• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.530-536
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• 2009

A cycloaliphatic epoxy/acidic anhydride system incorporating short carbon fibers (SCF) and short glass fibers (SGF) was fabricated and thermal/mechanical properties were characterized. At low filler content both SCF- and SGF-reinforced composites showed a similar decrease in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), measured by a thermomechanical analyzer, with increasing loadings, above which SCF became more effective than SGF at reducing the CTE. Experimental CTE data for the SCF-reinforced composites is best described by the rule of mixtures at lower SCF contents and by the Craft-Christensen model at higher SCF contents. Storage modulus (E') at $30^{\circ}C$ and $180^{\circ}C$ was greatly enhanced for short fiber-filled composites compared to unfilled specimens, Scanning electron microscopy of the fracture surfaces indicated that the decreased CTE and the increased E' of the short fiber-reinforced composites resulted from good interfacial adhesion between the fibers and epoxy matrix.

• Composites Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.96-102
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• 2014

In this study, we fabricated jute fiber reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composite in the form of sandwich panel structure which includes core foam of chopped jute fiber reinforced PLA and outer skin layer of continuous glass fiber reinforced PLA. Flexural properties of the composite were assessed for different jute fiber weight fractions. Density of the core foam ranged from 0.31 to 0.67 $g/cm^3$ and void content fraction 0.51 to 0.71. The maximum flexural strength was 92.7 MPa at 12.5 wt.% of jute fiber content, and the maximum flexural modulus was 7.58 GPa at 30.0 wt.%. Cost analysis was also conducted. The cost to enhance the flexural strength of the applied structure was estimated to be $0.010USD/m^3/MPa$ for 12.5 wt.% fiber content.

• Composites Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.52-58
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• 2014

Short fiber reinforced composites manufactured by injection molding have diverse fiber orientations variable with measuring positions even in the same specimen, which is caused by the flow induced fiber orientation. Fiber orientations considerably affect the mechanical and thermal properties of final composite products. In this study, fiber orientation of injection molded carbon fiber reinforced PA6/PPO composite was measured at several points of the specimen by optical microscopy analysis and the corresponding izod impact strength, coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) were also measured to investigate the influence of local fiber orientation on the mechanical and thermal properties. Izod impact strength where fiber was perpendicular to the direction of crack propagation was higher than where fiber was parallel to the direction, which could be explained be the impact resistance reinforcing mechanism by fiber orientation. CTE was also lower where fiber was parallel to the measurement direction of CTE than where fiber was perpendicular to the direction, which could be also explained by the dimensional stability mechanism by fiber orientation.

• Composites Research
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.245-253
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• 2013

In this paper, we developed a theoretical model which is able to predict the tensile strength and elastic modulus of hybrid composites reinforced by two types of randomly distributed discontinuous reinforcements. For this, we considered two known models; One is a prediction model based on the assumption that the composite is reinforced by two types of well aligned continuous reinforcements. The other is a statistical model for the composite which is reinforced by only one type of randomly distributed discontinuous reinforcements. In order to evaluate the validity of accuracy of our prediction model, we measured the strength and elastic modulus of polypropylene hybrid composite reinforced by talc and short glass fiber. We found that the present model drastically enhances the accuracy of strength prediction compared to an existing model, and predicts the elastic modulus within the same order with experimentally measured values.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 1997

Although discontinuously reinforced metal matrix composite(MMC) is one of the most promising materials for applications of aerospace, automotive industries, the thermal residual stresses developed in the MMC due to the mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion between the matrix and the fiber under a temperature change has been pointed out as one of the serious problem in practical applications. There are very limited nondestructive techniques to measure the residual stress of composite materials. However, many difficulties have been reported in their applications. Therefore it is important to establish analytical model to evaluate the thermal residual stress of MMC for practical engineering application. In this study, an elastic model is developed to predict the average thermal residual stresses in the matrix and fiber of a misoriented short fiber composite. The thermal residual stresses are induced by the mismatch in the coefficient of the thermal expansion of the matrix and fiber when the composite is subjected to a uniform temperature change. The model considers two-dimensional in-plane fiber misorientation. The analytical formulation of the model is based on Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method and is unique in that it is able to account for interactions among fibers. This model is more general than past models to investigate the effect of parameters which might influence thermal residual stress in composites. The present model is to investigate the effects of fiber volume fraction, distribution type, distribution cut-off angle, and aspect ratio on thermal residual stress for in-plane fiber misorientation. Fiber volume fraction, aspect ratio, and distribution cut-off angle are shown to have more significant effects on the magnitude of the thermal residual stresses than fiber distribution type for in-plane misorientation.

• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.54-60
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• 2004

A new three-dimensional model for predicting the relationship between the prestrain of the composite and the amount of phase transformation of shape memory alloy inducing shape memory effect has been proposed by using Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method with Mori-Tanaka's mean field theory. The model composite is aluminum matrix reinforced with short TiNi fiber shape memory alloy, where the matrix is work-hardening material of power-law type. The analytical results predicted by the current model show that most of the prestrain is induced by the plastic deformation of the matrix, except the small prestrain region. The strengthening mechanism of the composite by the shape memory effect should be explained by excluding its increase of yield stress due to the work-hardening effect of the matrix.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.99-104
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• 2006

Young's modulus of composite has been predicted by Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method modified with Mori-Tanaka's mean field theory, where short fibers of aspect ratio distribution are assumed to be aligned. Young's modulus of the composite is predicted with the smallest class interval for simulating the actual distribution of fiber aspect ratio, which is compared with that computed using different class intervals. Young's modulus of the composite predicted with mean aspect ratio or the largest class interval is overestimated by the maximum 10%. As the class interval of short fibers for predicting Young's modulus decreases, the predicted results show good agreements with those obtained using the actual distribution of fiber aspect ratio. It can be finally concluded from the study that if and only if the class interval of short fiber normalized by the maximum aspect ratio is smaller than 0.1, the predicted results are consistent with those obtained using the actual distribution of aspect ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.3-12
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• 1994

This study employed the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method incorporated with mean field theory to investigate the Internal stress of short fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites during static loading and the dynamic finite element analysis by using alternative unit cell model to investigate the impact behaviors during the impact loading. Using the 2124 Al-SiC system as an example, the general effects of parameters such as fiber's aspect ratio, content and modulus were examined.

• Composites Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2000

This paper presents an analytical method considering tensile strength enhancement in hybrid $Al_2O_3$ fiber/particle/aluminum composites(MMCs). The tensile strength and elastic modulus of the hybrid MMCs are even 20% higher than those of the fiber reinforced MMCs with same volume fraction of reinforcements. This phenomenon is explained by the cluster model which is newly proposed in this research, and the strengthening mechanisms by a cluster is analyzed using simple modified rule of mixtures. From the analysis, it is observed that cluster structure in hybrid MMCs increase the fiber efficiency factor for the tensile strength and the orientation factor for the elastic modulus. The present theory is then compared with experimental results which was performed using squeeze infiltrated hybrid MMCs made of hybrid $Al_2O_3$ short fiber/particle preform and AC8A alloy as base metal, and the agreement is found to be satisfactory.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.315-321
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• 1999

Metal matrix composites have been extensively studied because of their excellent characteristics for structural application. $Al_2O_3$ and SiC have been used as a common reinforcement owing to their good mechanical properties. However the manufacturing cost of these ceramic reinforcement is expensive, so the use of the composites has been restricted to special purposes. In this study, we tested the application possibility as a reinforcement of $Al_2O_3$-TiC powder synthesized by SHS(Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis) process to Al alloy matrix composite. Also, $Al_2O_3$ short fibers were added with the synthesized powders in order to apply to the Al matrix hybrid composites. Squeeze infiltration casting process was used to make the composite with 25vol% of reinforcement. Microstructure and crystal structure were examined by SEM, OM and XRD, also the mechanical properties were studied by the compressive test and wear test.