Experimental Characterization of Advanced Composite Materials

Over the last three decades, the evolution of techniques for the experimental testing of composite materials has struggled to keep up with the advances and broadening areas of application of the composite materials themselves. In recent years, however, much work has been done to consolidate and better understand the test methods being used. Finally, a consensus regarding the best available methods exists, and definitive recommendations can be made.

provides a succinct, authoritative treatment of the best available methods for determining the mechanical properties, thermal expansion coefficients, and fracture and strength data for composite materials. With an emphasis firmly on practical matters, it presents processing techniques, specimen preparation, analyses of test methods, test procedures, and data reduction schemes. Five chapters covering specific aspects of lamina testing are followed by discussions extending those principles to laminate responses. The treatment concludes by exploring composite durability issues with a detailed examination of defects and fracture mechanics.

The Fourth Edition is revised to include:

• New figures, updated ASTM standards, and an expanded index
• Major additions in processing of thermoset resins, neat resin tests, sandwich structures, cure analyses, damage tolerance tests, single fiber tests, fiber matrix interface tests, interlaminar tension tests, through-thickness tension and compression tests, open-hole compression tests, falling weight impact tests, compression-after-impact tests, sandwich beam and core tests, and more

With its concise format, detailed procedures, and expert assessments, this book is an outstanding resource for composites manufacturing and test engineers, lab technicians, and other industry professionals, as well as students, academia, and government research and engineering organizations. It brings together all of the most appropriate and widely accepted test methods developed to date.

Leif A. Carlsson, Ph.D received his advanced degrees from Upsala University and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. He spent a postdoctoral year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, USA. He then served as head of the composites section at the Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden (FFA), Bromma; assumed a visiting position at the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware, Newark, USA; and joined the faculty of mechanical engineering at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA. He has published extensively in the areas of mechanics and fracture mechanics of composite materials and sandwich structures.

is founder/president of Wyoming Test Fixtures, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and emeritus professor at University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA. He previously worked for Northrop Aircraft Corporation, Hawthorne; the Aeronutronic Division of Ford Motor Company, Newport Beach; and Rand Corporation, Santa Monica—all in California, USA; and directed the Composite Materials Group at University of Wyoming for 27 years. He received his BS and Ph.D from University of Illinois, Champaign, USA and his M.Sc from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. Extensively published, he has conducted composite materials analysis, testing, and design for 40+ years.

John L. Bray distinguished professor of engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. He has served as president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; distinguished visiting scholar at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA; provost and vice-president for academic affairs, dean of the College of Engineering, and director of the Center for Composite Materials at University of Delaware; Goodyear professor of polymer engineering at University of Akron, Ohio, USA; and director of the National Engineering Research Centers of the National Science Foundation, USA. He holds a Ph.D from University of Texas, Arlington, USA and M.Sc from Princeton University, New Jersey, USA.