MTRL 494: Assignment #1

-Solutions-
Please submit to the instructor or TA no later than:

February 8, 2019 at 12:30 pm (the beginning of the lecture)

50% marks will be deducted for late submission up to a day. Zero marks will be given afterward

1) Matrices [5 marks per question]

a) Compare two thermoset resin systems. Which would be better for an aerospace part, why?
Which would be better for a bath tub, why?

Answer: Epoxy and polyester were discussed in the course notes. Epoxy is typically used in aerospace
applications. It has higher strength, Tg, and adhesion, however is higher cost. Polyester is more
economical, but has lower properties than epoxy. It would be more suited to a bath tub because of cost,
lower properties required, and the fast cure time.

b) Explain the term: degree of cure, what instrument is used to measure it?

Answer: Degree of cure is an indication of how far the crosslinking has advanced in the polymerization
reaction. A differential scanning calorimeter is used to measure it by measuring the total amount of heat
generated during the reaction and comparing it to the amount of residual heat generated from a
specimen. The equation below shows how it is calculated (ref: pg 20 of Matrix slides).

c) Explain the term: Tg, describe how it evolves during processing and explain its effect on the final
part performance.

Answer: From slide 30 of Matrix slides: “it is the temperature region where the polymer transitions from
a hard, glassy material to a soft rubbery material”. During processing, Tg increases as the degree of cure
increases. In service, the higher the Tg, the higher operating temperature the part can sustain.

d) Describe the states a thermoset resin goes through during the curing process.

Answer: A thermoset resin goes through three different stages during cure. Initially, it is in a liquid state,
then enters a gel state (visco-elastic material), and finally a glassy state (elastic material). These states
depend on the degree of cure and temperature in relation to Tg. Refer to slide 39 of Matrix notes.

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 e) Explain what viscosity is a function of for a thermoset, and thermoplastic resin. How can
viscosity be manipulated during processing?

Answer: Viscosity is a function of both temperature and degree of cure for a thermoset and just
temperature for a thermoplastic. During processing the temperature is controlled to manipulate
viscosity.

f) Describe the morphologies present in most thermoplastics. Which is related to gel transition
temperature, and which is related to melting temperature?

Answer: Crystalline and amorphous structures are present in semi-crystalline polymers. The amorphous
region is related to Tg and the crystalline structure is related to Tm.

g) What is the significance of a Tg below room temperature?

Answer: If Tg is below room temperature, then the material is typically more flexible and rubbery, and
less brittle at room temperature.

2) Reinforcement [5 marks per question]

a) What is the benefit of using fiber rather than large pieces of material?

Answer: The strength increases as the diameter of the fiber decreases because less defects are present
and those that are become small. Fiber is more flexible, therefore complex shapes are possible.

b) Compare the following fiber architectures in terms of drapeability, typical Vf, and durability:
unidirectional, braid, woven fabric

Answer: Braid is most drapeable, unidirectional is least. Unidirectional typically has highest Vf, braid and
woven are similar. Unidirectional is least durable because fibers are not interlocked.

c) What unique thermal properties does carbon fiber have compared to glass and aramid fiber?
How can these properties be beneficial?

Answer: Carbon fiber conducts heat and electricity much better than glass and aramid. These properties
can be useful when trying to dissipate heat and/or electricity.

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 d) Explain fiber volume fraction (Vf). How can it be measured? What can be done to increase it?

Answer: Fiber volume fraction refers to the fraction of the volume of composite that is occupied by fiber.
It can be measured by removing the resin (burning or dissolving in acid) and comparing the weight
before and after or with image analysis techniques as explained on pg. 19 and 20 of the Fiber slides.
Using a fiber architecture that is more tightly packed, such as unidirectional or NCF and/or increasing
consolidation pressure will increase the fiber volume fraction.

3) Assume that three composite parts are manufactured using Carbon-Epoxy, Glass-Epoxy and
Kevlar-Epoxy. Also assume that the final parts all have 5% porosity (void volume fraction).

- Derive an equation for fiber volume fraction only as a function of fiber weight fraction,
densities of fiber and matrix, and void volume fraction (Hint: First derive the equation
assuming that there is no porosity. Then modify the final expression for porosity).
[10 marks]

- Using given values of densities, plot fibre volume fraction as a function of fiber weight
fraction for three different laminates: Carbon-Epoxy, Glass-Epoxy and Kevlar-Epoxy.
[7 marks]

- For any given fiber weight fraction, which laminate has the lowest volume fraction?
Why? [3 marks]

Material Density (g/cm3)

Glass fibre 2.5
Carbon fibre 1.75
Kevlar fiber 1.35
Epoxy resin 1.2

Answer:

First we assume that there is no porosity (𝑣𝑣 = 0):

𝑤𝑓 𝑤𝑓 Wf Wf
𝑣𝑓 𝑣𝑓 𝜌𝑓 𝑤𝜌𝑓 𝜌𝑓 𝜌𝑓
Vf = = =𝑤 𝑤𝑚 = 𝑤 𝑤𝑚 = =
𝑣 𝑣𝑓 + 𝑣𝑚 𝑓 𝑓 Wf Wm Wf 1 − Wf
𝜌𝑓 + 𝜌𝑚 𝑤𝜌𝑓 + 𝑤𝜌𝑚 𝜌𝑓 + 𝜌𝑚 𝜌𝑓 + 𝜌𝑚

