RMIT UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF AEROSPACE, MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

AERO2289: DESIGN & MANUFACTURE OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

Laboratory Practical: Manufacture & Tensile Properties of Composites

Lecturer: Professor Adrian Mouritz

Due 22 / 05 / 2009

Student Name Roger Hu Shuai Ht Liu Cheng Guang Stratos Patskatheodorou Shanaka Jayaskara

Student Number 3117466 3231038 3230926 323086 3113971

Table of Contents
1.0 Abstract ................................................................................................2 2.0 Introduction .........................................................................................2 3.0 Manufacturing .....................................................................................3 4.0 Apparatus and Methodology................................................................6 5.0 Theoretical Analysis for woven fabric ................................................7 Use this equation to calculate the Poissons ratio ....................................8 6.0 Experimental Results and Analysis...................................................10
6.1 Specimen observations.......................................................................................14

7.0 Discussion and Recommendations...................................................16 8.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................20 9.0 References .........................................................................................21

AERO2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites

1.0 Abstract
Manufacturing of two E-glass/ polyester composite panels using wet hand lay-up process and vacuum bag process. One will contain woven E-glass fabric and the other panel E-glass chopped strand mat. After fabrication and cutting the coupons in 0o, 15o, 30o, 45o, 60o, 75o and 90o directions the specimens will be ready to tensile testing of the composites. The tensile tests will be performed using the 50 kN Instron in the Materials Testing Laboratory. Finally the results are compared of the two types of materials with both experimental data and theoretical data which obtained from simple hand calculations using a model.

2.0 Introduction
The aims of this practical are to fabricate composite materials reinforced with woven fabric and chopped strand mat using the wet hand lay-up process with vacuum bag process to get hands-on experience in composites processing. Also to determine the effect of fibre orientation on the tensile properties of the woven composite and chopped strand mat composite. In this report both theoretical and experimental data will analysed and compared. For theoretical calculation of woven fabric composite a particular model is used to find the tensile properties but for CSM composites non of the models can be used due to various fibre orientation. After manufacturing of both of wove fabric and CSM composites, composites will cured then the panels will be cut to coupons in 0o, 15o, 30o, 45o, 60o, 75o and 90o directions for testing. There are many reasons why we are interested in tensile testing of composites, if a composites in a aircraft fails due to tensile failure it will cause a catastrophic scenario. Of all these modes of tensile failures, tensiles failure occurs most regularly and is the most disastrous if it occurs. This is why Critical tensile properties are one of the most important modes of failure which has to be taken into consideration in any composite structure under any of these kind of failure loads. In order to demonstrate the relationship between theory and empirical analysis, the tests were done using a 50KN Instron in the Materials Testing Laboratory under the supervision of Peter Tkatchyk. The specimens need to be placed in the grips each end. The specimen must be fitted with a clip gauge to measure the extension (strain) during testing. The specimen must be in tensile load at a constant cross-head speed of 5mm/min to determine the failure tensile properties. For both sections of the laboratory each member of the group was wearing safety glasses and each group member was aware of and adhere to the laboratory regulations on health and safety.

AERO2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites

3.0 Manufacturing
The process used to produce two panels was called Wet hand lay-up. This process is whereby the part is made by placing layers or layers of the fibres down until the desired thickness is achieved. The manufacturing starts from the rolls of fibres of either Chopped Strand Matt (CSM) or Woven Fibre (WF). The fibres used in this specific example are E-Glass with the polymer matrix being Polyester. This process description is exactly the same for other composite wet hand lay-up processes.

