Composite Materials

Catalog description

This is an introductory course on the theoretical and practical design, analysis, and fabrication of polymer matrix composites. The course starts with an overview of composite materials and related manufacturing methods. As a baseline, the behavior of uni-directional composites is addressed, including stiffness and strength prediction methods. The topic of short fiber composites is also covered with an emphasis on load transfer mechanics and property averaging. The analysis of orthotropic laminas includes stress-strain relations, prediction of engineering constants, and transformation matrices. Finally, Lamination Theory is covered as a means to design and analyze laminated composite structures with the introduction of failure theories. The course is supported by a significant laboratory component where the students fabricate and mechanically test various composite material systems for comparison of measured properties to theoretical predictions. A Design Project, involving both computer code implementation of Lamination Theory, design and analysis of a composite component, and fabrication and evaluation of the composite component, is the capstone of the course.