Composite Material

• A composite material is made by combining two or more dissimilar

materials. They are combined in such a way that the resulting composite
material or composite possesses superior properties which are not
obtainable with a single constituent material.
• A composite is a structural material that consists of two or more combined
constituents that are combined at a macroscopic level and are not soluble
in each other.
• One constituent is called the reinforcing phase and the one in which it is
embedded is called the matrix.
• The reinforcing phase material may be in the form of fibers, particles, or
flakes.
• For example, in concrete reinforced with steel the matrix phase is concrete
and the reinforcing phase is steel.
Criteria for classification of materials as a composite:
1. Combination of materials should result in significant property
changes
2. The constituents are combined at a macroscopic level.
3. The content of the constituents is generally more than 10%
4. In general, property of one constituent is much greater (≥ 5) than the
other.
Composite: Constituents
What are the constituents in a composite material

1. Reinforcement:
• Discontinuous
• Provides structural properties to composite: stiffness/strength
• Carries the load, 75 to 90 %
2. Matrix:
• Material component that holds the fiber and binds fiber together.
• Continuous
• Provides shape to the structure.
What are the roles of the constituents of
composite material
i) Role of Reinforcements:
• Reinforcements give high strength, stiffness and other improved mechanical properties to the
composites.
• Also their contribution to other properties such as the co-efficient of thermal expansion,
conductivity etc is remarkable.

(ii) Role of Matrices:

• Even though having inferior properties than that of reinforcements, its physical presence is must;

❖ to give shape to the composite part.

❖ to keep the fibers in place.
❖ to transfer stresses to the fibers.
❖ to protect the reinforcement from the environment, such as chemicals & moisture.
❖ to protect the surface of the fibers from mechanical degradation.
❖ to act as shielding from damage due to handling.
❖ Provides better finish.
What are the types of reinforcements?

1.Fibre: Fibre is an individual filament of the material. A filament with

length to diameter ratio above 1000 is called a fibre. The fibrous form
of the reinforcement is widely used. The fibres can be in the following
two forms
a. Continuous fibres: If the fibres used in a composite are very long and
unbroken or cut then it forms a continuous fibre composite. A composite,
thus formed using continuous fibres is called as fibrous composite. The
fibrous composite is the most widely used form of composite.
b. Short/chopped fibres: The fibres are chopped into small pieces when used in
fabricating a composite. A composite with short fibres as reinforcements is
called as short fibre composite.
2.Particulate: The reinforcement is in the form of particles which are of the
order of a few microns in diameter. The particles are generally added to
increase the modulus and decrease the ductility of the matrix materials. In
this case, the load is shared by both particles and matrix materials. However,
the load shared by the particles is much larger than the matrix material. For
example, in an automobile application carbon black (as a particulate
reinforcement) is added in rubber (as matrix material). The composite with
reinforcement in particle form is called a particulate composite.
3.Flake: Flake is a small, flat, thin piece or layer (or a chip) that is broken
from a larger piece. Since these are two dimensional in geometry, they
impart almost equal strength in all directions of their planes. Thus, these are
very effective reinforcement components. The flakes can be packed more
densely when they are laid parallel, even denser than unidirectional fibres
and spheres. For example, aluminum flakes are used in paints. They align
themselves parallel to the surface of the coating which imparts the good
properties.
4.Whiskers: These are nearly perfect single crystal fibres. These are short,
discontinuous and polygonal in cross-section.
Examples of naturally occurring composites

– Wood: Cellulose fibers bound by lignin matrix

– Granite: Granular composite of quartz, feldspar, and mica.
– Bone: Stiff mineral “fibers” in a soft organic matrix

Examples of man‐made composites

– Concrete: Particulate composite of aggregates (limestone or

granite), sand, cement and water
– Plywood: Several layers of wood veneer glued together
– Fiberglass: Plastic matrix reinforced by glass fibers
– Cermets: Ceramic and metal composites
These are not composites
• Plastics: Even though they may have several “fillers”, their presence
does not alter the physical properties significantly.
• Alloys: Here the alloy is not macroscopically heterogeneous,
especially in terms of physical properties.
• Metals with impurities: impurities: The presence of impurities does
not significantly alter physical properties of the metal.
Why do you need composite materials?
Enhanced desired properties!

