Applied Composite Materials

Palmer, Stuart; Hall, Wayne

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9291-6pmid: N/A

The mechanical properties of advanced composites are essential for their structural performance, but the surface finish on exterior composite panels is of critical importance for customer satisfaction. This paper describes the application of wavelet texture analysis (WTA) to the task of automatically classifying the surface finish properties of two fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite construction types (clear resin and gel-coat) into three quality grades. Samples were imaged and wavelet multi-scale decomposition was used to create a visual texture representation of the sample, capturing image features at different scales and orientations. Principal components analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of the texture feature vector, permitting successful classification of the samples using only the first principal component. This work extends and further validates the feasibility of this approach as the basis for automated non-contact classification of composite surface finish using image analysis.

Longbiao, Li; Yingdong, Song; Youchao, Sun

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9294-3pmid: N/A

The loading/unloading tensile behavior of unidirectional C/SiC ceramic matrix composites at room temperature has been investigated. The loading/unloading stress–strain curve exhibits obvious hysteresis behavior. An approach to model the hysteresis loops of ceramic matrix composites including the effect of fiber failure during tensile loading has been developed. By adopting a shear-lag model which includes the matrix shear deformation in the bonded region and friction in the debonded region, the matrix cracking space and interface debonded length are obtained by matrix statistical cracking model and fracture mechanics interface debonded criterion. The two-parameter Weibull model is used to describe the fiber strength distribution. The stress carried by the intact and fracture fibers on the matrix crack plane during unloading and subsequent reloading is determined by the Global Load Sharing criterion. Based on the damage mechanisms of fiber sliding relative to matrix during unloading and subsequent reloading, the unloading interface reverse slip length and reloading interface new slip length are obtained by the fracture mechanics approach. The hysteresis loops of unidirectional C/SiC ceramic matrix composites corresponding to different stress have been predicted.

Bao, Jiusheng; Yin, Yan; Zhu, Zhencai; Tong, Minming; Lu, Yuhao; Peng, Yuxing

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9269-4pmid: N/A

The mining brake material is generally made of composite materials and its wear has important influences on the braking performance of disc brakes. In order to improve the braking reliability of mine hoisters, this paper did some tribological investigations on the mining brake material to reveal its wear modalities and mechanisms. The mining non-asbestos brake shoe and 16Mn steel were selected as braking pairs and tested on a pad-on-disc friction tester. And a SEM was used to observe the worn surface of the brake shoe. It is shown that the non-asbestos brake material has mainly five wear modalities: adhesive wear, abrasive wear, cutting wear, fatigue wear and high heat wear. At the front period of a single braking the wear modality is mainly composed of some light mechanical wear such as abrasive, cutting and point adhesive. With the temperature rising at the back period it transforms to some heavy mechanical wear such as piece adhesive and fatigue. While in several repeated brakings once the surface temperature rises beyond the thermal-decomposition point of the bonding material, the strong destructive high heat wear takes leading roles on the surface. And a phenomenon called friction catastrophe (FC) occurs easily, which as a result causes a braking failure. It is considered that the friction heat has important influences on the wear modalities of the brake material. And the reduction of friction heat must be an effective technical method for decreasing wear and avoiding braking failures.

Niitsu, G.; Lopes, C.

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9272-9pmid: N/A

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the influences of fatigue and environmental conditions (−55 °C, 23 °C, and 82 °C/Wet) on the ultimate compression strength of notched carbon-fiber-reinforced poly(phenylene sulfide) composites by performing open-hole compression (OHC) tests. Analysis of the fatigue effect showed that at temperatures of −55 and 23 °C, the ultimate OHC strengths were higher for fatigued than for not-fatigued specimens; this could be attributed to fiber splitting and delamination during fatigue cycling, which reduces the stress concentration at the hole edge, thus increasing the composite strength. This effect of increasing strength for fatigued specimens was not observed under the 82 °C/Wet conditions, since the test temperature near the matrix glass transition temperature (T g) together with moisture content resulted in matrix softening, suggesting a reduction in fiber splitting during cycling; similar OHC strengths were verified for fatigued and not-fatigued specimens tested at 82 °C/Wet. Analysis of the temperature effect showed that the ultimate OHC strengths decreased with increasing temperature. A high temperature together with moisture content (82 °C/Wet condition) reduced the composite compressive strengths, since a temperature close to the matrix T g resulted in matrix softening, which reduced the lateral support provided by the resin to the 0° fibers, leading to fiber instability failure at reduced applied loads. On the other hand, a low temperature (−55 °C) improved the compressive strength because of possible fiber-matrix interfacial strengthening, increasing the fiber contribution to compressive strength.

Sarangapani, G.; Ganguli, Ranjan; Murthy, C.

