The matrix with fiber material - Fusion 360 Tutorial

- [Instructor] In this video, we're going to talk about composite materials and the fiber and the matrix that make up that composite part, that material. So let's get started. So what is composites? And so for this class, composites is a structure made up of two or more materials that have both the fabric or the reinforcement, the fiber, and the matrix. In most cases the matrix is going to be a epoxy or vinylester system. And those parts cured together become a composite structure, composite part, a laminate. So for the purpose of this class, that's what we're considering. So that's what it's made up of. Those are the main two properties. And you kind of already got a feeling for that based on some of the positives and negatives of composite structures. You've already kind of gotten a feel for these two parts of the composite structure, the fabric or reinforcement, and the matrix. Now, for the fabric material, or the reinforcement, or the fiber, these are two very common materials that are used. So on the left here, you have a carbon fiber tweel woven material, and on the right, you have a fiberglass matte material. So there's some very big differences between these materials. One, the material itself is different. One is carbon fiber, one is fiberglass, and those have their own material properties themselves. You also have the way the material is actually constructed. So on the left-hand side, you have a 12 material. So you have basically strength characteristics where the fiber is going. So it's zero degrees and, like 90 degrees are the two strength areas of the part. And on the right-hand side, the matte, you have kind of these hairs of fiberglass going in every direction. So that gives you something that's a little bit closer to an isotropic material properties than that part on the left. Now, the carbon fiber on the left has much more tuneable properties where you can create the strength right where you need it. So that makes it really beneficial in certain cases. And the fiberglass on the right is beneficial in certain areas. So there's a lot of material properties that are highlighted based on what products you choose and what fiber orientation you choose in relationship to the material. So the fiber material is very important and a lot of the strength characteristics, and loads, and conductive properties, the heat transfer of the part, this is where you kind of decide on those things is when you selecting your fiber materials themselves. Now, for the matrix, in this image, you're just seeing a picture of the epoxy system being mixed. Now, matrixes themselves are the glue, essentially, that holds the panels together, the laminate together, the layers of carbon fiber, fiberglass all together is held by the matrix. And now the matrix is typically very isotropic. It has the strengths, that're all equal: X, Y, and Z. And the matrix is also a limiting factor typically on its heat resistance. So your maximum temperature that you can typically handle in a part is dictated by the matrix. Matrixes in most cases and most of what we're going to be talking about are either epoxy systems or vinylester based systems. There are newer matrix materials that are now becoming more and more available, such as prosets and UV curable systems. Now, these are more experimental. They're not quite as in production and you don't see them used very often. They're also usually much more expensive to work with, but there are out there. In most cases, vinylester and epoxy systems is what we're going to be using. And these material properties typically have a maximum operating temperature of 300 to 400 degrees, typically is about the highest you can see. The lower temperature stuff is typically around 180 to 250 ish is usually the lower temperature materials. So it's definitely your resistance. You can also have additives added to the matrix that helps with some of the abrasion resistance and increases its isotropic properties of the panel itself, of the laminate itself. So there's lots of things that can be done here and lots of tunability that can be done within the matrix themselves. Now for some terminology: lamina. And this here's an image of just a single piece of composite material, the fabric reinforcement, and incorporated with the matrix. When you have a single layer like that, that's a lamina. And now when you take that and create multiple layers of it, you get a laminate. And this is typically what you're going to see is a finished composite cured part is a laminate. And you're also going to see here in this image you see the fabric is actually going in multiple different directions. And this comes back to that tunability that customizability of the material properties. So you can have the stripes going different ways. You can have forces and loads to help transfer through the part. This helps you tune that material to your exact characteristics that you want.