• Some of the properties that can be improved by forming a composite material are
✓strength
✓fatigue life
✓stiffness
✓temperature-dependent behavior
✓corrosion resistance
✓thermal insulation
✓wear resistance
✓thermal conductivity
✓attractiveness
✓acoustical insulation
Where are composites used?
• Automotive industry: Lighter, stronger, wear resistance, rust‐free,
aesthetics
– Car body
– Brake pads
– Drive shafts
– Fuel tanks
– Hoods
– Spoilers
Where are composites used?
• Aerospace: Lighter, stronger, temperature resistance, smart
structures, wear resistance
– Aircraft: Nose, doors, struts, outboard and inboard flaps,
stabilizers, elevators, rudders, fin tips, spoilers,edges.
– Rockets & missiles: Nose, body, pressure tanks,
frame fuel tanks,turbo motor stators etc
– Satellites: Antennae, frames, structural parts.
• Sports: Lighter, stronger, toughness, better aesthetics, higher
damping properties.
– Tennis
– Bicycles
– Badminton
– Boats
– Hockey
– Golfing
– Motorcycles
Where are composites used?

• Transportation & Infrastructure: Lighter, stronger, toughness,

damping.
– Railway coaches
– Bridges
– Ships and boats
– Dams
– Truck bodies and floors
• And many more industry sectors
– Biomedical industry
– Consumer goods
– Agricultural equipment
– Heavy machinery
– Computers
– Healthcare
Advantages of Composites
• High resistance to fatigue and corrosion degradation.
• High ‘strength or stiffness to weight’ ratio. Weight savings are significant
ranging from 25-45% of the weight of conventional metallic designs.
• Due to greater reliability, there are fewer inspections and structural
repairs.
• Directional tailoring capabilities to meet the design requirements.
The fibre pattern can be laid in a manner that will tailor the structure to
efficiently sustain the applied loads.
• Improved dent resistance is normally achieved. Composite panels do not
sustain damage as easily as thin gauge sheet metals.
Advantages-contd
• It is easier to achieve smooth aerodynamic profiles for drag reduction.
Complex double-curvature parts with a smooth surface finish can be
made in one manufacturing operation.
• Composites offer improved torsional stiffness.
• High resistance to impact damage.
• Composites are dimensionally stable i.e. they have low thermal
conductivity and low coefficient of thermal expansion.
• Improved friction and wear properties.
Disadvantages of Composites
• High cost of raw materials and fabrication.
• Manufacturing methods for shaping composite materials are often slow and costly.
• Matrix is weak, therefore, low toughness.
• Reuse and disposal may be difficult.
• Anisotropy: A large number of composites have direction dependent material
properties. This makes them more difficult to understand, analyze and engineer
• Non‐homogenous: Further, these materials by definition are not homogenous . Hence
their material properties vary from point‐to‐point. This factor as well makes them
difficult to model, and analyze
• Sensitivity to temperature: Laminated composites are particularly sensitive to
temperature changes. They come in with residual thermal stresses, because they get
fabricated at high temperatures, and then cooled. Such a process locks in thermal
stresses into the structure.
• Matrix is subject to environmental degradation
Classification based on Matrix
1.Polymer Matrix Composites(PMCs)
• Polymer matrix composites make ideal material as they can be processed easily.
• It possesses the light weight and desirable mechanical properties.
• Polymer matrix composites consist of a polymer (Eg. Epoxy, Polyester, Poly Propylene)
reinforced by fibers (Eg. Graphite, aramid, boron, natural fibres).
• Polymer matrix composites are classified into two types based on the types of plastic
used in the matrix phase. 1. Thermoplastic composites 2. Thermoset plastic composites
2.Metal Matrix Composites (MMC)
• These composites use a metal such as aluminium as the matrix, and reinforce it with
fibres such as silicon carbide.
• High strength, fracture toughness and stiffness are offered by metal matrices when
compared to their polymer counterparts.
• Withstand elevated temperature in corrosive environment than polymer composites.
• Most metals and alloys - used as matrices. Hence, require reinforcement materials -
stable over a range of temperatures and non-reactive too.
• Light metals (low strength) form the matrix while the reinforcements have high moduli.
• If metal matrix has high strength, they require even higher modulus reinforcements.
• Hence, light metals (Al, Ti, and Mg) are the popular matrix metals with their low density.
e.g. carbide in a metal matrix.
• Metal matrix composites are used in the automotive industries and are widely used in
the aerospace industries because of their zero coefficient of thermal expansion and high
specific strength.
3.Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC)
