Use of Composite Materials in Mass Production - Report Example

Use of composite materials in mass production Name Professor Course Institution Date Executive summary This report looks at use of composite materials for mass production. Composites materials have been on increased use in many industries due to their unique properties. These properties of the composite materials has been analysed in details. The report discussion then looks into types of composite materials used in mass production together with their components. The design process of composite materials includes moulding and software based production, the two methods are used in low and mass production of composite materials. The automobile industry is the major consumer of composite materials, this has been analysed and related issues such as automated manufacturing looked at. The report then looks at the significance of composite materials in the modern world as well as economic considerations in mass production. Through this, it has been proved that composite industry is growing due to acceptance in the market. It has also been explained on how to recycle composite materials used in mass production. This is done to produce second generation composite materials. It’s concluded that for mass production using composite materials, there is a need to improve the tools used in production such as simulation software. The recycling processes also need to be improved further. Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 3 Properties of composite materials 4 Types of composites 7 Design process 8 Use in Automobile industry 10 Economic consideration of composite in mass production 11 Significance of Composite Materials 12 Recycling of composite materials 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction Composite materials are made from a combination of two or more material components which have different properties (Dean et al, 2005). These components blend together to bring out unique properties found in composite materials. By looking on a composite material, it’s possible to see the different materials that have been used to make it. When manufacture composites from two materials, one material acts as a binder and the other as reinforcement. The binder surrounds the fragments and holds them together while reinforcement adds strength (Chen, Wu and Weng, 2003). The first modern composite material was fiberglass in 1950s. Fibre glass is made using a plastic matrix and glass reinforcement. The plastic matrix holds the glass together protecting it from damage through force distribution in the material. At present, advanced composites make use of carbon fibres to replace glass. The composite industry is changing from low volume to mass production at a fast rate. This is due to increased demand by the growing world population. The use of composite has also been fuelled by the need for sustainable and alternative energy solutions (Dean et al, 2005). Composite materials have less weight than aluminium or steel. This has provided the designers with an alternative which is light in weight for use in equipments, structures as well as vehicle components. In the automotive industry, the materials have offered flexibility which has resulted in great designs. Most of the commercially produced composites make use of a polymer matrix which is known as resin. The final result of the composite contains around 40 percent fibre and 60 percent resin (David and Nobuo, 2001). This report looks at use of composite in mass production and related issues in composite manufacture. Properties of composite materials Composite materials properties are adjustable depending on the parameters in the design. These parameters include nature, architecture, fold arrangements and the type of matrix used. Composite materials offer high strength to weight ratio. For example, looking at the carbon fibre car bonnet, it is made of overall thickness of 6 mm weighing around 6 kg but can support 75 kilograms (Fielding Chen and Borges, 2004). The materials are also light weight, fire resistant and have good insulation properties. When making storage equipment for corrosive chemicals, weathering becomes a major cause of worry. Composite products are able to withstand weathering and resist attack from different chemicals depending on the material used to manufacture them. The products can be made to withstand even the most extreme conditions. This has led to composites product being used to manufacture corrosive chemical tanks, chimneys and car bodies (Luo and Daniel, 2003). Another property which is evident in the composite is its ability to take any color shade. This leads to reduced cost in further painting of the finished product. Any color shade can be incorporated into the product being manufactured. Composites are also translucent having light transmission for up to 85 percent. Translucency leads to use in the manufacture of translucent sheets and moldings. The materials are also flexible making it possible to manufacture complex designs (Thostenson, Li and Chou, 2005). Thermal conductivity of composite materials is also very low, this makes them useful in the manufacture of specialized packaging containers. Use of additives is employed in the manufacture of composites to cater for other properties such as lubrication (Luo and Daniel, 2003). The table below gives typical figures of filled and unfilled polymers in injection molding.   