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9295-2pmid: N/A

Wavelet coefficients based on spatial wavelets are used as damage indicators to identify the damage location as well as the size of the damage in a laminated composite beam with localized matrix cracks. A finite element model of the composite beam is used in conjunction with a matrix crack based damage model to simulate the damaged composite beam structure. The modes of vibration of the beam are analyzed using the wavelet transform in order to identify the location and the extent of the damage by sensing the local perturbations at the damage locations. The location of the damage is identified by a sudden change in spatial distribution of wavelet coefficients. Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS) are used to investigate the effect of ply level uncertainty in composite material properties such as ply longitudinal stiffness, transverse stiffness, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio on damage detection parameter, wavelet coefficient. In this study, numerical simulations are done for single and multiple damage cases. It is observed that spatial wavelets can be used as a reliable damage detection tool for composite beams with localized matrix cracks which can result from low velocity impact damage.

Longbiao, Li; Yingdong, Song; Youchao, Sun

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9297-0pmid: N/A

The tensile-tensile fatigue behavior of unidirectional C/SiC ceramic matrix composites at room and elevated temperature has been investigated. An approach to estimate the interface shear stress of ceramic matrix composites under fatigue loading has been developed. Based on the damage mechanisms of fiber sliding relative to matrix in the interface debonded region upon unloading and subsequent reloading, the unloading interface reverse slip length and reloading interface new slip length are determined by the fracture mechanics approach. The hysteresis loss energy for the strain energy lost per volume during corresponding cycle is formulatd in terms of interface shear stress. By comparing the experimental hysteresis loss energy with the computational values, the interface shear stress of unidirectional C/SiC ceramic composites corresponding to different cycles at room and elevated temperatures has been predicted.

John, M.; Skala, T.; Wagner, T.; Schlimper, R.; Rinker, M.; Schäuble, R.

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9288-1pmid: N/A

A sandwich structure was observed from the beginning of life—starting at the vacuum assisted manufacturing process up to several environmental in service conditions. Strain variations due to curing process at the manufacturing, well as thermal fluctuations and humidity environments in service were detected and reviewed by their influence on the overall dimensional stability. The CFRP/PMI foam core sandwich structure was checked for an application as a primary structure in commercial aviation with its specific environmental requirements.

Kwon, Y.

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9273-8pmid: N/A

A new solid-like shell element was formulated which is suitable for analysis of laminated and sandwich composite structures. Then, a multiscale analysis technique was implemented to the shell element formulation so that micro-level stresses and strains (i.e. stresses and strains in reinforcing fibers and the binding matrix) in those structures can be computed. The shell element has three displacement degrees of freedom per node like a 3-D solid element. Therefore, the shell elements can be stacked easily on top of one another like 3-D solid elements in order to represent multiple layers through the thickness of laminated and sandwich structures. The effect of a thin resin or adhesive layer in laminated and sandwich composite structures was investigated on both static and the dynamic responses of the structures using the developed shell elements. The study showed an apparent effect of the resin/adhesive layer even though it is very thin. As a result, the present shell element can be used effectively to include those thin layers in finite element analysis models of laminated and sandwich composite structures.

Erkan, Ömer; Işık, Birhan; Çiçek, Adem; Kara, Fuat

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9286-3pmid: N/A

Glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites are an economic alternative to engineering materials because of their superior properties. Some damages on the surface occur due to their complex cutting mechanics in cutting process. Minimisation of the damages is fairly important in terms of product quality. In this study, a GFRP composite material was milled to experimentally minimise the damages on the machined surfaces, using two, three and four flute end mills at different combinations of cutting parameters. Experimental results showed that the damage factor increased with increasing cutting speed and feed rate, on the other hand, it was found that the damage factor decreased with increasing depth of cut and number of the flutes. In addition, analysis of variance (ANOVA) results clearly revealed that the feed rate was the most influential parameter affecting the damage factor in end milling of GFRP composites. Also, in present study, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models with five learning algorithms were used in predicting the damage factor to reduce number of expensive and time-consuming experiments. The highest performance was obtained by 4-10-1 network structure with LM learning algorithm. ANN was notably successful in predicting the damage factor due to higher R2 and lower RMSE and MEP.

Aktas, A.; Potluri, P.; Porat, I.

doi: 10.1007/s10443-012-9285-4pmid: N/A

This paper presents a method of joining carbon-fibre plies and rigid cellular foam core with stitching for producing light-weight composite structures. After resin infusion and consolidation, the stitched sandwich panel exhibits superior damage tolerance as well as improved transverse properties due to the presence of through-thickness fibre reinforcement. First part of the paper deals with the conceptual development of a multi-needle stitching machine for rigid foams. A needle penetration model for computing the penetration forces has been reported—there is a good agreement between the experimental and theoretical penetration force-displacement curves. A number of sandwich panels with orthogonal and bias stitch orientations have been developed and examined for stitch quality with the aid of X-ray tomography. The paper also presents results from quasi-static indentation, three-point bending and transverse compression tests, on both the stitched and unstitched sandwich panels.