Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Yolanda Leigh Hinton. / M.S.

Modification in the resin-rich region between plies, also known as the interlaminar region, was investigated to increase the toughness of laminate composites structures. To achieve suitable modifications, the complexities of the physical and chemical processes during the resin curing procedure must be studied. This includes analyses of the interactions among the co-dependent microstructure, process parameters, and material responses. This dissertation seeks to investigate these interactions via a series of experimental and numerical analyses of the geometric- and temperature-based effects on locally interleaving toughening methods and further interlaminar synergistic toughening without interleaf. Two major weaknesses in composite materials are the brittle resin-rich interlaminar region which forms between the fiber plies after resin infusion, and the ply dropoff region which introduces stress concentration under loads. To address these weaknesses and increase the delamination resistance of the composite specimens, a dual bonding process was explored to alleviate the dropoff effect and toughen the interlaminar region. Hot melt bonding was investigated by applying clamping pressure to ductile thermoplastic interleaf and fiber fabric at an elevated temperature, while diffusion bonding between thermoplastic interleaf and thermoset resin is performed during the resin infusion. This method increased the fracture energy level and thus delamination resistance in the interlaminar region because of deep interleaf penetration into fiber bundles which helped confining crack propagation in the toughened area. The diffusion and precipitation between thermosets and thermoplastics also improved the delamination resistance by forming a semi-interpenetration networks. This phenomenon was investigated in concoctions of low-concentration polystyrene additive modified epoxy system, which facilitates diffusion and precipitation without increasing the viscosity of the system. Additionally, chemical reaction induced phase separation, concentration of polystyrene, and various curing temperatures are used to evaluate their effects on diffusion and precipitation. These effects were directly investigated by performing attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The diffusivity and curing kinetics experiments are performed to quantify the diffusivity coefficient of epoxy, hardener and thermoplastics, as well as the reaction rate constant of curing epoxy at various temperatures. Finally, mechanical testing and fracture surface imaging were used to quantify the improvements and characterize the toughening mechanism. Further improvement on delamination resistance was studied through the synergistic effect of combining different modification methods without the interleaf. Polysulfone molecules are end-capped with epoxide groups. Fiber surface is functionalized with amino groups to generate micro-mechanical interlocks. The interaction between two individual modifications chemically links the modified semi-interpenetration networks to the improved interfacial strength between fiber and epoxy to. The impact of the additive on the crosslinking density was examined through glass transition temperatures, and the chemical modification was characterized by Raman spectroscopy. Mode I and II fracture tests were performed to quantify the improvement of delamination resistance under pure opening and shear loads. The mechanism of synergistic effect was explained based on the fracture surface morphology and the interactions between the modification methods.

Polymeric composites exhibit time-dependent behavior, which raises a concern about their long term durability and leads to a viscoelastic study of these materials. Linear viscoelastic analysis has been found to be inadequate because many polymers exhibit nonlinear viscoelastic behavior. Classical laminate theory is commonly used in the study of laminated composites, but due to the plane stress/strain assumption its application has been limited to solving two dimensional, simple plate problems. A three dimensional analysis is necessary for the study of interlaminar stress and for problems involving complex geometry where certain local effects are important. The objective of this research is to develop a fully three-dimensional, nonlinear viscoelastic analysis that can be used to model the time-dependent behavior of laminated composites. To achieve this goal, a three-dimensional finite element computer program has been developed. In this program, 20-node isoparametric solid elements are used to model the individual plies. The three-dimensional constitutive equations developed for numerical calculations are based on the Lou-Schapery one-dimensional nonlinear viscoelasticity model for the uniaxial stress case. The transient creep compliance in the viscoelastic model is represented as an exponential series plus a steady-flow term, which allows for a simplification of the numerical procedure for handling hereditary effects. A cumulative damage law for three dimensional analysis was developed based on the Brinson-Dillard two-dimensional model to predict failure initiation. Calculations were performed using this program in order to evaluate its performance in applications involving complex structural response. IM7/5260-H Graphite/Bismaleimide and T300/5208 Graphite/Epoxy were the materials selected for modeling the time-dependent behavior. The cases studied include: 1) Tensile loading of unnotched laminates; 2) bending of a thick laminated plate; and 3) tensile loading of notched laminates. The analysis emphasized the study of the traction-free edge-effect of laminated composites, stress distribution around a circular hole, and stress redistribution and transformation in the layers. The results indicate that the stress redistributions over time are complicated and could have a significant effect on the long-term durability of the structure. / Graduation date: 1994

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 429-435). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.) in Civil Engineering--University of Maine, 2001. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-228 (v. 1)).

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Thesis (M.Tech.:Mechanical Engineering)-Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, 2006 xv, iii, 108 leaves / Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRPs) have been used in many practical structural applications due to their excellent strength and weight characteristics as well as the ability for their properties to be tailored to the requirements of a given application. Thus, designing with FRPs can be extremely challenging, particularly when the number of design variables contained in the design space is large. For example, to determine the ply orientations and the material properties optimally is typically difficult without a considered approach. Optimization of composite structures with respect to the ply angles is necessary to realize the full potential of fibre-reinforced materials. Evaluating the fitness of each candidate in the design space, and selecting the most efficient can be very time consuming and costly. Structures composed of composite materials often contain components which may be modelled as rectangular plates or cylindrical shells, for example. Modelling of components such as plates can be useful as it is a means of simplifying elements of structures, and this can save time and thus cost. Variations in manufacturing processes and user environment may affect the quality and performance of a product. It is usually beneficial to account for such variances or tolerances in the design process, and in fact, sometimes it may be crucial, particularly when the effect is of consequence. The work conducted within this project focused on methodologies for optimally designing fibre-reinforced laminated composite structures with the effects of manufacturing tolerances included. For this study it is assumed that the probability of any tolerance value occurring within the tolerance band, compared with any other, is equal, and thus the techniques are aimed at designing for the worst-case scenario. This thesis thus discusses four new procedures for the optimization of composite structures with the effects of manufacturing uncertainties included.

The resin film infusion process or RFI is a vacuum assisted moulding method for producing high quality fibre reinforced components. The goals of this research have been to investigate this new process, with the aim of determining how the process could be used by the South African composites industry. This included factors such as suitable materials systems, and optimum process parameters. The RFI process is a new composite moulding method designed to allow fibre reinforced products to be manufactured with the ease of pre-preg materials while still allowing any dry reinforcement material to be used. The high pressures required for traditional manufacturing methods such as autoclaves, matched dies and R TM can be avoided while still having very accurate control over the fibre / resin ratio. Moreover, the RFI process is a "dry" process and hence avoids many of the environmental and health concerns associated with wet lay-up and vacuum bag techniques. Furthermore the simple lay-up process requires less skill than a wet lay-up and vacuum bag method. Through a combination of mathematical modelling and physical testing, a material system has been identified. The primary process parameters were identified and a strenuous regime of testing was performed to find optimum values of these parameters. These results were finally feed back into the development of the mathematical model. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.

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