• These composites use a ceramic as the matrix and reinforce it with short fibres, or
whiskers such as those made from silicon carbide and boron nitride.
• Ceramic provide strength at high temperature well above 15000C and have considerable
oxidation resistance.
• They possess several desirable attributes like high elastic modulus, low thermal
expansion, low thermal conductivity, high melting point, good chemical and weather
resistance as well as excellent electromagnetic transparency.
• However, the major drawback of ceramics is that they exhibit limited plasticity. This low
strain capability of ceramics is of major concern, as it, quite often, leads to catastrophic
failure. For this reason ceramics are not considered as dependable structural materials.
• But such limitations may not exist with ceramic matrix composites, as suitable
reinforcements may help them to achieve desirable mechanical properties including
toughness.
• The ceramic matrices are usually glass, glass ceramics (lithium aluminosilicates), carbides
(SiC), nitrides (SiN4, BN), oxides (Al2O3, Zr2O3) and borides (ZrB2, TiB2).
• The reinforcements which are normally high temperature inorganic materials including
ceramics, may be in the form of particles, flakes, whiskers and fibres. The commonly
used fibres are carbon, silicon carbide, silica and alumina.
Classification Based on Reinforcements
1. Fiber Reinforced Composites/Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites.
• Fibers are the important class of reinforcements, as they satisfy the desired conditions and
transfer strength to the matrix constituent influencing and enhancing their properties as desired.
• Glass fibers are the earliest known fibers used to reinforce materials. Ceramic and metal fibers
were subsequently found out and put to extensive use, to render composites stiffer more
resistant to heat.
• The performance of a fiber composite is judged by its length, shape, orientation, and composition
of the fibers and the mechanical properties of the matrix.
• The orientation of the fiber in the matrix is an indication of the strength of the composite and the
strength is greatest along the longitudinal directional of fiber.
• Optimum performance from longitudinal fibers can be obtained if the load is applied along its
direction. The slightest shift in the angle of loading may drastically reduce the strength of the
composite.
• Organic and inorganic fibers are used to reinforce composites.
• Almost all organic fibers have low density, flexibility, and elasticity.
• Inorganic fibers (glass fibers, silicon carbide fibers, high silica and quartz fibers, aluminina fibers,
metal fibers, graphite fibers, boron fibers, aramid fibers and multiphase fibers) are of high
modulus, high thermal stability and possess greater rigidity than organic fibers.
2. Laminar composite
• A laminar composite is composed of two-dimensional sheets or panels that have a preferred high-
strength direction such as is found in wood and continuous and aligned fiber-reinforced plastics.
• The layers are stacked and subsequently cemented together such that the orientation of the high-
strength direction varies with each successive layer
• For example, adjacent wood sheets in plywood are aligned with the grain direction at right angles
to each other.
• Laminations may also be constructed using fabric material such as cotton, paper, or woven glass
fibers embedded in a plastic matrix.
• Thus a laminar composite has relatively high strength in a number of directions in the two-
dimensional plane; however, the strength in any given direction is, of course, lower than it would
be if all the fibers were oriented in that direction.
 3.Particulate Reinforced Composites (PRC)
• Particulates of various shapes and sizes are used as reinforcing particles.
• The shapes vary from a simple sphere (e.g., glass beads) to a complex
polyhedron (e.g., crystals).
• The size ranges from a few microns to several hundred microns.
• Particles of various inorganic and organic materials are employed to make
particulate composites. However, they should be compatible with the
matrix system used.
• Materials like talc, clay, mica, calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate, calcium
silicate, titanium oxide, wood dust, sand, silica, alumina, asbestos, glass
beads, metal flakes, metal powder, carbon powder, ceramic grains and
several polymeric particles are normally used.
• Besides strengthening the composite, particles also serve other purposes.
They act as additives to modify the creep, impact,thermal, electrical,
chemical and magnetic properties as well as wear resistance, flammability
and such other properties of the composite.
Interface
• In composite materials, the interface is the region where the
reinforcement material and the matrix material meet.

