MSE 111

Composites Materials
Lecture – 5
th
(Callister 9 edition)
Chapter-16
 What are Composites
• Materials that have specific and unusual properties are needed for
aerospace, underwater, bioengineering, and transportation
industries.
• For example, aircraft engineers are increasingly searching for
structural materials that have low densities; are strong, stiff, and
abrasion and impact resistant; and do not easily corrode.
• Among monolithic materials, strong materials are relatively dense;
increasing the strength or stiffness generally results in a decrease in
toughness.
• Generally speaking, a composite is considered to be any multiphase
material that exhibits a significant proportion of the properties of
both constituent phases; a better combination of properties.
 How to make
• In designing composite materials, scientists and engineers have ingeniously
combined various metals, ceramics, and polymers to produce a new
generation of extraordinary materials.
• Most composites have been created to improve combinations of mechanical
characteristics such as stiffness, toughness, and ambient and high-
temperature strength.
• Many composite materials are composed of just two phases; one is termed
the matrix, and another one is dispersed phase.
• The properties of composites are a function of the properties of the
constituent phases, their relative amounts, and the geometry of the dispersed
phase (shape of the particles and the particle size, distribution, and
orientation).
 What are Composites
• Composites are materials containing of two or more physically distinct phases.
Here phase is different elements.
• A composite, in the present context, is a multiphase material that is artificially
made, as opposed to one that occurs or forms naturally.

Dispersed Phase
The matrix material
The Dispersed Phase
Classification of Composite
Classification of composite
Fiber reinforcement
 Particle-Reinforced Composites
 Two types; a) Large-particle composite.
b) Dispersion-strengthened composite.
 large-particle composite

Particulates • A familiar large-particle composite is concrete.

• Which is composed of cement (the matrix) and
Martix
sand and gravel (the particulates).
• Particles can have quite a variety of geometries
and load transfers from matrix to hard particles.
• For Dispersion-strengthened composite particle
size 10 nm-100 nm.
• Small particles in Dispersion-strengthened
composite hinders dislocation motion.
 Large-particle composite
• For most of these composites, the particulate phase is harder and stiffer than
the matrix. These reinforcing particles tend to restrain movement of the
matrix phase in the vicinity of each particle.
• In essence, the matrix transfers some of the applied stress to the particles,
which bear a fraction of the load.
• The degree of reinforcement or improvement of mechanical behavior
depends on strong bonding at the matrix–particle interface.
 Rule-of-mixtures
• These rule-of-mixtures equations predicts the elastic modulus of large-particle
composite materials.
• The elastic modulus should fall between an upper bound and lower bound limit.

• E and V denote the elastic modulus and

volume fraction.
Figure: Modulus of elasticity versus volume percent of
• subscripts c, m, and p represent composite,
tungsten for a composite of tungsten particles dispersed
matrix, and particulate phases, respectively.
within a copper matrix.
 Cermet (large-particle composite)
• The cermets are examples of ceramic–metal composites.
• One of the example of cermet is cemented carbide, which is composed of extremely
hard ceramic particles such as tungsten carbide (WC) or titanium carbide (TiC).
• The matrix is made of a metal such as cobalt or nickel.
• The hard carbide particles provide the cutting surface but, being extremely brittle,
are not capable of withstanding the cutting stresses.
• Toughness is provided by the ductile metal matrix of cobalt or nickel.
• These composites are used extensively as cutting tools for hardened steels.

Tungsten carbide
(WC)

Matrix (Co or Ni)

 Dispersion-strengthened composite
• Dispersion-strengthened composite are almost similar to the large-particle
composite; but the difference is that in dispersion-strengthened composite particles
size is very small and particles are uniformly distributed within the matrix.
• Dispersion-strengthened composite contains very small particles (10-100 nm)
diameter.
• In large-particle composites, particles resists the movement of the matrix and
improves the strength but in dispersion-strengthened composites, as containing very
small particles, hinder dislocation motion and therefore limits plastic deformation and
improves the strength.
• 3 vol% thoria (ThO ) as finely dispersed particles in Ni matrix; this material is known
2

as thoria-dispersed (or TD) nickel.

 Fiber-Reinforced Composites
• Technologically, the most important composites are those in which the dispersed phase is in
the form of a fiber.
• A fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) is a composite building material that consists of three
components; the fibers as the discontinuous or dispersed phase, the matrix as the
continuous phase, and fine interphase region between fiber and matrix, also known as the
interface.
• This is a type of advanced composite group, which makes use of rice husk, rice hull (fiber),
and plastic (matrix) as ingredients.
 INFLUENCE OF FIBER LENGTH
• Mechanical characteristics depends on the amount of applied load transmitted to the
fibers by the matrix phase.
• Load transmittance depends on the magnitude of the interfacial bond between the fiber
and matrix phases.
• Fiber–matrix bond vanishes at the fiber ends.
• No load transmittance from the matrix to the fiber at fiber’s end.
• Critical fiber length (lc) is for effective strengthening of composite which dependent on the
fiber diameter, its ultimate tensile strength and on the fiber–matrix bond strength.

