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At least 343 records · Page 19

Effect of ply constraint on fatigue damage development in composite material laminates

It is shown that the effects of constraint on the response of composite materials can be classified as (1) in-plane effects, and (2) through-the-thickness effects; with in-plane constraint being the principal contributor to notched strength and changes in notched strength under quasi-static loading. It is also determined that the constraint situations that produce the greatest static strength do not minimize the extent of damage that develops under either static or cyclic loading, and that through-the-thickness constraint controls the pattern and spacing of transverse cracks in the characteristic damage state that determines those of strength and stress in unnotched laminates. It is concluded that the mode and the extent of damage in notched and unnotched constrained plies is governed by the stress state in those plies, as determined by the constraining ones, and the relationship of stress and strength states.

Stinchcomb, W. W.↗

Compression testing of graphite/epoxy composite materials

Three methods for compression testing coupons of filament-reinforced polymer-matrix composite materials are evaluated, to identify the sensitivity of the test techniques to laminate, specimen, and test parameters. A 'wedge-grip' compression fixture, a face-supported compression fixture, and an end-loaded coupon fixture are described. Specimens of 12.5-, 25-, and 50-mm widths, 8-, 16-, and 24-ply thicknesses, and of various fiber orientations were used to test the 'wedge-grip' compression fixture and the face-supported fixture; the end-loaded coupon fixture was tested using 16-ply specimens. Compressive strain-stress, strength, and modulus data obtained with the fixtures and evaluations showing the effects of all the test parameters are presented. One of the conclusions asserts that the 'wedge-grip' compression fixture provides good stress-strain data to failure for unidirectional and quasi-isotropic laminates.

Clark, R. K.↗

Composite Materials With Uncured Epoxy Matrix Exposed in Stratosphere During NASA Stratospheric Balloon Flight

A cassette of uncured composite materials with epoxy resin matrixes was exposed in the stratosphere (40 km altitude) over three days. Temperature variations of -76 to 32.5C and pressure up to 2.1 torr were recorded during flight. An analysis of the chemical structure of the composites showed, that the polymer matrix exposed in the stratosphere becomes crosslinked, while the ground control materials react by way of polymerization reaction of epoxy groups. The space irradiations are considered to be responsible for crosslinking of the uncured polymers exposed in the stratosphere. The composites were cured on Earth after landing. Analysis of the cured composites showed that the polymer matrix remains active under stratospheric conditions. The results can be used for predicting curing processes of polymer composites in a free space environment during an orbital space flight.

Kondyurin, Alexey↗

Composite Materials for Radiation Shielding During Deep Space Missions

Minimizing radiation exposure from the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) environment during deep space missions is essential to human health and sensitive instrument survivability. Given the fabrication constraints of space transportation vehicles protective shielding is, consequently, a complicated materials issue. These concerns are presented and considered in view of some novel composite materials being developed/suggested for GCR shielding applications. Advantages and disadvantages of the composites will be discussed as well as the need for coordinated testing/evaluation and modeling efforts.

Grugel, R. N.↗

Composite Materials for Radiation Shielding During Deep Space Missions

Minimizing radiation exposure from the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) environment during deep space missions is essential to human health and sensitive instrument survivability. Given the fabrication constraints of space transportation vehicles protective shielding is, consequently, a complicated materials issue. These concerns are presented and considered in view of some novel composite materials being developed/suggested for GCR shielding applications. Advantages and disadvantages of the composites will be discussed as well as the need for coordinated testing/evaluation and modeling efforts.

Grugel, R. N.↗

Structure and properties of polymeric composite materials during 1501 days outer space exposure at Salyut-7 orbital station

Specimens of polymeric composite materials for aviation and space applications such as glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP), carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP), organic fiber reinforced plastics (OFRP), and hybrid plastics (HP) based on epoxy compounds were exposed to the space environment on the surface of Salyut-7 orbital station. The space exposure lasted 1501 days as a maximum. The data relating to the change in mechanical properties, mass losses, glass transition temperature, linear thermal expansion coefficient, and microstructure after various periods of exposure are given. It has been found that the change in properties is caused by the processes of binder postcuring and microerosion of the exposed surface of plastics. The phenomenon of strengthening of the surface layer of hybrid composites, due to which the nature of destruction changes at bending loads, has been revealed.