Ultimate Tensile Strength (MPa) Flexural Modulus (GPa) Deflection Temperature at 1.8 MPa load (°C) Unfilled With 30% Glass Fiber Unfilled With 30% Glass Fiber Unfilled With 30% Glass Fiber Polyetheretherketone 90 150 4 10 160 285 Polyphenylene Sulfide 70 140 5 11 120 260 Epoxy 70 150 2.5 25 175 200 Phenolic 60 90 3 20 180 250 Thermoset Polyester 60 140 3 8 130 220 ABS 40 90 2.5 7 90 110 Table1. Strength of composite materials (Wang, Song and Lin, 2003) Chart 1. A chart showing resistivity and cost of comnposite materials and metals (Thostenson, Li and Chou, 2005). Types of composites Composites can be divided into two broad categories; natural composites and man-made composites. An example of a natural composite is wood which is made of cellulose fibres and lignin cemented together. In the man-made category, there are Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs), Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) and metal matrix composites (MMCs). PMCs are made by reinforcing fibres into the polymer matrix while CMCs are made by reinforcing fibres into ceramic matrix (Fielding Chen and Borges, 2004). Of the three types, PMCs is a most common type which is also referred to as fibre reinforced polymer (FRP). Fibre glass which has been the most successful composite material is in this category. Fibre glass has found widespread use in making pipes and car parts among other structures for many decades. MMCs have also been highly accepted in the mobile industry while PMCs are widely used in the high temperature environment (Kim and Hahn, 2011). Composites can be made of thermoplastic or thermosetting polymer matrix combined with reinforcement. Thermosetting polymer matrix is used in giving material its shape and cohesion. It’s also responsible for distributing stress in the material as well as protecting it from the environment. Reinforcements provide the required strength and rigidity in the fibre. Other components and additives include ultra violet stabilizers and flame retardant (Fielding Chen and Borges, 2004). Matrix composites which are related to thermosetting come from liquid resins with low viscosity and are cured in a non reversible process. This means that they cannot be recycled through fusion. Thermoplastics are made from composites that are reinforced with continuous fibres. These fibres are widely available in the market with a lot of suppliers in place. Design process Initially molding process has been the main method utilised in manufacture of composite for low production. The process involves placing the reinforcing material in the mould first. Then in order to form an object, a semi liquid material is sprayed in the mould. This process leads to formation of air bubbles in the material. To remove the air bubbles, pressure is applied to force them out (Luo and Daniel, 2003). The process is mostly done by hand hence only a few materials can be produced. Requirement for mass production has led to use of automated process in the manufacture. To design composites structure in mass production is a complex process which has different parameters. This leads to a challenge in modeling since one is required to look for the balance in different parameters required as well as computation time needed. This has led to the development of solutions such as CATIA composites which allows the engineers to make an easy composite lay up (Dean et al, 2005). The following is a flow chart showing manufacture of carbon- carbon composite. Chart 2. Manufacture of carbon-carbon matrix (Luo and Daniel, 2003). A diagram showing the manufacture of fibre glass (Dean et al, 2005). Use in Automobile industry The automobile industry is the biggest consumer of composite materials, taking over 20 percent of the total materials produced. The ability of the composite material to combine several properties which cannot be easily found in a single metal has made it a favorable in automobile industry. Composite has low weight and high strength and can easily be made to suit the characteristics of the structure being manufactured. In the automotive industry, composite has a long history as it has been used since 1950s for production of vehicles non structural parts. Due to their inherent flexibility, composite materials provide the solution in the car parts manufacture despite the availability of other raw materials like aluminium and steel (Dean et al, 2005).. Though used in the automotive industry, composites have several issues in their applications. One of the main issues is encountered during simulation. Though several tools are available for simulation purposes, composite materials characterisation is a major problem. The simulation software have a large computation time for modeling, this translates to delay in vehicle development. This problem can only be solved by reducing the time for simulation by commercial software developers (Kim and Hahn, 2011). Another issue is the manufacturing of composites. For mass production of composite automotives, cost of raw materials must be justifiable economically. The manufacturing process should also be suitable and efficient. For example, mass production requires a high production rate of materials. The equipment available for mass production of composite vehicles faces difficulty in increased production rates (Kim and Hahn, 2011). Tools that are used for composite production are cheaper than those used for sheet metal production. Composite in vehicle manufacture