The fibres are rolled out onto the workbench and measured against a template of the desired shape to make as can been seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2. The CSM itself is thicker than the WF because of two reasons; one, the WF thickness will be dependent on the size of the tows of the fibres, and two, to manufacture the CSM, an adhesive agent is applied to the fibres in order to make them hold together in their scattered arrangement in the CSM. This would mean a less dense configuration than compared to the WF. Once the numbers of pieces (depending on the thickness required) are ready and marked, they are simply cut using ordinary scissors. This step is quite an easy one for the CSM as the pieces are somewhat more rigid compared to the WF and do not fold or crimp easily while handling when compared to the WF. As a result, the WF is a slightly more difficult piece to cut and obtain good edges. However during manufacturing this would mean that in order to produce a part of a certain dimension, pieces larger than required would be cut and laid with the excess overlaying composite simply removed with a small amount of trimming. Once the pieces are ready for laying up, a tool surface is prepared with an agent to allow the part to be separated later on after curing. When this is done, the polymer mix can be made with a specific percentage of initiating reagent to help start the curing process. The amount required of the reagent is determined through a number of key factors including the temperature, curing time and volume of polymer to which it will react with. The chemical reaction can be visibly seen as the resin changes colour from a greenish due to a brown. As the resin changes colour it is becoming less usable, or in other terms, the resins shelf life is deteriorating. This emphasises the point that speed and precision is of essence when working with fibre composites using this process. Furthermore,
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the application of resin process is a dangerous one considering the chemical used and their affect on the skin. For this reason, safety glasses and latex gloves are required for this step. The resin is applied to the parts in a generous manner to ensure that the pieces are fully wet out. This means that the fibres have been fully immersed in the resin. When this is done, the next layer is applied directly on top and with the use of a special roller. The rolling action is administered to the top layer to do two things; one to apply pressure to help with the wetting of the excess resin from the layer below to the layer above and two, to help roll out any air pockets which may be trapped while the resin is applied. Trapped air pockets can potentially be quite damaging to the mechanical properties of the final composite so great care and once again, with a degree of speed was applied during this stage. While undertaking this step, it can be noted that up to two layers can be rolled out and applied on top of a base layer which is fully wet out. This also means that the time to apply the resin is reduced and shortening the time required completing the part. As was mentioned above, the application and rolling of the resin to the CSM was easier than to that of the WF. When applying the resin (which is in itself a semi-viscous liquid, similar to honey), care needs to be taken such that the fabric does not form any waves in the piece. This is quite important when looking at the mechanical properties later on. It is of essence that the layers resemble straight, flat, non-wavy pieces which are for the most part aligned in the zero (0) direction. Unfortunately, photos of this stage were unavailable as this does require the use of gloves at all times. After the final layer is applied and wet out, the piece was ready for the application of the vacuum bag section which was attached over the top. For this step a perforated piece of blue film was applied on top of the section. The perforation in this film are used to allow a path for any trapped air to escape out of the composite part, as well as to allow any excess resin to bleed out from the part which it is being compressed by the pressure difference induced from the vacuum. Above the blue film, a piece of bleeder film is applied to soak and absorb the excess resin that may come out from the vacuum process. In this particular case, the same material Woven Fabric was used as the bleeder film, so a piece of fabric, was then laid above the perforated film. On top of this piece another section of blue non-perforated film was laid down to seal the excess from going anywhere else. The addition of this piece now seals the bleeder film allowing no interaction between excess resin and the vacuum bag which is applied last. Above the sealed section a metal plate, with size of the specimens was applied directly on top of where the pieces would be lying underneath. This plate is used to act as a pressure distribution section to ensure that an evenly applied pressure is applied to the specimens under the vacuum pressure. This step simply adds a degree of homogeneity to the part or at least ties to help create a more consistent piece. All of the above can be seen in Figures 3 & 4. Once this is done the final step before the vacuum bag can be applied is performed. A soft foam-style piece is applied on top of the whole part with a bridging piece in the middle to allow for the flow of air to pass. This step is really a consolidation step where by the whole piece is given a cushioning when the vacuum is applied. This is can be seen very clearly in Figure 5. To then complete the process and strip of yellow, almost blu-tack like material is laid down along the perimeter of the whole tool surface. When this is completed the vacuum bag is applied and sealed
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evenly to the tool surface via the yellow adhesive. To finish it off, the hose is connected up to the connection on the vacuum bag side and the pump it turned on, sucking out the air from the two parts as can be seen in Figure 6. It can be clearly seen that a good seal is in place as the whole test piece will suck down to the tool surface and edges from the composite pieces clearly distinguishable. The part is then left with the vacuum pump turned on for a period of a couple of hours while the part cures.

In the manufacturing of the above components, there are a number of points which were raised to identify where flaws may have been created which will ultimately affect the final mechanical properties of the pieces. As mentioned, some air pockets which were hopefully rolled out during the laying process may not have been able to escape and so will be retained within the component as a void. However, the further application of a vacuum process also helped to reduce the possibility of this by further squashing and sucking out any trapped air pockets. Without the use of the vacuum bag, the mechanical properties of the final piece would have been lower. Also by applying the vacuum to the component, the part is also extracting out the excess resin from the part by increasing
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the fibre volume fraction (Vf) of the part changing the mechanical properties. A point which should be noted with regards to the hand lay-up process is that the orientation of the WF should be carefully checked. In this process no guide was used apart from a visual estimate as to when the layers we aligned. Furthermore, only experienced manufacturers would be able to lay down the plys with a greater degree of accuracy and confidence than those who are simply performing this process for the first time. This would no doubt induce some errors and flaws into the structure and in turn affect the mechanical properties of the panels.