Startsev, Oleg V.↗

Compendium of Material Composition Data for Radiation Transport Modeling

In 2011, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) produced a document known as the Materials Compendium, or Compendium of Material Composition Data for Radiation Transport Modeling, PNNL 15870, Rev. 1, that contains material information useable for modeling purposes for properties of 372 materials. This information is used in several modeling programs used by the radiological/nuclear community, though it is primarily tailored for the Monte-Carlo-N-Particle code produced by Los Alamos National Laboratory. This new document Revision 2 includes a complete review and update of all materials data and references, addressing discrepancies and changes in materials data or references that have occurred since the first revision, an additional 40 materials have been added, primarily newer detector materials developed since the last revision, and isotopic specificity.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

An advanced test technique to quantify thermomechanical fatigue damage accumulation in composite materials

A mechanical test technique was developed to assist in quantifying the accumulation of damage in composite materials during thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) cycling. This was accomplished by incorporating definitive elastic mechanical property measurements into an ongoing load-controlled TMF test without disturbing the test specimen or significantly altering the test conditions. The technique allows two fundamental composite properties consisting of the isothermal elastic static moduli and the macroscopic coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) to be measured and collected as functions of the TMF cycles. The specific implementation was incorporated into the commonly employed idealized in-phase and out-of-phase TMF cycles. However, the techniques discussed could be easily implemented into any form of load-controlled TMF mission cycle. By quantifying the degradations of these properties, tremendous insights are gained concerning the progression of macroscopic composite damage and often times the progression of damage within a given constituent. This information should also be useful for the characterization and essential for the verification of analytical damage modeling methodologies. Several examples utilizing this test technique are given for three different fiber lay-ups of titanium metal matrix composites.

Castelli, Michael G.↗

Feasibility study of deformation modes of deforming composite materials using visioplasticity method

The impact resistance and the effect of impact on fiber reinforced composite materials was investigated. The visioplastic method for studying deformation modes and transient impact distribution is described and the basic equations used in the visioplastic method are presented. The subroutine for digitizing the input data and a computer program (STRESS) for calculating the strains and stresses of deforming projectiles are presented.

Dwivedi, S. N.↗

Baseline tensile tests of composite materials for LDEF (Long Duration Exposure Facility) exposure

Tensile specimens of five graphite fiber reinforced composite materials were tested at room temperature to provide baseline data for similar specimens exposed to the space environment in low-Earth orbit on the NASA Long Duration Exposure Facility. All specimens were 4-ply (+ or - 45 deg)s layups; at least five replicate specimens were tested for each parameter evaluated. Three epoxy-matrix materials and two polysulfone-matrix materials, several fiber volume fractions, and two sizes of specimen were evaluated. Stress-strain and Poisson's ratio-stress curves, ultimate stress, strain at failure, secant modulus at 0.004 strain, inplane shear stress-strain curves, and unidirectional shear modulus at .004 shear strain are presented.

Witte, William G.↗

A domain-specific design architecture for composite material design and aircraft part redesign

Advanced composites have been targeted as a 'leapfrog' technology that would provide a unique global competitive position for U.S. industry. Composites are unique in the requirements for an integrated approach to designing, manufacturing, and marketing of products developed utilizing the new materials of construction. Numerous studies extending across the entire economic spectrum of the United States from aerospace to military to durable goods have identified composites as a 'key' technology. In general there have been two approaches to composite construction: build models of a given composite materials, then determine characteristics of the material via numerical simulation and empirical testing; and experience-directed construction of fabrication plans for building composites with given properties. The first route sets a goal to capture basic understanding of a device (the composite) by use of a rigorous mathematical model; the second attempts to capture the expertise about the process of fabricating a composite (to date) at a surface level typically expressed in a rule based system. From an AI perspective, these two research lines are attacking distinctly different problems, and both tracks have current limitations. The mathematical modeling approach has yielded a wealth of data but a large number of simplifying assumptions are needed to make numerical simulation tractable. Likewise, although surface level expertise about how to build a particular composite may yield important results, recent trends in the KBS area are towards augmenting surface level problem solving with deeper level knowledge. Many of the relative advantages of composites, e.g., the strength:weight ratio, is most prominent when the entire component is designed as a unitary piece. The bottleneck in undertaking such unitary design lies in the difficulty of the re-design task. Designing the fabrication protocols for a complex-shaped, thick section composite are currently very difficult. It is in fact this difficulty that our research will address.

