Introduction to Glass fiber:

Today, almost any specialization for structural material can be met by combination of glass fiber
and plastic resin, which are characterized by many outstanding properties. During 1942 glass
fiber reinforced composites were first used in structural aerospace parts. In the early 1960s high
strength glass fibers, S-Glass were first used in joint work between Owens corning textile
product and the united states air force later in 1968 S-2 glass began evolving into a variety of
commercial application. High strength glass fiber combine high strength, high stability,
transparency and resilience at a very reasonable cost-weight performance. The utilities of high
strength glass fiber composites are compared by physical, mechanical, electrical, thermal,
acoustical, optical and radiation properties.

The glass fiber composites strength/weight ratios are higher than those of most other materials
and their impact resistance is phenomenal. Further they possess good electrical properties,
resistance to moisture and outdoor weathering and resistance to heat and chemicals. These
properties are coupled with ease of fabrication.

Composites:
Composites are artificially produced multiphase materials having a desirable combination of the
best properties of the constituent phases or more precisely these are the materials consist of
fibers of high strength and modulus embedded in or bonded to a matrix with distinct interfaces
between them.

Properties of Glass Fibers:

1. Incombustibility

2. Corrosion resistance
 3. High strength at low densities

4. Good thermal.

5. Sound insulation

6. Special electrical properties.

Manufacturing of Glass Fibers:

Glass fibers basically made by,

1. Mixing silica sand, limestone, boric acid and other minor ingredients.

2. The mixture is heated until it melts at about 1260OC/2300OF.

3. Letting the molten glass flow through fine holes. (In a platinum plate)

4. The glass strands are cooled, gathered and wound. (Protective coating may be added.)

5. The fibers are drawn to increase the directional strength.

6. The fibers are woven into various forms for use in composites.

Types of Glass Fiber:

Type:

A Soda-lime glass.

E Electrical type (Borosilicate)

C Chemical resistant type

AR Alkali resistant type

S High performance application

Grades:

General purpose glass fiber

 Quartz fiber

Protective fiber

Hollow fiber

Conducting/Semi-conducting

Various Properties of Different Glass Fibers:

Properties E-glass AR-glass S-glass
Tensile Strength (Gpa) 3.5 3.5 4.6
Modulus (Gpa) 73.5 175 86.8
Elongation (%) 4.8 2 5.4
Density (g/cc) 2.57 2.68 2.46
Refractive Index 1.547 1.561 -
Coefficient of Thermal
Expansion (107/0c) 50-52.0 75.0 23-27.0
Dielectric Constant RT, 1010 Hz 6.1-6.3 - 5.0-5.1
Forms of the Glass Fiber Reinforcement:

Glass Fabric:

This form of glass fiber is particularly suitable for high strength, low weight laminates.
Continuous filament glass is preferred in these applications on account of its greater strength
and low bulk factor. The fabric woven from continuous filament yarn ranges in thickness from
0.002-0.02 inches. In general directional properties of laminates depend on the type of weave
and cloth setting employed. (Well discuss this later). The example of fabric-reinforced plastic is
aircraft radar. In this application, a material is required which will allow the radar rays to go
without distortion from the rays sending equipment out of the target and then back to the radar
receiving equipment on the plane. It must also stand the air pressure strain of a sonic or
supersonic speed. Combination of glass fabric and low-pressure plastic resin provides an
excellent answer to these requirements.

Combination of glass fabrics and fire-proofed polyester resin are also used for making high
strength flat and shaped laminates for aircraft components such as a ducting, panels, nose, wings
tips, rudder parts, covers, dash-boards, shelves, floors

This material is also used for hollow fishing rods, where unidirectional fabric lends itself to
winding round a solid mandrel, for body armor and for the manufacture of large article such as
boats by the low pressure technique and for many other products.
Applications of Glass Fiber Composite:
Glass fibre composites making in roads many markets due to general properties of excellent
molded surface finish almost unlimited size, lightness of weight, insulation against heat transfer
and electricity and many other attributes. These will become evident in ensuring discussion,
build around in nine major market for GFC which includes following:

1.Aircraft and Aerospace

2.Appliances and equipments
3.Constructions
4.Consumer goods
5.Corrosion resistant product
6.Electrical rods, tubes and components
7.Marin and Marin accessories
8.Land transportation
9.Miscellaneous (Protective gears, Farming, industrial tools, material handling).

Carbon Fiber
Carbon Fibre, not surprisingly, is made of carbon crystals aligned in a long axis. These
honeycomb shaped crystals organize themselves in long flattened ribbons. This crystal alignment
makes the ribbon strong in the long axis. In turn these ribbons align themselves within fibers.
The fiber shape is the original shape of the material (its precursor) used to produce the Carbon
Fiber. I don't know of any process where fibers are shaped AFTER carbonizing. These fibers
(containing flat ribbons of carbon crystals) in turn are bundled by the manufacturer in thicker
fibres and are woven into carbon cloth, made into felt, twisted or bundled without twisting. This
is referred to as Roving. Carbon fiber is also offered as chopped strands and powder.