4.0 Apparatus and Methodology

- Woven fibre mat - Chopped strand fibre mat - digital calliper - resin - Vacuum bag equipment - 50KN Instron After the initial safety briefing, the first task was to obtain accurate dimensions for the 7 coupons each from woven and CSM composites before any testing was to be done. This was done using a set of accurate digital callipers. There was some imperfection due to cutting of the composites when forming coupons out of the composites panels which resulted in an imperfect cross sections. Thus later will be seen to cause variations in the results. After the specimens were measured, the coupons were placed into the testing machine and very carefully aligned so to make sure that the tensile loading on the coupon is going to be perfectly symmetrical however it is clear in the results that it wasnt always the case. In order to get the specimen firmly into the test area, the Specimen Protect function was used, this tight the lower arm of the machine slowly while loading, this protect the Specimen damaging from the gripped ends. These steps were repeated for all 14 specimens. Data from the tests was saved and used for calculations.

AERO2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites

5.0 Theoretical Analysis for woven fabric

The composite that was tested in tension consisted of layers of woven cloth where every layer was aligned in the same way. So that some assumptions can be made for analysis 1 layers can be regarded as 0/90 pliers. 2 The layers were perfectly aligned so that Longitudinal Modulus, E1 is equal to Transverse Modulus, E2 for the whole composite. 3 The volume fraction is between 35 ~ 50 due to the manufacturing processwet lay up The whole calculation process is Use these two equation to calculate the modulus for the unidirectional layers

E1= 27.8 GPa (35% volume fraction ) E1= 38 Gpa (50% volume fraction )

Use 10rule to calculate the modulus for 0/90 pliers.

E` = 15.29 GPa(35% volume fraction ) E` = 20.9 GPa(50% volume fraction )

Use these equations to calculate the shear modulus for the 0/90 layer G12 = 2.72 GPa(35% volume fraction ) G12 = 3.74 GPa(50% volume fraction ) Use this equation to calculate the Poissons ratio

AERO2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites

n12 =0.23 (35% volume fraction )

n12 =0.225 (50% volume fraction )

Use this equation to calculate the modulus of the composite with respect to the angle

Vf=35%

=2400MPa*35% + 45MPa*(1 - 35%) =895.25 MPa Then we use 10% rule

We get that Then we can calculate the tensile strength again

and using

The equation above shows the theoretical calculation for the strength of the composite matrix using the assumptions above. Using these values an estimation of 494.5MPa was found as the strength of the 0 degree orientation.

AERO2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites

This graph shows the modulus with respect to the angle. Two continues line stand for the modulus of 35 and 50 volume fraction. The broken line come from the experimental data.

AERO2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites

6.0 Experimental Results and Analysis

CSM fail at a lower stress and strain than Woven fibre because the fibre is distribute and
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discontinuous. For the same reason there is little difference with fibre orientation. The stress-strain curve is not linear, the reason been that void in laminates which occurs when air is trapped between layers of resin & fabric or when solvents & volatiles in resin evaporate during curing. Furthermore there are wet lay-up defects during handing of dry fabric possible to misalign fibres which is difficult to control and often best way to minimise is by handing the dry fabric as little as possible.

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Young's modulus change with the orientation can be seen from the figure above. For woven fibre, Young's modulus decrease significantly with the degree of off loading direction and have a minimum around 45 degree. Woven fabric is a fabric that woven with the warp yarns aligned in the

weaving direction and weft yarns in the direction normal to weaving. It is not possible to weave
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fibres other than in the warp (

) & weft (

) directions. So woven fabric is anisotropic .

