Laminate mechanical properties are defined by factors such as ply number, thickness, material, orientation, and sequence. Common types include unidirectional, angle-ply, cross-ply, balanced, symmetric, antisymmetric, and quasi-isotropic laminates, each with unique characteristics.
Composite structure design aims for failure tolerance, involving material selection, fiber orientation, laminate stacking, and ply number for strength and stiffness optimization.
Fatigue in composite materials, prevalent in aerospace and automotive industries, is influenced by mechanical properties, loads, cycles, and environmental conditions. Testing for stiffness reduction without failure is essential for understanding damage progression, which culminates in material fracture due to tensile stress.
Composite material failure criteria vary, with no consensus among designers. Main types are dependent and not dependent failure modes, each with specific theories and limitations.
Structural analysis often assumes ideal conditions, ignoring real-life manufacturing defects that affect component behavior. Engineers must consider various defects in composites, such as delamination and cracks, during design and quality control stages.
Composite materials have a lot of advantages. That is the main reason that they are used nowadays in the indsutries. Below it is defined the most common ones:
The Classical Laminate Theory approximates stiffness and strength in anisotropic laminates by assuming homogeneity, perfect bonds, and linear elasticity despite its delamination analysis limitation.
Composite materials increasingly replace metals across industries due to their lightweight, high-strength properties, and thermal characteristics, expanding from structural to everyday applications in aerospace, automotive, sports, marine, and infrastructure.
Although composite materials are currently use in the most important industries nowadays, they have some advantages and drawbacks that have to be taken into account. Here are the most…