In order to modify the characteristics of the lay up, other materials are sometimes added such as
glass fibers, Kevlar or Aluminium. Carbon fiber is rarely used as it. Rather it is embedded in a
matrix. In mast-making and boat building we usually think of epoxy or polyester resins, but
carbon fiber is also used as reinforcement for thermoplastics, concrete or ceramics.

The main variations of characteristics is strength vs stiffness. By using different heating cycles
either can be emphasized. Research is being done to modify other features such as heat and
electrical conductivity.

Carbon Fiber Properties.

1. High Strength to weight ratio
 2. Rigidity

3. Corrosion resistance

4. Electrical Conductivity

5. Fatigue Resistance

6. Good tensile strength but Brittle

7. Fire Resistance/Not flammable

8. High Thermal Conductivity in some forms

9. Low coefficient of thermal expansion

10. Non poisonous

11. Biologically inert

12. X-Ray Permeable

13. Self Lubricating

14. Excellent EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) Shielding Property

15. Relatively Expensive

16. Requires specialized experience and equipment to use.

1- Carbon Fiber has High Strength to Weight Ratio (also known as specific
strength)

2- Carbon Fiber is very Rigid

Rigidity or stiffness of a material is measured by its Young Modulus and measures how much a
material deflects under stress. Carbon fiber reinforced plastic is over 4 times stiffer than Glass
reinforced plastic, almost 20 times more than pine, 2.5 times greater than aluminium

3- Carbon fiber is Corrosion Resistant and Chemically Stable.

Although carbon fiber themselves do not deteriorate measurably, Epoxy is sensitive to sunlight
and needs to be protected. Other matrices (whatever the carbon fiber is embedded in) might also
be reactive.

Composites made from carbon fibre must either be made with UV resistant epoxy (uncommon),
or covered with a UV resistant finish such as varnishes.

4- Carbon fiber is Electrically Conductive

This feature can either be useful or be a nuisance. In Boat building conductivity has to be taken
into account just as Aluminium conductivity comes into play. Carbon fiber conductivity can
facilitate Galvanic Corrosion in fittings. Careful installation can reduce this problem.

Carbon Fiber dust can accumulate in a shop and cause sparks or short circuits in electrical
appliances and equipment.

5- Fatigue Resistance is good

Resistance to Fatigue in Carbon Fiber Composites is good. However when carbon fiber fails it
usually fails catastrophically without significant exterior signs to announce its imminent failure.

6- Carbon Fiber has good Tensile Strength

Tensile strength or ultimate strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while
being stretched or pulled before necking, or failing. Necking is when the sample cross-section
starts to significantly contract. If you take a strip of plastic bag, it will stretch and at one point
will start getting narrow.

7- Fire Resistance/Non Flammable

Depending upon the manufacturing process and the precursor material, carbon fiber can be be
made to feel quite soft to the hand and can be made into or more often integrated into protective
clothing for firefighting. Nickel coated fiber is an example. Because carbon fiber is also
chemically very inert, it can be used where there is fire combined with corrosive agents. Carbon
Fiber Blanket used as welding protection.

8- Thermal Conductivity of Carbon Fiber

Thermal conductivity is the quantity of heat transmitted through a unit thickness, in a direction
normal to a surface of unit area, because of a unit temperature gradient, under steady conditions.
In other words it's a measure of how easily heat flows through a material.

9- Low Coefficient of Thermal Expansion

This is a measure of how much a material expands and contracts when the temperature goes up
or down.

10-11-12 Non Poisonous, Biologically Inert, X-Ray Permeable

These quality make Carbon fiber useful in Medical applications. Prosthesis use, implants and
tendon repair, x-ray accessories surgical instruments, are all in development.

Although not poisonous, the carbon fibers can be quite irritating and long term unprotected
exposure needs to be limited. The matrix either epoxy or polyester, can however be toxic and
proper care needs to be exercised.

13- Carbon Fiber is Relatively Expensive

Although it offers exceptional advantages of Strength, Rigidity and Weight reduction, cost is a
deterrent. Unless the weight advantage is exceptionally important, such as in aeronautics
applications or racing, it often is not worth the extra cost. The low maintenance requirement of
carbon fiber is a further advantage.

14- Carbon Fibers are brittle

The layers in the fibers are formed by strong covalent bonds. The sheet-like aggregations readily
allow the propagation of cracks. When the fibers bend they fails at very low strain. In other
words carbon fibre does not bend much before failing.

