Description
This course provides an introduction to high-performance composite materials, covering both engineering and manufacturing of composite parts and assemblies, basic material properties of the constituents (fiber and matrix), how they combine to form plies, or lamina, how to obtain lamina properties, how laminae are combined to form laminates and how to obtain the laminate properties. Other engineering topics include stress analysis, failure criteria and testing methods. Case studies and lessons-learned will be discussed. Design using composites will include material selection, lamination rules of thumb, weight analysis, fabrication process description, tool design, and preliminary cost and production rate analysis.