CSM which is istropic, is short fibres bound with a emulsion film and used in semi-structural applications. Therefore from the figure we can see although there is a small variation of the value of Young's modulus the CSM is almost constant at different angles. Similarly this can be seen in the Ultimate Tensile Strength of the CSM and the WF. For the CSM composite, it was noted that there was not much decrease in the strength as the loading direction is changed. This is primarily because the CSM is an isotropic material with the short fibres randomly distributed within the matrix resin, providing strength to all directions of the material. However for the WF, a different response is observed. The WF produces a somewhat parabolic shape with a minimum around 45 degrees, similarly as it was for the Youngs Modulus which can be seen below. This is also due to the fibre orientation and its alignment to the loading direction.

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6.1 Specimen observations

From observation of the samples after they had failed there are some key points which can be noted. By simply comparing the samples to each other, there can be two noted types of failure modes. One resembles Mode 1 failure whereby the material fails due to tensile rupture of the fibres. This can be seen in 6.1 Figure 1 as the top composite part. The other mode of failure observed is that of Mode whereby the failure is induced through the shear of the matrix/fibre interface. This can also be seen in 6.1 Figure 1 as the composite part in the bottom of the picture. A much better picture and specimen example is that of 6.1 Figure 2. In this picture a clear representation of how the fibres fail through tensile rupture rather than through shear of the matrix. In the picture the fibres which have been broken can be clearly seen, at some points they are detached from the structure and pulling off from the surface. Deep inside there would still be some fibres which would be attached however, the majority of the fibres will have been ruptured. These two examples of failure modes are not only present in the CSM, but they are also present in the WF. 6.1 Figure 3 gives the extensive and comparative picture of the failure directions of each of the composite components of the WF and shows quite clearly that the 0 and 90 oriented fibre components fail in much a similar manner, while the others all seem to fail in a different, yet consistent manner. The failure directions are quite visible in composite components and easy to distinguish. As can be seen in 6.1 Figure 3, the lighter, whiter regions of the composite are where failure has occurred. Furthermore, if a much closer look is employed a noticeable difference in the failure modes can be seen. As in 6.1 Figure 4 below, it represents the failure mode of the 0 degree WF. Compare this to the picture next to it of a 30 degree fibre oriented part, 6.1 Figure 5, where a difference in appearance can be seen. In Figure 4 the composite seems to be almost peeling away from the internal structure. To some degree it can be said that the internal
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fibres have broken as the loading surpasses the structures tensile limits. Where as in 6.1 Figure 5, the part does not seem to have a wide extensive failure section, rather it is observed to fail in some diagonal direction. A point which is not so clearly shown in 6.1 Figure 5, but represented quite well in 6.1 Figure 2, is the shift along or shear along of the two sections above and below the failure point. From the top-down view, a sense of how the shear effect is influential is denoted quite well and can clearly be categorized as Mode 2 failure. This falls in line with the theory, representing how for Mode 1 failure the fibre break is the predominant failure mode, where as for Mode 2 the shearing between the matrix and/or matrix/fibre interface is the method of failure.

Failure modes are mode 1 mode 2 mode 3 Tensile failure mode of woven fabric composite strongly affected by the alignment of continuous fabric relative to load direction which is called the 'fibre misalignment angle ' . Three failure modes are Mode 1 ,failure occurs by tensile rupture of fibres at small angle . Mode 2 failure occurs by shear of matrix or fibre interface Mode 3 failure occurs by matrix rupture of fibre interface tensile fracture

CSM is anisotropic so failure modes among different angles of load are similar .

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7.0 Discussion and Recommendations

The tables below shows the comparison between the experimental tensile strength of woven fabric and chopped strand mat composite coupons of maximum tensile failure strength. Instron data for Woven fabric.

Instron data for CSM fabric.

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AERO2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites

The two graphs above are the output results from the Instron for woven and CSM composites coupons. To get the idea of the behaviour of the 2 types of panels is best to inspect the 2 tables carefully. We can clearly see at 0 and 90 degrees, coupons gives the maximum load at max, and the tensile stress at maximum load is max for woven fabric panels also there tensile modules is higher in this angle. For 30 45 60 degrees coupons gives a lower maximum load and lower tensile stress at there maximum loads and comparatively low tensile module compared with 0 and 90 degree angle coupons. Therefore it is clear the mechanical properties of the woven fabric composites will change with changing ber orientation. When we carefully look at the output for CSM, we can clearly see there is no big difference of the maximum loads and tensile stress at there maximum loads even though the coupon angle changes. Reason for this is bre orientation of CSM is randomly distributed. To get a good idea of the behavior of the two types of panels we can compare the mean values form the Instron output.
Maximu m Load (N) Tensile stress at Maximu m Load (MPa) Tensile strain at Maximu m Load (%) Load at Break (Standar d) (N) Tensile stress at Break (Standar d) (MPa) Tensile strain at Break (Standar d) (%) Tensile stress at Yield (Zero Slope) (MPa) Modulus (Emodulus ) (MPa) Displace ment (Strain 1) at Break (Standar d) (mm) 1.41003

