Advanced Composites as

High-End Engineered Materials

K.S.Krishnamurthy, PhD
Date : 05th March 2009

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

T he quest for using light-weight structural materials,

which also have the necessary strengths, especially in
aerospace industry led to the development of the modern
fiber reinforced laminated composite materials in the late
70’s. While light weight metals such as aluminum or its
alloys were widely used in the industry, they still lacked the
necessary strengths and stiffnesses required in high strength
applications. These limitations of pure materials or alloys
were overcome by embedding fibers of glass, carbon, Boron
and other substances in a metal or polymer matrix paving
the way for an era of advanced man made materials of high
strength. The fundamental idea of reinforcement of a
weaker matrix material with tougher fibrous materials has,
however, always existed since primitive times and is still
being used in a variety of ways- in simple to complex
engineering application domains. Mud mixed with jute or
straw are still being used for building construction in certain
societies, with an intuitive understating of the improvement
in structural behavior. Reinforced cement concrete was
invented with similar ideas, as hardened concrete though
having a high compressive strength can resist negligible
tensile loads. Mild steel bars with a good bond in the
concrete matrix are designed to take all the tensile forces
while concrete resisted compression. With this fundamental
idea, the use of reinforced concrete became a huge success
in the construction industry, which until then was facing the
difficulty of supporting larger structural spans without
resorting to the construction of arches.

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

In a similar manner, fiber reinforced composites are the

choice of engineers for advanced applications, e.g., making
the body of a spacecraft, for making the supporting frame
work of an antenna in space, etc., where the desirable
engineering properties (performance) rather than the cost of
manufacturing the material is the prime consideration.

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

O ne of the key contributions that led to the

development of fiber reinforced composites came from the
understanding developed in the science of fracture
mechanics besides the technology involved in making very
thin fibers (of the order of microns), thermoplastics, and
other manufacturing processes. It was understood that the
mechanical properties of solids depended significantly on
the nature and distribution of defects and anomalies present
at a microscopic granular level, e.g., finely drawn fibers
contained fewer defects and that was the reason for their
high tensile strengths.

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

T he advantage of composite materials is normally

expressed through the stiffness/weight ratio achievable
while comparing with an equivalent metallic structural
component. Some of the well known everyday materials,
e.g., like ‘Fiber glass’, are made of glass fiber reinforced
plastics. Other well known fiber materials are carbon
(graphite), Kevlar (made by Dupont), and Boron fibers.
Graphite-epoxy composites, (also called carbon fiber
composites), for instance, are very standard composites used
widely. Kevlar fibers have very high strength and special
composites are made with them, e.g., as aircraft parts, bullet
proof vests, etc. Increasing use of the composites can be
seen in infrastructure, sports goods (sail boats, bicycles, etc.),
bio-medical(special implants), automotive, space, and
innumerable other industries as well.
Examples of composites’ use in aircraft industry

(source of phtographs: RM Jones’s book)

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

The concept of a lamina

(fibers in a matrix material)

Building a laminate using laminas

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

Basic building material

(lamina in tape roll form)

(sourced from the book by RM Jones)

What is obvious in all these cases is the fact of using a light
weight construction material which can produce desirable
structural properties in the final product. Another admirable
property of the high strength composite materials is the high
degree of adaptability they can be put to in special situations.
An example of such an application is the use of composites
in structural retrofitting work to strengthen structural members
of a building weakened due to an earthquake induced
shaking. The fact that a composite material can be molded
and cured to desired shapes has led to its use in the boat
industry extensively where achieving accurate curvatures can
be more cumbersome otherwise, although this alone was not
the prime consideration for its enhanced usage. Similarly,
filament winding technologies have been very successfully
deployed in making pipes, tubes and other objects
of revolution.

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

Rocket engine casing made in this manner is an example

shown below (See Jones’ book)

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

Manufacturing process:
Composites are of various types, viz, those with randomly
distributed fibers, and, secondly, laminates. An example of
the former type is the case of a crash helmet. Generally
randomly distributed fibered products are molded and cured.
The process of making laminates on the other hand is more
involved. Firstly, uni-directionally laid fibers embedded in the
matrix material are manufactured in the form of tapes called
pre-pegs (see figure). Any piece of a finite length cut from a
such a tape is known as a lamina. To achieve uniform
directional properties, laminas are laid over each other in
different pre determined directions and fused together to
form laminates (see figure). Thus structural materials of
desired directional properties can be manufactured.

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

Structural forms, design and analysis

(Challenge for the Engineer)
The basic structural components can generally be grouped
into beams, plates and shells. Other shapes in the form of
cylindrical or conical shapes are custom made. The challenge
for the designer lies in the fact that unlike a conventional
structural material like steel, fiber reinforced composites are
orthotropic requiring the determination of nine basic elastic
constants as against two required for a homogeneous
isotropic material like steel or aluminum. The mechanical
behavior of a laminated composite is complex and requires a
good understanding of the concepts from the theory of
anisotropic elasticity. Thus for an analyst grounded in the
subjects of mechanics and engineering the analysis of
composite behavior presents an excellent challenge and a
fertile ground for carrying out research and development.
However, the composite industry is now well developed,
significantly big and mature. A large body of industry-related
as well as academically oriented literature exists in the form
of books, journals and other periodicals. Much information
can be traced through the internet medium as well.

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Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

What we can do
With our excellent capabilities in CAE & CAD, especially in
the areas of solid modeling, structural analysis, Engineering
mechanics and Finite element analysis for stress-deformation
studies of solids, and with the knowledge of micro and
macro mechanics of laminated composites, we should be
able offer consultancy services in the analysis of composites
used in aerospace and other industries, e.g., in carrying out
work such as:

FE modeling & Analysis of laminated composite structural

components for

Stress-deformation analysis and design check of

composite plates, shells, solids & structural shapes
under static and dynamic loading

Buckling Analysis

Study of impact response

Damage prediction etc

We have all the necessary tools,

e.g., CAD tools – Pro E, Catia, etc.

FE tools – Ansys, Hypermesh, Nastran
Structural – Staad Pro

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 Advanced Composites as High-End Engineered Materials

Contact Us

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