Fiber composites, discontinuous

Metal-Matrix Composites. A metal-matrix composite (MMC) is comprised of a metal ahoy, less than 50% by volume that is reinforced by one or more constituents with a significantly higher elastic modulus. Reinforcement materials include carbides, oxides, graphite, borides, intermetahics or even polymeric products. These materials can be used in the form of whiskers, continuous or discontinuous fibers, or particles. Matrices can be made from metal ahoys of Mg, Al, Ti, Cu, Ni or Fe. In addition, intermetahic compounds such as titanium and nickel aluminides, Ti Al and Ni Al, respectively, are also used as a matrix material (58,59). P/M MMC can be formed by a variety of full-density hot consolidation processes, including hot pressing, hot isostatic pressing, extmsion, or forging. 

Baxter, W.J., The strength of metal matrix composites reinforced with randomly oriented discontinuous fibers, 1992, Metall Trans. 23A, 3045... 

Net-tension failures can be avoided or delayed by increased joint flexibility to spread the load transfer over several lines of bolts. Composite materials are generally more brittle than conventional metals, so loads are not easily redistributed around a stress concentration such as a bolt hole. Simultaneously, shear-lag effects caused by discontinuous fibers lead to difficult design problems around bolt holes. A possible solution is to put a relatively ductile composite material such as S-glass-epoxy in a strip of several times the bolt diameter in line with the bolt rows. This approach is called the softening-strip concept, and was addressed in Section 6.4. 

The rule of mixtures for discontinuous fiber composites may be expressed as ... 

A discontinuous fiber composite is one that contains a relatively short length of fibers dispersed within the matrix. When an external load is applied to the composite, the fibers are loaded as a result of stress transfer from the matrix to the fiber across the fiber-matrix interface. The degree of reinforcement that may be attained is a function of fiber fraction (V/), the fiber orientation distribution, the fiber length distribution, and efficiency of... 

A composite material is defined as a material consisting of two or more distinct constituents or phases, which are insoluble in one another. The main types of reinforcement are particles, discontinuous fibers, continuous fibers (or filaments) and flakes. 

Galiotis, C. (1993a). A study of mechanisms of stress transfer in continuous and discontinuous fiber model composites by laser Raman spectroscopy. Composites Sci. Technol. 48, 15-28. 

Berthelot, J.M., Cupcic, A. and Maufras, J.M. (1978). Experimental flexural strength-deflection curves of oriented discontinuous fiber composites. Fiber Sci. Technol. 11, 367-398. 

Helfet J.L. and Harris B. (1972). Fracture toughness of composites reinforced with discontinuous fibers. J. Mater. Sci. 7, 494—498. 

As noted above, the range of fibers employed does not precisely overlap with those employed for organic composites. Because the formation of the MMCs generally requires melting of the metal-matrix, the fibers need to have some stability to relatively high temperatures. Such fibers include graphite, silicon carbide, boron, alumina-silica, and alumina fibers. Most of these are available as continuous and discontinuous fibers. It also includes a number of thin metal wires made from tungsten, titanium, molybdenum, and beryllium. 

Fiber-Matrix Composites. As shown in Figure 1.75, there are two main classifications of FMCs those with continuous fiber reinforcement and those with discontinuous fiber reinforcement. Continuous-flber-reinforced composites are made from fiber rovings (bundles of twisted filaments) that have been woven into two-dimensional sheets resembling a cloth fabric. These sheets can be cut and formed to a desired shape, or preform, that is then incorporated into a composite matrix, typically a thermosetting resin such as epoxy. Metallic, ceramic, and polymeric fibers of specific compositions can all be produced in continuous fashions, and the properties of the... 

Calculate axial and transverse modnli and strengths for nnidirectional, continuous and discontinuous, fiber-reinforced composites and laminate composites. Describe the structure of soft and hard biologies that give rise to their unique mechanical properties. 

A.2.3 Composite Moduli Halpin-Tsai Equations. Derivations of estimates for the effective moduli (tensile E, bulk K, and shear G) of discontinuous-fiber-reinforced composite materials are extremely complex. The basic difficulty lies in the complex, and often undefined, internal geometry of the composite. The problem has been approached in a number of ways, but there are three widely recognized... 

The rule of mixtures generally provides a poor estimate of the bulk and shear moduli in both the axial and transverse directions, respectively, in unidirectional, discontinuous-fiber-reinforced composites. 

