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Material Selection Part 2

This document discusses important considerations for composite design related to material selection and geometrical aspects. Material selection must be done in conjunction with the manufacturing process and environment the component will operate in. Properties like strength, stiffness and resistance to chemicals and temperatures must be defined. Geometrical design aspects like avoiding sharp corners and abrupt thickness changes are also important to prevent issues during manufacturing like sink marks and voids. Fiber orientation is a key factor for long fiber reinforced composites.

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Ammar Fitri
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81 views38 pages

Material Selection Part 2

This document discusses important considerations for composite design related to material selection and geometrical aspects. Material selection must be done in conjunction with the manufacturing process and environment the component will operate in. Properties like strength, stiffness and resistance to chemicals and temperatures must be defined. Geometrical design aspects like avoiding sharp corners and abrupt thickness changes are also important to prevent issues during manufacturing like sink marks and voids. Fiber orientation is a key factor for long fiber reinforced composites.

Uploaded by

Ammar Fitri
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 3:

COMPOSITE DESIGN
3.1 MATERIAL SELECTION CRITERIA

DR YUSRIAH LAZIM
MATERIAL SELECTION
v  Material selection must not be made in isolation from the processing
method & the assembly process

v  Procedure of plastic product design:

Definition of function à formulation of designà

à  Process selection & Assembly selection & Material

à  selectionàfinalization of the design

v  The material selection procedure:

v  - define the properties that are essential to the performance of the product/
component

- shortlist possible materials by eliminating polymers that did not meet


requirement

- addition of additive/fiber/filler/processing aid


(1) Defining the environment
v  Definition of environment which the product is expected to
operate

v  Could be based on specifications or standards such as :


British Standards etc

v  Standards are usually need to be complied for civil and


military aircraft application

v  If standards are not applicable, the designer has to develop


his own by considering environmental conditions including:
ü  Operating temperature
ü  Exposure to sunlight and weathering
ü  Exposure to chemicals
ü  Humidity
ü  Electrical environment (insulation, voltage)

•  Most important, stress environment must be determined:


ü  Maximum stress
ü  External stress
ü  Stress continuous or intermittent
ü  Maximum permissible deformation
ü  Whether impacts may occur routinely or by accident
ü  Whether friction, wear, fatigue are important
ü  Design tolerance
(2) Processing/ method of manufacture
v  In selecting material, it is important to decide at the same
time on the method of manufacture of the product/
component

v  Polymer materials vary widely in their processing


characteristics.

v  Important that the design developed can be produced


economically & efficiently from the selected material

v  Differences between shorts fibre/particulate filled


composites VS long-fibre reinforced composites
v  Major consideration:

Ø  Processability

Ø  Economics factor – large number of products: injection


molding etc

Ø  How the component is to be joined to the remainder of


the product:

v  -welding, fastening – thermoplastic composites

v  - adhesives, mechanical fastening – thermoset


composites
v  The number of the products that need to be produced
should be known in order to choose the processing
technique

v  The consideration for the option:


ü  Which process will produce the part
ü  Which process is the cheapest (low cost)
ü  What is the tooling cost
ü  Is the process reliable
ü  Will additional process be necessary
ü  How much scrap will be produced
ü  Can the scrap be recycled
ü  Has it been done before
v  By establishing the process, it helps to reduce number of materials
need to be considered

v  Example: If injection moulding is chosen:

ü  few materials suited this process (thermoplastic & thermoset in


powder form).

ü  Material with high viscosity melts should not be considered if the
product has some long narrow parts in it.

ü  High viscosity melt will not fill the mould

ü  Type of reinforcement: short & particulate

ü  Require mould release agent : Yes or No?

ü  Yes: Mould release agent needs to be sprayed at regular intervals time,
so it increases the cycle time

ü  No: Shorter cycle time, higher production rate


ü  Partly crystalline or amorphous?

ü  Partly crystalline: solidify at faster rate compared to


amorphous material at same temperature range

ü  Due to large change of viscosity at the Tm


Example 1
v  Product: Expansion joints in chemical installation/tanks/
pipes

v  Type of material: PTFE

v  Environment: Resistance to extremely corrosive


environment, chemicals, flexibility, good mechanical
strength

v  Reason: Despite its high price, and difficulties in


processing, PTFE is selected because no materials other
than fluorocarbon polymers meet the requirement
Example 2
v  Product: Rear light lenses

v  Environment: High stiffness, high impact strength,


transparency, high softening temperature, replacement for
glass

v  Material: PC or PMMA?

v  For car component, must consider if there is accidental


contact with automotive fluids: fuel, acid, oils etc
Example 3
v  Product: Parts in the engine compartment

v  Environment:

- Resistance to automotive fluid


-  Good mechanical properties over wide range of
temperature
-  Material:
1)  Glass fiber reinforced polyamide (radiator header tanks)à
high heat distortion temperature
2)  PP- cooling fans (even though low softening point, cheap)

3)  PVC- bumper (good impact resistance, low & high temp)

4)  Rubber – engine mounting


v  For designing thermoset composites:

•  Not only focusing on the shaping of the products/


components

•  Should also focus on the exothermic chemical reaction –


no overheating, unwanted reaction-thermal issues

v  For designing thermoplastic composites:

•  Consider creep

•  Deflection limit

•  Fatigue

•  Maximum mechanical strength limit (e.g. max tensile


strain/max tensile stress)
v  The properties of the material is contributed by the
chemical structure of the polymer material itself

v  However, the properties of the polymer material can be


modified using:

v  - additive (flame retardant, anti-static, plasticizer)

v  - filler (mineral filler, impact modifier etc)

v  - alloying or blending with other polymer

v  - fibre reinforcement (glass fiber, carbon fiber, aramid


fiber) à increase the stiffness of the polymer material

v  à increase the temperature resistance (can operate at


high temperature)
•  Organic and inorganic liquids can make the sub-critical
crack growth problem under external and internal stressing
worse.

