PONDICHERRY ENGINEERING COLLEGE

COMPOSITE MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES

REINFORCEMENT AND ITS TYPES

BY
T.RAJENTHAR
M. Tech - Product Design and Manufacturing (1st year)

REINFORCEMENT

REINFORCING CONSTITUENTS IN COMPOSITES, AS THE WORD INDICATES, PROVIDE

THE STRENGTH THAT MAKES THE COMPOSITE .

THE STRENGTH, STIFFNESS, AND DENSITY OF THE COMPOSITE MATERIAL IS VERY

DEPENDENT

ON

THE

REINFORCING

MATERIAL.

THEY

ALSO

SERVE

CERTAIN

ADDITIONAL PURPOSES OF HEAT RESISTANCE OR CONDUCTION, RESISTANCE TO

CORROSION AND PROVIDE RIGIDITY

THE ULTIMATE TENSILE STRENGTH OF A COMPOSITE IS A RESULT OF THE SYNERGY

BETWEEN THE REINFORCEMENT AND THE MATRIX.

THE MATRIX FORCES LOAD SHARING AMONG ALL THE FIBRE'S, STRENGTHENING THE
MATERIAL. THE MAIN TYPES OF REINFORCEMENTS ARE CONTINUOUS FIBRE'S,
DISCONTINUOUS (SHORT FIBRE'S), WHISKERS, AND PARTICULATES.

A reinforcement that embellishes the matrix strength must be stronger and

stiffer than the matrix and capable of changing failure mechanism to the
advantage of the composite.

The elements selected as reinforcements are usually the lower atomic numbered elements of groups
2, 13, 14, 15, and 16 (Fig. 2) because of the desirable engineering traits of light weight, high
strength, and stiffness. The stable covalent bonding contributes to the strength and stiffness of the
compounds.

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT

The main types of reinforcements are continuous fibers, discontinuous (short fibers/whiskers),
and particles

CONTINUOUS FIBERS

Continuous fibers are long strands of fibers having a small cross sectional area.

The fibers are placed in bundles containing between 1,000 to 12,000 fibers each depending on the parameters of
the load the composite must carry.

The bundles are then placed in the matrix in geometrical patterns. If aligned in a single direction, the resulting
composite will have anisotropic properties.

Anisotropic materials have different properties in different directions.

When a load is applied in the direction of the fibers, the fibers become the principle load carrying constituent of
the composite. Anisotropic composites are extremely strong in the fiber direction but are generally weak in a
direction perpendicular to the fiber.

This is analogous to bone, a natural composite. Sometimes one directional properties are not what is called for in
the design. A composite may need to bend when it is twisted, or be able to withstand loads in two directions.

Laminates allow for such flexibility in design. Laminates are made by combining one directional
composites which have fibers oriented at different angles.

The properties of the laminate as a whole depend on the orientation and thickness of each layer. This
flexibility of design has helped composites to become popular in high tech applications.

FIBERS
Glass, Aramid, and Carbon fibers are the only fibers of importance for the
reinforcement of plastics.
A.

Processed as textile fibers

B.

Possess a large length to diameter ratio (l/d>10)

C.

Possess sufficient strength and flexibility

GLASS FIBERS
Glass Fibers fine fibers with almost uniform, mainly round cross section, obtained from molten
glass
Textile glass fibers

1.

Glass filament textile glass

fiber of practically unlimited
length with defined fiber
diameter drawn from molten
glass

2.

Staple glass fiber textile glass

fiber of finite length (spun fiber) and defined fiber diameter obtained from molten glass by
mechanical means or by the use of gaseous media

90% of glass fibers is E-glass (Aluminum Boron Silicate Glass). Other specialty glasses are

available for specific applications

1.

R and S glass fibers for increased strength 50% higher

2.

ECR glass for high acid resistance

3.

Zirconium oxide for high alkaline environment

4.

D-glass for improved dielectric properties

5.

C-glass to build up anticorrosion layer against aggressive media.

Surface Treatment usually applied to the glass during the drawing process
1.

Lubricants, coupling agents, and other additives

2.

Affect the processing properties and reinforcing effects in plastics.

Safety Nontoxic and ecologically safe. Only issues are skin irritation on contact and inhalation.

CARBON FIBERS

Produced from either Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) or pitch (mainly pitch)

Forms
1.

Filament yarns (woven) 1-320k filaments (1-12k used in plastics)

2.

Short fibers 3-6 mm long

Safety considerations

1.

Special exhaust units used to evacuate

dust

2.

Dust is highly conductive and electrical

equipment

3.

Skin irritation

A second type of reinforcement are discontinuous (short) fibers (0.3 cm or less), which are placed
randomly into a matrix.

The advantage of discontinuous fibers lies in the fact that the resulting composite tends to be more
isotropic than continuous fibers and they are generally easier for industry to fabricate particularly for
complex irregularly-shaped component geometries.

ARAMID FIBERS
Melt at 500C

1.

Two forms
a.
b.

Unoriented type A
Oriented higher modulus type B

Types
a.

Kevlar

b.

Nomex

Will absorb moisture properties will fail in a strongly acidic or alkaline environment

WHISKERS

Whiskers can also be used as reinforcement.

Single crystals grown with nearly zero defects are termed whiskers.

These are very short fibers (less than 1 mm in length), usually of silicon carbide (SiC).
Whiskers are used to make brittle ceramic matrixes more crack -resistant and to increase the specific
stiffness and strength of a metal.

Although whiskers don't have the same reinforcing capability as continuous fibers, composites with
whiskers are easy to fabricate.

Whiskers can have extraordinary strengths upto 7000 MPa.

Ceramic materials whiskers have high moduli, useful strengths and low densities. Specific strength and
specific modulus are very high and this makes ceramic whiskers suitable for low weight structure
composites.

PARTICLE

Particle composites contain ceramic (or metal) powders with very small particle dimensions.

Square, triangular and round shapes of reinforcement are known, but the dimensions of all their sides
are observed to be more or less equal.

Particles are not commonly used for fracture resistance.

They are used when improved performance is desired at elevated temperatures.

Particle composites reduce friction, increase wear resistance, increase abrasion resistance, improve
machinability, increase surface hardness, and reduce shrinkage.

Their main advantage is that they are extremely cost effective, since lay-up of fibers is not required.

ADVANTAGE OF REINFORCEMENT
1.Increased

Strength

2.Increased

stiffness

3.Reduced

Shrinkage

4.Reduced

coefficient of thermal expansion

5.Increased

dimensional stability

6.Reduced

cycle times

7.Reduced

weight

8.Electrical

conductivity ( carbon fibers)

9.Lubricational

effect when surfaces containing Aramid fibers rub together

DIS-ADVANTAGE OF REINFORCEMENT
1.Reduced

impact strength

2.Directional
3.Increased
4.Reduces
5.the

warping

abrasion

surface appearance quality

addition of glass reduces the toughness of a polymer.

6.Skin

irritation due to usage of aramid fibers

7.Special

exhaust units used to evacuate dust.