• Computational Structural Engineering
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.51-58
• /
• 1992

• Computational Structural Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.51-66
• /
• 2000

• Computational Structural Engineering
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.45-51
• /
• 2015

• Carbon letters
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.71-78
• /
• 2005

Anti-oxidation coatings are the key technique for carbon/carbon (C/C) composites used as the thermal structural materials. The microstructure and oxidation behavior of several kinds of high-performance ceramic coatings for C/C composites prepared in Northwestern Polytechnical University were introduced in this paper. It showed that the ceramic coatings such as SiC, Si-$MoSi_2$, SiC-$MoSi_2$, $Al_2O_3$-mullite-SiC and SiC/yttrium silicate/glass coatings possessed excellent oxidation resistance at high temperatures, and some of these coatings were characterized with excellent thermal shock resistance. The SiC-$MoSi_2$ coating system has the best oxidation protective property, which can effectively protect C/C composites from oxidation up to 1973 K. In addition, the protection and failure reasons of some coatings at high temperature were also provided.

• Carbon letters
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.58-61
• /
• 2013

In this work, the effect of catalysts on the mechanical properties of carbon fibers-reinforced epoxy matrix composites cured by cationic latent thermal catalysts, i.e., N-benzylpyrazinium hexafluoroantimonate (BPH) was studied. Differential scanning calorimetry was executed for thermal characterization of the epoxy matrix system. Mechanical interfacial properties of the composites were studied by interlaminar shear strength (ILSS), critical stress intensity factor ($K_{IC}$), and specific fracture energy ($G_{IC}$). As a result, the conversion of neat epoxy matrix cured by BPH was higher than that of one cured by diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM). The ILSS, $K_{IC}$, $G_{IC}$, and impact strength of the composites cured by BPH were also superior to those of the composites cured by DDM. This was probably the consequence of the effect of the substituted benzene group of BPH catalyst, resulting in an increase in the cross-link density and structural stability of the composites studied.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.231-240
• /
• 2014

In the present research, fatigue behavior of chopped strand mat/epoxy composites has been studied with two different techniques. First, the normalized stiffness degradation approach as a well-known model for unidirectional and laminated composites was utilized to predict the fatigue behavior of chopped strand mat/epoxy composites. Then, the capability of the fatigue damage accumulation model for chopped strand mat/epoxy composites was investigated. A series of tests has been performed at different stress levels to evaluate both models with the obtained results. The results of evaluation indicate a better correlation of the normalized stiffness degradation technique with experimental results in comparison with the fatigue damage accumulation model.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.29-39
• /
• 2015

Natural fibers reinforced polymer composites are being used in several low strength applications. More research is going on to improve their mechanical and interface properties for structural applications. However, these composites have serious issues regarding flammability, which are not being focused broadly. A limited amount of literature has been published on the flame retardant techniques and flammability factor of natural fibers based polymer matrix composites. Therefore, it is needed to address the flammability properties of natural fibers based polymer composites to expand their application area. This paper summarizes some of the recent literature published on the subject of flammability and flame retardant methods applied to natural fibers reinforced polymer matrix composites. Different factors affecting the flammability, flame retardant solutions, mechanisms and characterization techniques have been discussed in detail.

• Advances in materials Research
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.151-161
• /
• 2014

Geopolymer composites reinforced with different layers of woven flax fabric are fabricated using lay- up technique. Mechanical properties, such as flexural strength, flexural modulus and fracture toughness of geopolymer composites reinforced with 2.4, 3 and 4.1 wt% flax fibres are studied. The fracture surfaces of the composites are also examined using scanning electron microscopy. The results show that all the mechanical properties of the composites are improved by increasing the flax fibre contents. It is also found that the mechanical properties of flax fabric reinforced geopolymer composites are superior to pure geopolymer matrix. Micro-structural analysis of fracture surface of the composites indicated evidence of various toughening mechanisms by flax fabrics in the composites.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Advanced Composite Structures
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.34-45
• /
• 2010

This paper describes the design, manufacturing process, testing, application, and assessment of capacity-ratings of the first all advanced composites bridge on a public highway system. In order to verify the bridge design prior to the field application, a sub-scale bridge superstructure was built and tested in the laboratory. The field load test results were compared with those of the finite element analysis for the verification of validity. To investigate its in-service performance, field load testing and visual inspections were conducted under an actual service environment. The paper includes the presentation and discussion for advanced composites bridge capacity rating based on the stress modification coefficients obtained from the test results. The test result indicates that the advanced composites bridge has no structural problems and is structurally performing well in-service as expected. Since these composite materials are new to bridge applications, reliable data is not available for their in-service performance. The results may provide a baseline data for future field advanced composites bridge capacity rating assessments and also serve as part of a long-term performance of advanced composites bridge.

• Advanced Composite Materials
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.373-407
• /
• 2008

This paper will examine the possibilities of the virtual tests of composite structures by simulating mechanical behaviors by using supercomputing technologies, which have now become easily available and powerful but relatively inexpensive. We will describe mainly the applications of large-scale finite element analysis using the direct numerical simulation (DNS), which describes composite material properties considering individual constituent properties. DNS approach is based on the full microscopic concepts, which can provide detailed information about the local interaction between the constituents and micro-failure mechanisms by separate modeling of each constituent. Various composite materials such as metal matrix composites (MMCs), active fiber composites (AFCs), boron/epoxy cross-ply laminates and 3-D orthogonal woven composites are selected as verification examples of DNS. The effective elastic moduli and impact structural characteristics of the composites are determined using the DNS models. These DNS models can also give the global and local information about deformations and influences of high local in-plane and interlaminar stresses induced by transverse impact loading at a microscopic level inside the materials. Furthermore, the multi-scale models based on DNS concepts considering microscopic and macroscopic structures simultaneously are also developed and a numerical low-velocity impact simulation is performed using these multi-scale DNS models. Through these various applications of DNS models, it can be shown that the DNS approach can provide insights of various structural behaviors of composite structures.