• The properties of this interface play a critical role in the performance

of the composite material, as it is responsible for transferring stress
between the two materials and distributing it evenly across the
composite structure.
• The behavior of a composite material is a result of the combined behavior
of the following three entities:
(i) Fiber or the reinforcing element
(ii)Matrix
(iii)Fiber/matrix interface
• It is important that the fibers not be weakened by flaws because of an
adverse interfacial reaction.
• Also, the applied load should be effectively transferred from the matrix to
the fibers via the interface.
• Thus, it becomes extremely important to understand the nature of the
interface region of any given composite system under a given set of
conditions.
• Interfaces play a critical role in determining the performance and
properties of composite materials.
• Two important aspects of composite interfaces are wettability and
bonding interface.
Wettability:
• Wettability is the ability of a liquid to spread over the surface of a
solid material.
• In composite materials, wettability can affect the quality of the
interface between the matrix and the reinforcement.
• If the liquid matrix material wets the reinforcement material, it can
spread easily over the surface, leading to a strong interfacial bond.
• However, if the matrix does not wet the reinforcement, it may not be
able to penetrate the gaps between the fibers, leading to weak
bonding and poor mechanical properties.
• The wettability of a composite material can be influenced by factors
such as the surface energy of the reinforcement material, the
viscosity of the matrix material, and the presence of additives.
• Contact angle, θ, of a liquid on the solid surface fiber is a convenient and
important parameter to characterize wettability. Commonly, the contact angle
is measured by putting a sessile drop of the liquid on the flat surface of a solid
substrate.
• The extreme cases are: θ = 0, corresponding to perfect wetting and θ = 180 o ,
corresponding to no wetting.
Types of bonding at interface:
• There are different types of bonding mechanisms that can occur at the interface
between the matrix and reinforcement materials in composite materials. These include:
1. Mechanical interlocking: Mechanical interlocking occurs when the matrix
material penetrates the gaps between the reinforcement fibers, creating a
physical interlock. This type of bonding is commonly found in composite materials
reinforced with short fibers or particles.
2. Chemical bonding: Chemical bonding occurs when the matrix material
chemically reacts with the surface of the reinforcement material, forming a
strong covalent bond. This type of bonding is commonly found in composite
materials reinforced with continuous fibers, such as carbon or glass fibers.
3. Van der Waals forces: Van der Waals forces are weak attractive forces between
molecules. In composite materials, Van der Waals forces can occur between
the matrix and reinforcement materials, particularly in materials with small
particles or nanofillers.
4. Electrostatic forces: Electrostatic forces occur when there is an attraction between
positively and negatively charged particles. In composite materials, electrostatic
forces can occur between the matrix and reinforcement materials, particularly in
materials with charged particles or nanofillers
1. Mechanical interlocking
• Mechanical interlocking is a method of improving the bond strength
between two materials by creating a physical connection at the interface.
• In composite materials, mechanical interlocking is often used to improve
the bond strength between the matrix material and the reinforcement
fibers.
• One way to create mechanical interlocking in composite materials is
through the use of a rough or textured surface on the reinforcement fibers.
This can be achieved by using fibers with a non circular cross-section, or by
treating the surface of the fibers with a chemical or mechanical process to
create surface irregularities.
• Another way to create mechanical interlocking in composite materials is
through the use of interlocking structures or features. For example, in
some composite materials, the reinforcement fibers are arranged in a
woven or braided pattern, which creates interlocking structures between
the fibers and the matrix material.
• In other cases, small fibers or particles are added to the matrix material to
create a rough surface that interlocks with the reinforcement fibers.
• Mechanical interlocking can improve the strength of the bond
between the matrix material and the reinforcement fibers, which can
in turn improve the mechanical properties of the composite material.
However, the effectiveness of mechanical interlocking can be limited
by factors such as the size and distribution of the interlocking
