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52. COMPOSITE MANUFACTURING

•Each material has desirable properties, but in most situations the perfect material is never found.

•Composites allow mixing of materials to get the best of both.

•BASIC PRINCIPLE: different types of materials are blended together. The materials are often quite different in terms of properties, and the results are a new material that has many of the desired properties of each material.

•Examples

-clay bricks with embedded straw

-reinforced concrete

-samurai swords with steel/iron alternation of layers

-steel belted radials

-graphite tennis racquets

-fishing poles

•for reinforced plastic composites, 2,500,000,000 pounds of plastic based composites were shipped in a wide variety of products in the mid 80’s

52.1 FIBER REINFORCED PLASTICS (FRP)

•Typical properties that may be desired are,

-light weight

-stiffness

-strength

-heat resistant

-impact resistance

-electrical conductivity

-wear resistance

-corrosion resistance

-low cost

•Some notable applications are,

-Automotive - engine blocks, push rods, frames, piston rods, etc.

-Electrical - motor brushes, cable electrical contacts, etc

-Medical - prostheses, wheel chairs, orthofies, etc.

-Sports equipment - tennis racquets, ski poles, skis, fishing rods, golf clubs, bicycle frames, motorcycle frames

-Textile industry - shuttles

-etc.

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•Some advantages are,

-composites provide a maximum tensile strength to density ration approximately 4 to 6 times greater than steel or aluminum

-can provide a maximum material stiffness to density ratio of 3.5 to 5 times that of aluminum or steel

-high fatigue endurance limits

-absorb higher impact energies

-material properties can be strengthened where required

-corrosion potential is reduced.

-joints and fasteners are eliminated or simplified

•Some disadvantages are,

-If either material is susceptible to local solvents, the composite cannot be used

-materials can be expensive

-design and fabrication techniques are not well explored and developed.

•fibres are often graphite, glass, aramid, etc.

•the fibres are supported in the matrix, quite often a polymer, epoxy, etc.

•The polymer matrix is often referred to as the resin

•The matrix transfers the load to the reinforcement fibres, and it protects the fibres from environmental effects.

•Resins tend to be thermosetting, or thermoplastic

Thermoplastics - melt, and harden with temperature

Thermosets - undergo a chemical change, and cannot be “recast”. The setting is often heat activated.

• Polyester resins are quite common. The process often begins with molecules like a dialcohol, and diacid. These then cure into a solid polymer.

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• These reactions create very long chains of polymers in a sort of gel, but the next step involves cross-linking them to make things stiff

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•Various chemical reactions, and physical properties can be altered by changing the chemicals above. Rates of reaction can be accelerated with higher temperatures.

•The initiator is often stored separately from the other reactants to prevent cross linking before use. This may happen spontaneously, and so the chemicals should be discarded if too old.

•Epoxies can also be used, they can be expensive and toxic, but they generally have better overall performance than polyesters.

•Other general categories are,

-Polymides and Polybenzimidazoles

-Phenolics and Carbon matrices

-Thermoplastics

-Ceramic matrices

-Metal matrices

•Polyesters are generally inexpensive, and can be modified for other properties.

•Epoxies are used when the matrix must have good adhesion, strength and corrosion resistance in severe environments.

•Polyimides are used for high temperature applications (up to 600 F/316 C) but are difficult to process

•Phenolics are good for thermal insulation

•Ceramics are used for high temperature, low strength applications.

•Reinforcements in materials can be

-fibres - long directional filaments

-particles - small non-directional chunks

-whiskers - small directional filaments

•Fibres have very long lengths with respect to the surrounding material, and tend to have a significantly higher strength along their length.

•Fibres are often drawn to align the molecules along the fibre length

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Fibre

Drawing

a stretch causing plastic deformation

•Glass fibres are basically made by,

1.Mixing silica sand, limestone, boric acid, and other minor ingredients

2.The mixture is heated until it melts at about 2300F/1260C

3.Letting the molten glass flow through fine holes (in a platinum plate)

4.The glass strands are cooled, gathered and wound. (protective coatings may be added.)

5.The fibres are drawn to increase the directional strength.

6.The fibres are woven into various forms for use in composites

•There are three common glass types used, E, S, C

E - less expensive

S - 40% stronger than E, and more resistant to temperature

C - well suited to corrosive environments

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• Carbon Fibres are among the highest strength and modulus materials known.

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• Aramids (Kevlar) fibres are shown below. These do not need to be drawn as they are already in the correct orientation when produced.