Pm

• From above two equations, load on each of fiber and

matrix regions can be determined if values of Ef, Em, Vf,
Vm and Pc are known.
 Isostress Condition

• Stress on the composite structure produces an equal

stress condition on all the layers.
σ c = σ f + σm
εc = εf + εm

Assuming no change in area

Figure 11.15
and assuming unit length of the composite
εc = εfVf + εmVm
  
But  c = , f = , m =
Ec Ef Em
Therefore  V f Vm
= +
Ec Ef Em
Hand Layup and Spray Techniques

Hand layup and spray techniques are perhaps the simplest polymer
processing techniques. Fibers can be laid onto a mold by hand and
the resin (unsaturated polyester is one of the most common) is
sprayed or brushed on. Frequently, resin and fibers (chopped) are
sprayed together onto the mold surface. In both cases, the
deposited layers are densified with rollers. Figure 5.1 shows
schematics of these processes. Accelerators and catalysts are
frequently used. Curing may be done at room temperature or at a
moderately high temperature in an oven.