A.2.4 Discontinuous-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer-Matrix Composites Sheet Molding Compound. Of the parameters influencing the mechanical properties in short-fiber-reinforced polymer-matrix composites, fiber composition, matrix composition, fiber geometry, and manufacturing method will be elaborated upon here. 

Real situations demand more uniformity in composite properties than can be provided by unidirectional composites. Therefore lamina stacking sequences are made where the fiber orientation is altered to provide good properties in all directions. Lamina composed of fiber and matrix in which the fibers are all parallel to each other are stacked on top of each other with a systematic variation in fiber direction. These lamina are then bonded together and the resulting material has more uniformity in properties. Likewise in short fiber or discontinuous fiber composites fiber orientation is random. Therefore properties in directions other than parallel to the fiber (i.e. off-axis) are important70>. 

Relatively little theoretical and experimental work has been done on discontinuous fiber composites, and most of this work has been confined to metal-metal composites (4, 5, 8). For the metal-metal systems the law of mixtures is applicable for composite modulus as follows ... 

Stress Distribution and High Temperature Creep Rate of Discontinuous Fiber Reinforced Metals, Acta Metallurgies et Materialia, 38, 1941-1953 (1990). 26. A. G. Evans, J. W. Hutchinson, and R. M. McMeeking, Stress-Strain Behavior of Metal Matrix Composites with Discontinuous Reinforcements, Scripta Metallurgica et Materialia, 25, 3-8 (1991). 

R. A. J. Sambell, D. H. Bowen, and D. C. Phillips, Carbon Fibre Composites with Ceramic and Glass Matrices, Part 1 Discontinuous Fibers, J. Mater. Sci., 7, 663-675 (1972). 

Discontinuous fibers are used when the manufacturing process prohibits the application of continuous fibers, for example, in injection molding. In composites of discontinuous fibers, stress cannot be transmitted from the matrix polymer to the fibers across the fiber ends. Under load, the polymer is subjected to a shear stress... 

Organic matrices are divided into thermosets and thermoplastics. The main thermoset matrices are polyesters, epoxies, phenolics, and polyimides, polyesters being the most widely used in commercial applications (3,4). Epoxy and polyimide resins are applied in advanced composites for structural aerospace applications (1,5). Thermoplastics Uke polyolefins, nylons, and polyesters are reinforced with short fibers (3). They are known as traditional polymeric matrices. Advanced thermoplastic polymeric matrices like poly(ether ketones) and polysulfones have a higher service temperature than the traditional ones (1,6). They have service properties similar to those of thermoset matrices and are reinforced with continuous fibers. Of course, composites reinforced with discontinuous fibers have weaker mechanical properties than those with continuous fibers. Elastomers are generally reinforced by the addition of carbon black or silica. Although they are reinforced polymers, traditionally they are studied separately due to their singular properties (see Chap. 3). 

Ceramic reinforcing fibers are utilized both in a continuous form (endless fibers) and in a discontinuous form (e.g. whiskers, short fibers). Most of the continuous fibers are utilized in the manufacture of composites with polymer matrices (PMC), where they are in competition with other high performance fibers (boron, carbon fibers), mainly for military or aerospace applications. Discontinuous fibers are generally used for the manufacture of metal matrix (MMC) and ceramic matrix (CMC) composites. 

Polymer matrix composites (PMCs), or fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs). provide a wide range of properties and behavior. Materials with discontinuous fibers are slightly stiffer than conventional unreinforced plastics, whereas the fully aligned continuous fiber systems can record exceptionally high specific properties (property divided by density), exeeeding those of competing materials such as steel and aluminum. There are a virtually infinite number of materials, and material formats that can be combined to form a composite material, as shown in Table 1. 

There are no standard test methods specific for discontinuous fiber (or short fiber) reinforced thermoplastics. It is also not clear whether a geometry-independent fracture parameter can be measured for these nonuniformly inhomogeneous materials. However in spite of these reservations there has been considerable work conducted towards characterizing short fiber composites for fracture toughness using the standard and other procedures outlined in the previous sections. The investigators have recognized that fracture mechanics data provide much more reliable information than the customary alternative tests for material selection and also a service performance indicator for components. 

FIGURE 3.49 Composite reinforced with discontinuous fibers, (a) A total length / at the two ends of a fiber carries less than the maximum stress, (b) Interfecial strength of the matrix fiber. 

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