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 For the case with zero void fraction, we assumed that the total volume of the laminate is equal to 𝑣.
If we add voids to the composite, the total volume will be increased to 𝑣𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 such that:

1 𝑣
𝑣𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 𝑣 × =
1 − 𝑉𝑣 1 − 5%

Now we can adjust the fiber volume fraction based on this value:

𝑣𝑓 𝑣𝑓 𝑣𝑓
Vf =
𝑣𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
= 𝑣 = 𝑣 × (1 − Vv )
1 − 𝑉𝑣

This means that the first equation has to be modified as below:

Wf
𝜌𝑓
Vf = × (1 − Vv )
Wf 1 − Wf
𝜌𝑓 + 𝜌𝑚

This equation is plotted below for three polymer composites using the densities provided:

At any given fiber weight fraction, glass-epoxy has the lowest fiber volume fraction. This is
because glass has the highest density compared to Kevlar and carbon.

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4) We need to produce a laminate using glass fabric reinforcement and epoxy resin. We have
two fabric types available: 100 and 800 gsm (gram/m2). Due to the weave, the lighter fabric
typically results in a volume fraction of 55%, while the heavier fabric typically results in a
mass fraction of 65%. Both result in 3% void volume fraction. To improve surface finish, we
have placed two plies of the lighter fabric on each surface of the laminate (total of four 100
gsm plies).
- How many plies of the heavier fabric are required in between to get a thickness as close
to 6.5 mm as possible? [15 marks]
- What will be the weight per square meter of the resulting laminate? [10 marks]

Use the following densities for fiber and resin.

Material Density (g/cm3)

Glass fibre 2.5
Epoxy resin 1.2

Answer:

Part A: How many plies?

First we calculate the thickness of the section with 100 gsm fabric:

𝑛100𝑔𝑠𝑚 × 𝐴𝑊 4 × 0.100
𝑡100𝑔𝑠𝑚 = = = 0.00029 𝑚 = 0.29 𝑚𝑚
𝜌𝑓 𝑉𝑓 2500 × 0.55

We can now calculate the thickness of the section with 800 gsm fabric:

𝑡800𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 − 𝑡100𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 6.5 − 0.29 = 6.21 𝑚𝑚

We can now calculate the number of plies required to achieve this thickness:

𝑡800𝑔𝑠𝑚 × 𝜌𝑓 𝑉𝑓 0.00621 × 2500 × 0.65

𝑛800𝑔𝑠𝑚 = = = 12.61 → 𝑛800𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 13
𝐴𝑊 0.800

So we need 13 layers of the 800 gsm fabric to have a final thickness close to 6.5 mm. With 13 layers of
800 gsm and 4 layers of 100 gsm, the final thickness of the laminate is:

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 13 × 0.800
𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝑡100𝑔𝑠𝑚 + 𝑡800𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 0.29 + = 0.29 + 6.40 = 6.69 𝑚𝑚
2500 × 0.65

Part B: What is the weight per square meter of resulting laminate?

We want to obtain matrix volume fraction. Since there are two different fabrics with different Vf we
should break the laminate into two parts based on the fabric. We’ll start with the 100 gsm plies:

𝑉𝑚_100𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 1 − 𝑉𝑓 − 𝑉𝑣 = 1 − 0.55 − 0.03 = 0.42

For a 1×1 m2 laminate, we can now obtain the weight of the epoxy resin in the 100 gsm portion of the
laminate:

𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥_100𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 𝜌𝑚 × (1 × 1 × 𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥 ) = 𝜌𝑚 × (𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 × 𝑉𝑚 ) = 1200 × 0.00029 × 0.42

= 0.146 𝑘𝑔

We can also obtain weight of the fibers in the 100 gsm plies:

𝑚𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟_100𝑔𝑠𝑚 = ∑ 𝑛 × 𝐴𝑊 = 4 × 0.100 = 0.400 𝑘𝑔

Now, in the same way, we can calculate the mass of fiber and resin in the 800 gsm portion of the
laminate:

𝑉𝑚_800𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 1 − 𝑉𝑓 − 𝑉𝑣 = 1 − 0.65 − 0.03 = 0.32

𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥_800𝑔𝑠𝑚 = 𝜌𝑚 × (1 × 1 × 𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥 ) = 𝜌𝑚 × (𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 × 𝑉𝑚 ) = 1200 × 0.00669 × 0.32

= 2.569 𝑘𝑔

𝑚𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟_800𝑔𝑠𝑚 = ∑ 𝑛 × 𝐴𝑊 = 13 × 0.800 = 10.400 𝑘𝑔

We can now obtain the total weight of the laminate per square meter by adding the mass of resin and
fiber for all portions:

𝑚𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝑚𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟_100𝑔𝑠𝑚 + 𝑚𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑛_100𝑔𝑠𝑚 + 𝑚𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟_800𝑔𝑠𝑚 + 𝑚𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑛_800𝑔𝑠𝑚

= 0.400 + 0.146 + 10.400 + 2.569 = 13.515 𝑘𝑔