D= Diameter of fiber.
α*f = Tensile strength of fiber.
Tc = ield strength of the matrix;
*Shear yShear yield strength is the yield
strength when applied force is shear and
not tensile.
 Critical fiber length
• For glass and carbon fiber–matrix combinations, this critical length is on the order
of 1 mm, which ranges between 20 and 150 times the fiber diameter.

• Lc is required for effective

load transfer.
• α*f > α*m.
• When l<lc, no effective load
transfer, composite fails at
low load.
 Classification
• Fibers for which length is greater then 15lc are termed
continuous fiber.
• And discontinuous or short fibers have lengths shorter than this.
• With respect to orientation, two extremes are possible:
 a parallel alignment of the longitudinal axis of the fibers in a single
direction,
 a totally random alignment.
Stress–strain curves
 Stress–strain curves
• Composite failure is not catastrophic for a couple of reasons;
 First, not all fibers fracture at the same time, because there will
always be considerable variations in the fracture strength of brittle
fiber materials.
 In addition, even after fiber failure, the matrix is still intact
inasmuch as €*f < €*m.
Isostrain situation
Isostrain situation
 Elastic Behavior—Longitudinal Loading
• it is assumed that the fiber–matrix interfacial bond is very
good, such that deformation of both matrix and fibers is the
same (isostrain situation).
• Under these conditions, the total load sustained by the
composite Fc is equal to the sum of the loads carried by the
matrix phase Fm and the fiber phase Ff.

l = l= l
m f c

V=A*l
Elastic Behavior—Longitudinal Loading

• It can also be shown, for longitudinal

loading, that the ratio of the load carried by
the fibers to that carried by the matrix is;
 Elastic Behavior—Transverse Loading
• The load is applied at a 90 degree angle to the direction of
fiber alignment.

(isostress state)
isostress state
isostress state
isostress state
Elastic Behavior—Transverse Loading
Elastic Behavior—Transverse Loading
Composite Tensile Strength
Discontinuous/continuous and Aligned-
Fiber Composites
• Aligned fibrous composites are
inherently anisotropic; in that the
maximum strength and
reinforcement are achieved along
the alignment (longitudinal)
direction.
• In the transverse direction, fiber
reinforcement is virtually
nonexistent.
 POLYMER–MATRIX COMPOSITES
• Polymer–matrix composites (PMCs) consist of a polymer resin as the
matrix and fibers as the reinforcement medium.
• Here resin means a high-molecular-weight polymer.

Glass Fiber–Reinforced Polymer Carbon Fiber–Reinforced Polymer

Aramid Fiber–Reinforced Polymer

Aramid Fiber

Aramid Fiber–Reinforced Polymer

 Glass Fiber–Reinforced Polymer
• Composite consisting of glass fibers, either continuous or discontinuous,
contained within a polymer matrix.
• Glass is popular as a fiber reinforcement material for several reasons:
 it is easily drawn into high-strength fibers from the molten state.
 As a fiber it is relatively strong, and when embedded in a plastic matrix, it
produces a composite having a very high specific strength.
• There are several limitations to this group of materials.
 In spite of having high strengths, they are not very stiff (do not have enough
elastic deformation) and do not display the rigidity that is necessary for some
applications.
 Carbon Fiber–Reinforced Polymer
• Advantages:
• Carbon fibers have high specific moduli (Young's modulus divided by density)
and specific strengths (strength divided by its density).
• They retain their high tensile modulus (stress/strain at tensile point) and high
strength at elevated At room temperature, temperatures.
• carbon fibers are not affected by moisture or a wide variety of solvents.
• Fiber- and composite-manufacturing processes have been developed that
are relatively inexpensive and cost effective.
 METAL-MATRIX COMPOSITES
• As the name implies, for metal-matrix
composites (MMCs) the matrix is a
ductile metal.
• Usage:
These materials are used at higher
service temperatures.
Advantages:
• higher operating temperatures, and
greater resistance to degradation by
organic fluids.
 CERAMIC-MATRIX COMPOSITES
• Ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs)— uses fibers, or whiskers of one
ceramic material that have been embedded into a matrix of another ceramic.
• Toughening:
• ceramic whiskers often SiC or Si3N4 inhibit crack propagation by;
(1) deflecting crack tips.
(2) forming bridges across crack faces.
(3) absorbing energy during pullout as the whiskers debond from the matrix.
 CARBON–CARBON COMPOSITES
• Both reinforcement and matrix are carbon.
• Advantages:
• High-tensile moduli and tensile strengths that are retained to temperatures in
excess of 2000C, resistance to creep, and relatively large fracture toughness
values.
• Drawbacks:
• High-temperature oxidation.
PROCESSING OF FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITES
Prepreg Production Processes