mostly requires moulds which are made once but sheet metal requires several forming processes. These reduced costs of tools lead to economical production of materials at low volumes but the effect is lost in mass production. In mass production using composite materials to make vehicle parts, the cost of raw materials dominate making it more expensive. The inherent performance of the composite characteristics has made them to be one of the most desirable materials for mass production of vehicle parts despite the cost incurred in purchasing raw materials (Kim and Hahn, 2011). Economic consideration of composite in mass production The composite industry has been experiencing growth due to the acceptance in various sectors such as construction, automotive and wind power generation. The development in the emerging economies especially in Asia has also played a role in market growth. The emerging economies are in a phase where they are equipping themselves and have a high demand for goods. This has led them to take composite material in their production lines. As the production process continues being more automated, most economies have adopted the use of composite materials in mass production. The composites have been employed in low volume mass applications due to economic benefits associated (Dean et al, 2005). The automotive industry is one of the innovative sectors of the economy which has invested in composite materials. At present, this sector is investing in carbon composite. Significance of Composite Materials Composite materials offer great advantages in the modern world. The modern aviation industry has benefited immensely from the composite materials. This is due to the efficiency that has been achieved in this industry from materials that are strong and light. In the aviation sector, plane parts such as wings and tail sections have been made from the composite materials. This is along with internal structures and fittings. In building of small planes, the frames are made of entirely composite materials. Composite materials have an advantage in that they cannot break completely due to stress. A crack which occurs in metal spreads very fast leading to dangerous results which is not possible in composite materials. A crack in composite material cannot widen since stress is shared by the whole part (Dean et al, 2005). When it comes to developing complex structures and parts, composites have helped a lot. The flexibility of composites can be molded into shapes such as surfboards. Recycling of composite materials Composite materials are recyclable. When used in automobiles, they can be recycled when the vehicle is written off. The process of recycling starts by first grinding the materials into fine fibres in the order of 4 centimeters. The resultant is matrix powder with resin still attached into it. The matrix powder is then mixed with virgin matrix. In this process, it’s possible to come up with a material that has almost same strength as the original material. This is known as second generation composites (2GC). The resultant 2GC experiences failure in resin-resin interface (Kim and Hahn, 2011). The recycling of composite materials has still not reached desirable levels. This is because a lot of waste is expected with mass production but recycling processes are not improving at the same rate. Conclusion Composite materials stand a good position in mass production. This is due to the desirable properties that the materials hold. At present, composite materials use has been on increase in various industries such as automotive, military and air transport. This is due to the fact that they are very light and flexible. Through choice of the right ratio of reinforcement and matrix materials, it’s possible to make a specific component for a particular use. Composite materials contain enormous potential in the industry but their use will have to be justified in mass production. It’s highly recommended that the tools used in mass production should be improved to make the process faster and more economical. There is also need to improve the recycling of waste from composite materials. This will lead to optimum reusability of waste composite materials from mass production. References Chen, G., Wu, C. and Weng, W. (2003). Preparation of Polystyrene/Graphite Nanosheet Composite, Polymer, 44, p.1781–1784. David H. and Nobuo S. (2001). Wood and cellulose chemistry. New York: Marcel Dekker. Dean, D., Walker, R., Theodore, M., Hampton, E. and Nyairo, E. (2005). Chemorheology and Properties of Epoxy/Layered Silicate Nanocomposites. Polymer, 46, 3014–302. Fielding, J.C., Chen, C. and Borges, J. (2004). Vacuum Infusion Process for Nanomodified Aerospace Epoxy Resins, In: SAMPE Symposium & Exhibition, Long beach, CA. Kim H.S. and Hahn H.T. (2011). graphite fiber composites interlayered with single welled carbon nanotubes, Journal of composite materials, 45, 1109-1120. Luo, J.J. and Daniel, I.M. (2003). Characterization and Modeling of Mechanical Behavior of Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites. Compos. Science and Technology, 63(11), 1607–1616. Thostenson, E., Li, C. and Chou, T. (2005). Review Nanocomposites in Context, Journal of Composites Science & Technology, 65, 491–516. Wang, Q., Song, C. and Lin, W. (2003). Study of the Exfoliation Process of Epoxy–Clay Nanocomposites by Different Curing Agents. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 90, 511-517. Read More