Composites

Composites are made up of two constituent materials; a matrix and reinforcement. The majority of composites use a polymer matrix material or resin. Reinforcement materials are often fibres but may be ground minerals. Typically, lay up results in a product containing 60% resin and 40% fibre, while vacuum infusion produces product with 40% resin and 60% fibre. The strength of the final product is greatly dependent on this ratio.Composites are anisotropic and characterized by Young's Modulus, Shear Modulus and Poisson's ratio. The math requires a second order tensor and up to 21 material property constants. For orthogonal isotropy, there are three different material property constants for each ratio—a total of 9 constants to describe the relationship between forces/moments and strains/curvatures. Designing and testing composites can be challenging. Common resins include epoxy, polyester, vinylester and Shape memory polymer (SMP) resin. Common fibers includes fiberglass, carbon fiber, and Kevlar. Fiber-reinforced composite materials include short fiber-reinforced materials and continuous fiber-reinforced materials which are used in layered or laminated structures.

Types of Composites

Thermoplastic resin composite, short fibre thermoplastics, long fibre thermoplastics and long fibre-reinforced thermoplastics
Aramid fibre and carbon fibre in epoxy resin matrixes
Shape memory polymer composites are formulated using fibre or fabric reinforcement and shape memory polymer resin as the matrix
Reinforced Concrete consists of loose stones (aggregate) held with a matrix of cement with metal cables added to tension the concrete
Metal matrix composites (MMC) use metal fibres to reinforce other metals

Ceramic matrix composites are for fracture toughness, not strength. Applications include bone (hydroxyapatite reinforced with collagen fibres), Cermet (ceramic and metal) and concrete. CMC includes asphalt concrete, mastic asphalt, mastic roller hybrid, dental composite, syntactic foam, mother of pearl and composite armour for military applications.

Engineered wood composites include wood fibre board, plywood, oriented strand board, wood plastic composite, Pykrete, Plastic-impregnated or laminated paper or textiles, Arborite, Formica, and Micarta. Mallite also generates low-weight, high rigidity materials.

Composite layup designs include curing the prepreg with various honeycombs or foam called a sandwich structure. This is a more common layup process for the manufacture of radomes, doors, cowlings, and non-structural parts.

Mechanical Testing Since composites are used to improve stiffness and strength with lighter weight, they are employed in critical applications that include military aircraft, commercial aircraft, aerospace, etc etc. And so testing is more important to confirm design assumptions. Testing is especially important in these applications. The variations in fibres and matrices that are available and the mixtures that can be made with blends leave a very broad range of properties to design for. The best known failure of ceramic matrix composite occurred when the carbon-carbon composite tile on the leading edge of the wing of the Space Shuttle Columbia fractured when impacted during take-off.

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