Mean value of woven Mean value of CSM

12983.1

193.63

2.51

7926.45

118.27

2.82

185.14

11868.4

21415

192.76

2.55

17268.6

154.84

2.44

188.92

8278.44

1.22238

From the table above we can clearly see tensile stress at maximum load, modules and Displacement at Break (Standard) is higher for woven coupons when comparing with CSM. But maximum load, load at brake stand and tensile stress at Break (Standard) is higher in CSM than woven. Comparing Theory to Experimental From the theoretical calculations of the Youngs Modulus, it can be seen that the experimental data for this against the change in loading direction can be closely correlated to the theoretical predictions. When calculating the change in Youngs Modulus, the specic Volume fraction (Vf) is required to be known, however a range of Vf from 35-50% was used as an estimate for the calculations. These values were estimated an approximation to the variance in the manufacturing process. Also, the method in which the Youngs Modulus was calculated was approximated as Unidirectional Layers which were laid in ply layers one on top of the other, enabling us to use the 10% rule to calculate the modulus of the combined composite structure. From this it can be seen that for some values of loading direction the experimental data seems to lie within the theoretical range, and for other points they lie just outside. For the most part the theory does hold up against the experimental data, and it could be explained that the assumptions for the Vf may be slightly
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higher than the actual components which were tested. Furthermore, not only do the points correlate to points within the value range, the experimental data also follow and represent a similar curve as for that of the theoretical data. Showing that the experimental curve also follows the same shape as the theoretical data emphases that the theory is a true and accurate representation for the elastic properties of composite materials. The strength calculations for the composite material was found to be about twice as high as the values obtained through experimental testing for the 0 degree loading case. In the assumptions of the strength calculations the bres are assumed to be completely parallel with one another, and distributed through the matrix at even spacings. They are also assumed to run the length of the matrix resin with no breaks, and be homogenous with each other. For the materials which were tested, these premises above are all incorrect as the bres used were manufactured in a woven form, with each tow running over and under the next. Within the manufacturing of the bres themselves, they are also not homogenous as there can be large differences between the bre strengths themselves. Based on this, the values obtained are not a good representation for the experimental data found and care must be taken when using these strength calculations to predict that of the composite materials. There are a large number of factors which can inuence the strength of the material. As a result, no condence can be obtained through the values calculated using these theories.

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The results from the clip gauge extension meter . Woven ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! CSM

The clip gauge is an effective way of measuring the amount of distance the coupons extent, assuming the clip gauge doesnt move from its initial position. For all the coupons the clip gauge complemented the results from the tensile test. Variation in the test results can be due to the errors that are listed below. Systematic error: test machine calibration errors, clip gauge The coupon dimensions, errors occur due to imperfection of the coupons when cutting the coupons. Defects such as voids in laminates and fibre Movement/Misalignment can result in reduction of matrix-dominated mechanical properties & environmental resistance. In theoretical predictions, we assumed that: 1 layers can be regarded as 0/90 pliers. 2 The layers were perfectly aligned so that Longitudinal Modulus, E1 is equal to Transverse Modulus, E2 for the whole composite. 3 The volume fraction is between 35 ~ 50 due to the manufacturing processwet lay up

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8.0 Conclusion
This experiment was performed to compare the tensile strength and modules of woven fabric and chopped strand mat composites panels using the wet hand lay-up with vacuum bag process. There were a number of errors which may have contributed to the discrepancy found which was discussed above. It was also found that the predictions for the modulus of the material matched up quite accurately with the theoretical calculations giving confidence, as a designer, that the elastic properties of the composite materials can be estimated. However, when comparing this to the values obtained from the strength predictions and the actual experimental values, it can be clearly seen that the theory cannot be used as an approximations for the strength values in composite materials. This

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9.0 References
Professor Adrian Mouritz. AERO 2289 Design & Manufacture of Composites class notes 2009
A. Baker, S.Dutton and D. Kelly, Composite Materials for Aircraft Structures (2nd edition), American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Inc., 2004. (ISBN: 1563475405).

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