Aramid fiber characteristics

Fiber structure: A series of synthetic polymers in which repeating units containing large phenyl
rings are linked together by amide groups. Amide groups (CO-NH) form strong bonds that are
resistant to solvents and heat. Phenyl rings (or aromatic rings) are bulky six-sided groups of
carbon and hydrogen atoms that prevent polymer chains from rotating and twisting around their
chemical bonds.
Fiber properties: They are characterized by medium to ultra-high strength, medium to low
elongation and moderately high to ultra-high modulus with the densities ranging from 1.38g/cm3
to 1.47g/cm3. Heat-resistant and flame-resistant aramid fibers contain high proportion or meta-
oriented phenylene rings, whereas ultra-high strength high-modulus fibers contain mainly para-
oriented phenylene rings.

Chemical properties: All aramids contain amide links that are hydrophilic. However, not all
aramid products absorb moisture the same. The PPD-T (poly-phenylene terephthalamide) fiber
has very good resistance to many organic solvents and salt, but strong acids can cause substantial
loss of strength. Aramid fibers are difficult to dye due to their high Tg. Also, the aromatic nature
of para-aramid is responsible for oxidative reactions when exposed to UV light, that leads to a
change in color and loss of some strength.

Thermal properties: Aramid fibers do not melt in the conventional sense but decompose
simultaneously. They burn only with difficulty because of Limited Oxygen Index (LOI) values. It
should be mentioned that at 300 degrees Celcius some aramid types can still retain about 50% of
their strength. Aramids show high crystallinity which results in negligible shrinkage at high
temperature.

Mechanical properties: Aramid yarn has a breaking tenacity of 3045 MPa, in other words more
than 5 times than this of steel (under water, aramid is 4 times stronger) and twice than this of
glass fiber or nylon. High strength is a result of its aromatic and amide group and high
crystallinity. Aramid retains strength and modulus at temperatures as high as 300 degrees
Celcius. It behaves elastically under tension. When it comes to severe bending, it shows non-
linear plastic deformation. With tension fatigue, no failure is observed even at impressively high
loads and cycle times. Creep strain for aramid is only 0.3%.

To sum up, aramid general characteristics are:

High strength

Resistance to absorption

Resistance to organic solvent, good chemical resistance

No conductivity

No melting point

Low flammability
 Excellent heat, and cut resistance

Sensitive to acids and ultraviolet radiation

Defects of composites
Manufacturing Defects
Manufacturing defects include:
Delamination
Resin starved areas
Resin rich areas
Blisters, air bubbles
Wrinkles
Voids
Thermal decomposition
Manufacturing damage includes anomalies, such as porosity,microcracking, and delaminations
resulting from processing discrepancies.
Fiber Breakage
Fiber breakage can be critical because structures are typically designed to be fiber dominant (i.e.,
fibers carry most of theloads). Fortunately, fiber failure is typically limited to a zone near the
point of impact and is constrained by the impactobject size and energy. Only a few of the
service-related events listed in the previous section could lead to large areas
of fiber damage.
Matrix Imperfections
Matrix imperfections usually occur on the matrix-fiber interface or in the matrix parallel to the
fibers. These imperfections can slightly reduce some of the material properties but are seldom
critical to the structure, unless the matrix degradation is widespread. Accumulation of matrix
cracks can cause the degradation of matrix-dominated properties. For laminates designed to
transmit loads with their fibers (fiber dominant), only a slight reduction of properties is observed
when the matrix is severely damaged. Matrix cracks, or microcracks, can significantly reduce
properties dependent on the resin or the fiber-resin interface, such as interlaminar shear and
compression strength. Microcracking can have a very negative effect on properties of
high-temperature resins. Matrix imperfections may develop into delaminations, which are a more
critical type of damage.
Delamination and Debonds
Delaminations form on the interface between the layers in the laminate. Delaminations may form
from matrix cracks that grow into the interlaminar layer or from low-energy impact.
Debonds can also form from production nonadhesion along the bondline between two elements
and initiate delamination in adjacent laminate layers. Under certain conditions, delaminations or
debonds can grow when subjected to repeated loading and can cause catastrophic failure when
the laminate is loaded in compression. The criticality of
delaminations or debonds depend on:
Dimensions.
Number of delaminations at a given location.
Locationin the thickness of laminate, in the structure, proximity to free edges, stress
concentration region, geometrical discontinuities, etc.
Loadsbehavior of delaminations and debonds depend on loading type. They have little effect
on the response of laminates loaded in tension. Under compression or shear loading, however,the
sublaminates adjacent to the delaminations ordebonded elements may buckle and cause a
loadredistribution mechanism that leads to structuralfailure.
Combinations of Damages
In general, impact events cause combinations of damages.High-energy impacts by large objects
(e.g., turbine blades)may lead to broken elements and failed attachments. Theresulting damage
may include significant fiber failure, matrixcracking, delamination, broken fasteners, and
debondedelements. Damage caused by low-energy impact is morecontained, but may also
include a combination of brokenfibers, matrix cracks, and multiple delaminations.
In-Service Defects
In-service defects include:
Environmental degradation
Impact damage
Fatigue
Cracks from local overload
Debonding
Delamination
Fiber fracturing
Erosion