structures, as well as the properties of the materials being bonded.
2. Chemical bonding
• Chemical bonding involves creating a chemical reaction between the matrix
material and the reinforcement fibers, which results in a strong, permanent bond
between the two materials.
• Chemical bonding can be achieved through the use of a variety of techniques,
including:
1.Surface treatment: The surface of the reinforcement fibers can be
treated with chemicals, such as silane or titanium, to create functional
groups that can react with the matrix material. This creates a chemical
bond between the fibers and the matrix material, improving the strength
of the composite.
2. Chemical coupling agents: Chemical coupling agents can be added to the
matrix material to create a chemical reaction with the reinforcement fibers.
These coupling agents can be designed to react with specific types of fibers,
improving the bond strength between the two materials.
3. Resin infusion: In resin infusion, the reinforcement fibers are placed in a
mold and the matrix material is injected into the mold under pressure. The
matrix material chemically bonds with the reinforcement fibers, creating a
strong bond between the two materials.
• Chemical bonding can improve the strength and durability of
composite materials, as well as their resistance to environmental
factors such as moisture and heat.
• However, the effectiveness of chemical bonding can depend on a
variety of factors, such as the properties of the materials being
bonded, the conditions under which the bonding occurs, and the
design of the composite structure.
• In some cases, a combination of mechanical interlocking and chemical
bonding may be needed to achieve optimal bond strength in
composite materials
3.Van der Waals forces
• Van der Waals forces are weak intermolecular forces that exist between all atoms and molecules.
• These forces arise from the fluctuating electric fields around atoms and molecules, which cause
them to attract or repel one another.
• In composite materials, Van der Waals forces can play a role in the bonding between the matrix
material and the reinforcement fibers.
• Although these forces are relatively weak compared to chemical bonding or mechanical
interlocking, they can contribute to the overall bond strength between the materials.
• Van der Waals forces can be enhanced in composite materials through the use of certain types of
fibers or particles. For example, carbon nanotubes or graphene oxide particles have high surface
areas and can form strong Van der Waals interactions with the matrix material. These interactions
can improve the strength and stiffness of the composite material.
• However, it is important to note that Van der Waals forces can also contribute to the weakening
of composite materials over time. For example, in some types of composite materials, moisture
can be absorbed into the material, causing the fibers to swell and creating Van der Waals forces
that can weaken the bond between the fibers and the matrix material. Therefore, while Van der
Waals forces can play a role in the bonding of composite materials, they must be carefully
considered in the design and maintenance of these materials to ensure their long-term
performance.
4. Electrostatic forces:
• Electrostatic forces are forces that exist between electrically charged
objects.
• In composite materials, electrostatic forces can play a role in the bonding
between the matrix material and the reinforcement fibers.
• One way electrostatic forces can be used in composites is through the use
of electro spinning. In this process, a polymer solution is charged and spun
through an electric field, resulting in the creation of fine fibers. These fibers
can be collected to create a reinforcement material that has a high surface
area and a high degree of electrical charge. When combined with a matrix
material, the electrostatic forces between the fibers and the matrix
material can create a strong bond between the two materials.
• Another way electrostatic forces can be used in composites is through the
use of plasma treatments. In plasma treatments, the surface of the
reinforcement fibers is exposed to a plasma field, which can create a high
degree of surface charge on the fibers. When combined with a matrix
material, the electrostatic forces between the fibers and the matrix
material can improve the bond strength between the two materials.
• However, it is important to note that electrostatic forces can also
contribute to the weakening of composite materials over time. For
example, electrostatic charges can attract and hold onto particles or
contaminants, leading to a loss of performance over time. Therefore,
while electrostatic forces can play a role in the bonding of composite
materials, they must be carefully considered in the design and
maintenance of these materials to ensure their long-term
performance.