Punch, W. F., III↗

Evaluation of Ultrasonic and Thermal Nondestructive Evaluation for the Characterization of Aging Degradation in Braided Composite Materials

This paper examines the ability of traditional nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to measure the degradation of braided polymer composite materials subjected to thermal-humidity cycling to simulate aging. A series of braided composite coupons were examined using immersion ultrasonic and pulsed thermography techniques in the as received condition. These same specimens were then examined following extended thermal-humidity cycling. Results of this examination did not show a significant change in the resulting (NDE) signals.

Martin, Richard E.↗

A study of the effects of long-term exposure to fuels and fluids on the behavior of advanced composite materials

The Task 1 (thirty-six-month) and Task 2 (twelve-month) exposure of composite materials to fuel and fluid environments are reported. Narmco T300/5209 (Task 1) shows no significant degradation. Slightly lower mechanical properties were obtained from fuel/water immersion exposure of this material. Kevlar 49/2544 (also Task 1) exhibits significant drop in short-beam shear when exposed to fuel/water immersion. Task 2 materials (T300/5208, Kevlar 49 fabric/5209, and Kevlar 49 fibers) have not shown any significant mechanical property degradation to date.

Hendricks, C. L.↗

The strength of laminated composite materials under repeated impact loading

When low velocity and energy impact is exerted on a laminated composite material, in a perpendicular direction to the plane of the laminate, invisible damage may develop. It is shown analytically and experimentally that the invisible damage occurs during the first stage of contact between the impactor and the laminate and is a result of the contact stresses. However, the residual flexural strength changes only slightly, because it depends mainly on the outer layers, and these remain undamaged. Repeated impact intensifies the damage inside the laminate and causes larger bending under equivalent impact load. Finally, when the damage is most severe, even though it is still invisible, the laminate fails because of bending on the tension side. If the repeated impact is halted before final fracture occurs the residual strength and modulus would decrease by a certain amount.

Rotem, Assa↗

Physical interpretation and development of ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation techniques applied to the quantitative characterization of textile composite materials

The development and implementation of advanced ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation methods applied to the characterization of composite materials requires a better understanding of the physics underlying the interaction of ultrasound with the material. The purpose of this investigation is to identify and characterize the features of complex, three dimensional materials that limit the ability of ultrasound to detect flaws in this broad class of emerging materials. In order to explore the interaction of ultrasound with such complex media, we investigate the characteristics of ultrasonic fields which have propagated through samples with complex geometries and/or internal architecture. We focus on the physics that underlies the detection of flaws in such materials.

Miller, James G.↗

The thermal and mechanical stability of composite materials for space structures

A continuing research objective of the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) is to develop advanced composite materials for space structures. The thrust of this research is to gain fundamental understanding of the performance of advanced composites in the space environment. The emphasis has been to identify and model changes in the thermal-physical properties due to induced damage and develop improved materials.

Tompkins, S. S.↗

Impact and residual fatigue behavior of ARALL and AS6/5245 composite materials

Aramide fiber reinforced aluminum laminates (ARALL) represent a cross between resin matrix composites and metals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact sensitivity of this concept. Two types of ARALL (7075 aluminum prestrained and 2024 aluminum not prestrained) were tested through static indentation and the results compared to sheet 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 aluminum alloys. A state-of-the-art composite (AS6/5245) was also tested and compared to the ARALL. Further, the two types of ARALL material and the composite were dynamically impacted at two energy levels and fatigue tested to determine residual fatigue strength. Both forms of the ARALL material had worse impact resistance than monolithic sheet aluminum. The ARALL material made with 2024-T3 aluminum had better impact resistance than did the laminates made with 7075-T6 aluminum. The ARALL materials are at least equal to the composite material in impact damage resistance and are better for impact detection. The composite material has higher residual fatigue strength after impact than the ARALL material and is 25 percent lighter. The prestraining of the ARALL greatly reduces the fatigue growth of impact damage.

Johnson, W. S.↗