4th Edition

Experimental Characterization of Advanced Composite Materials

    380 Pages 243 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Over the last three decades, the evolution of techniques for the experimental testing of composite materials has struggled to keep up with the advances and broadening areas of application of the composite materials themselves. In recent years, however, much work has been done to consolidate and better understand the test methods being used. Finally, a consensus regarding the best available methods exists, and definitive recommendations can be made.

    Experimental Characterization of Advanced Composite Materials provides a succinct, authoritative treatment of the best available methods for determining the mechanical properties, thermal expansion coefficients, and fracture and strength data for composite materials. With an emphasis firmly on practical matters, it presents processing techniques, specimen preparation, analyses of test methods, test procedures, and data reduction schemes. Five chapters covering specific aspects of lamina testing are followed by discussions extending those principles to laminate responses. The treatment concludes by exploring composite durability issues with a detailed examination of defects and fracture mechanics.

    The Fourth Edition is revised to include:

    • New figures, updated ASTM standards, and an expanded index
    • Major additions in processing of thermoset resins, neat resin tests, sandwich structures, cure analyses, damage tolerance tests, single fiber tests, fiber matrix interface tests, interlaminar tension tests, through-thickness tension and compression tests, open-hole compression tests, falling weight impact tests, compression-after-impact tests, sandwich beam and core tests, and more

    With its concise format, detailed procedures, and expert assessments, this book is an outstanding resource for composites manufacturing and test engineers, lab technicians, and other industry professionals, as well as students, academia, and government research and engineering organizations. It brings together all of the most appropriate and widely accepted test methods developed to date.

    Introduction

    Analysis of Composite Materials

    Processing of Composite Laminates

    Test Specimen Preparation, Strain and Deformation Measurement Devices, and Testing Machines

    Cure Shrinkage and Residual Stress Testing of Resins

    Single-Fiber Tensile and Matrix Characterization Tests

    Fiber-Matrix Interface Testing

    Lamina Tensile Response

    Lamina Compressive Response

    Lamina Shear Response

    Lamina Flexural Response

    Lamina Off-Axis Tensile Response

    Lamina and Laminate Thermoelastic Response

    Through-Thickness Tension and Compression Testing

    Laminate Mechanical Response

    Open-Hole Tensile and Compressive Strengths of Laminates

    Characterization of Delamination Failure

    Damage Tolerance Tests

    Sandwich Beam and Core Testing

    References

    Appendix A: Compliance and Stiffness Transformations and Matrix Operations

    Appendix B: Preparation of Test Specimens and Panels

    Appendix C: Sample Laboratory Report

    Appendix D: Unit Conversions

    Index

    Biography

    Leif A. Carlsson, Ph.D received his advanced degrees from Upsala University and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. He spent a postdoctoral year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, USA. He then served as head of the composites section at the Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden (FFA), Bromma; assumed a visiting position at the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, Newark, USA; and joined the faculty of mechanical engineering at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA. He has published extensively in the areas of mechanics and fracture mechanics of composite materials and sandwich structures.

    Donald F. Adams is founder/president of Wyoming Test Fixtures, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and emeritus professor at University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA. He previously worked for Northrop Aircraft Corporation, Hawthorne; the Aeronutronic Division of Ford Motor Company, Newport Beach; and Rand Corporation, Santa Monica—all in California, USA; and directed the Composite Materials Group at University of Wyoming for 27 years. He received his BS and Ph.D from University of Illinois, Champaign, USA and his M.Sc from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. Extensively published, he has conducted composite materials analysis, testing, and design for 40+ years.

    R. Byron Pipes is John L. Bray distinguished professor of engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. He has served as president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; distinguished visiting scholar at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA; provost and vice-president for academic affairs, dean of the College of Engineering, and director of the Center for Composite Materials at University of Delaware; Goodyear professor of polymer engineering at University of Akron, Ohio, USA; and director of the National Engineering Research Centers of the National Science Foundation, USA. He holds a Ph.D from University of Texas, Arlington, USA and M.Sc from Princeton University, New Jersey, USA.

    "Whereas most of the currently available textbooks on composites deal with the analysis of composites, this book clearly is devoted to a detailed and well-adjusted treatment of the experimental characterization of composite materials. On a sound theoretical background, more than 15 well-configured chapters are devoted to all the essential practical aspects in the preparation and testing of composite specimen. The presented material is of a high standard with a high degree of maturity and also applicability. This intended fourth edition stands in a line with three former very useful editions and thus has already a story of success."
    —Wilfried Becker, Institute of Structural Mechanics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

    "This book is a must-have for anyone dealing with composite materials. It provides an introduction to the essential elements that an engineer must consider when choosing to use composite materials. Even for those of us not working with advanced composite materials, such wood- and pulp-based materials, the information contained in this book provides the necessary background, overview of testing procedures, and methods of characterization that prove useful."
    —Douglas W. Coffin, Department of Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA

    "… offers one-stop shopping for the most commonly used tests for polymeric composite materials. It should be on the shelf (or in the lab) for those responsible for conducting tests on composites or using data coming from those tests."
    —Scott W. Case, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA

    "This edition of the classic text on experiments with composite materials provides newcomers with the background needed to characterize composite materials for the gamut of properties, from independent tests of matrix and fiber to complex laminate performance and durability. Experienced professionals will appreciate it as a concise review of the material and a handy reference that provides new insight into the capabilities and limitations of each experiment."
    —Terry S. Creasy, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

    "… definitely a ‘must-have’ book by everyone working in the area of composite materials and structures. A wide range of researchers, engineers, suppliers, and technicians will find this text an invaluable source of the state of the art in experimental mechanics of composites. Major directions of experimental characterization are described in a very clear and logical way, providing convenient guidance for test selection, implementation, and interpretation of generated results. Also, the new Fourth Edition of this already classical book is significantly expanded to address a broader scope of composite-related applications (e.g., characterization of single-fiber composites, damage tolerance, sandwich systems, core, etc.). Overall, the book is a great contribution to the science and technology of composite materials."
    —Mark R. Gurvich, Ph.D, Technical Fellow, United Technologies Research Center, East Hartford, Connecticut, USA