•  It is important to know how the product/component


performs in organic liquid, acid and alkali

•  For example: less polar polymers such as PS are more


susceptible to physical attack in the form of solvent crazing

•  More polar polymers such as polyamide are prone to


chemical attack by acid

•  Photo-oxidation could lead to surface embrittlementà


fracture.

•  Affected polymers: PE, PP,


v  Non-affected polymer: PVC, PMMA- relatively resistant

v  Further protection from photo-oxidation:

-adding pigments which absorb or deflect light e.g. CB

- adding anti oxidant

- adding chemical compounds that absorb UV light e.g


suntan oil
CHAPTER 3:
COMPOSITE DESIGN

3.2 GEOMETRICAL ASPECTS


v  Geometrical aspects of the components/parts made from a
composite is important factor that need to be focused in
design process.

v  Poor geometry design will results in:

•  Difficulty in the flow of melt polymer in the mould during


processing

•  Low mechanical strength/stiffness

•  Shrinkage problem

•  Curing problem

v  By changing the geometry or structure of the composites


component, the mechanical properties (stiffness, strength)
could be improved.
1. Sharp corners
v  The smooth flow of the melt in the mould is
interrupted by sharp corners

v  Sharp internal corners should be avoided when


designing composite components/parts.

v  It acts as stress concentrator and will be the sites for


crack initiation on moulded parts

v  Parts with sharp corners should be designed with


radius not less than 0.5 mm.
2. Change in wall thickness
v  Abrupt change in wall thickness will interrupt flow of
the melt in the mould

v  It also gives rise to problem of different shrinkage such


as :
•  Sink marks
•  Voids
•  Warping
•  Moulded-in stress
v  Sink marks form where the wall thickness changes
especially opposite ribs and bosses structure.

v  To reduce/minimize sink marks:

•  Ribs should be between ½ and 2/3 of thickness of the


wall that they are reinforcing
•  Double rib is preferable than single wide rib
•  Height of the rib should be less than 3 times wall
thickness
•  Use styling features if the sink marks is inevitable
3. Other structures
v  Rib, flanges, bosses increase the stiffness and strength
of the part without increasing overall thickness of the
parts

v  However these structure should be designed carefully


to avoids problems such as voids, sink marks etc.

v  The use of ribs, corrugations, box sections and


sandwich structures increase the flexural rigidity/
stiffness and strength of the structure/components.

v  They are applied in designing composites to reduce


the thick wall sections.
v  Thick wall sections are undesirable because:

•  Increased amount of material needed

•  Increase weight of product

•  Problems with cooling of the parts

•  Lengthen the mould cycle time (low production rate)

•  Differential shrinkage

•  Warping problem
4. Composites reinforced with
long fibers
v  Designing components made of composites reinforced
with long fibers must focus on their fiber orientation

v  This type of composites are made from long fiber-


reinforced composites by laminating together
unidirectional layers of fiber-reinforced resin

v  If all of the layers have the same fiber orientation, the
composite is weak in the transverse direction

v  Angle-ply laminates are more preferred for most


applications
v  Choosing a stacking sequence that is symmetrical
about the mid-plane ensures:
ü  in-plane stress do not produce out-of-plane twisting/
bending
ü  bending does not change the dimension of the mid
plane

v  For asymmetric laminates, twisting occurs at:


ü  In response to applied stress
ü  Due to resin contraction during cooling and curing

v  However, there are designs that prefer asymmetry such


as turbine fan blades
v  Strength of a fiber reinforced composite is strongly
dependent upon fiber orientation

v  The strength is highly anisotropic in areas where the


fibers are aligned

v  Long fiber composites show good fatigue resistance


v  One of the problem for fiber reinforced thermoset
composite is interlaminar splitting

v  It occurs when the void content within the composite


is high

v  At high void content, a spanner dropped on to a


laminated sheet composite could initiate undetected
damage

v  This might results in failure by buckling when the


composite is loaded in compression

v  The interlaminar shear strength can be measured by


subjecting short bar specimens to 3-points bending,
and calculated using equation:

v  *eq page 363


Example 1
v  Glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite leaf spring

v  The spring is made from unidirectional glass fiber with an


epoxy resin matrix
v  The operating temperature range is -30 to 60°C.

v  The material withstands salt, water, fuel, oil, battery


acid and anti-freeze

v  The 3.5 kg composite spring replaces an 18.5 kg leaf


steel spring

v  The composite spring has 5x longer life than steel


spring

v  Improved ride and reduced noise

v  Under severe overloading, the components fails by


longitudinal splitting
Example 2
v  Helicopter rotor blade

v  Metal blade was replaced with composite rotor blade

v  The composite rotor blade is made of:


ü  Areas: UD glass fiber & carbon fiber
ü  Woven glass fiber cloth trailing edge skins
ü  Paper honeycomb core
ü  Titanium erosion shield
v  the metal blade retires after 9400 hours in service
v  The composite blade do not need replacement during 40 000
hour services
v  Safe is improves, overall running cost reduced

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