ADVANCED COMPOSITE- THE TOTAL SOLUTION FOR LIGHT WEIGHT MOBILITY

Introduction :

Advanced composite has been well ignored for a long time in India due to various
reasons which includes non-availability of high end raw materials, lack of
knowledge in process and lack of understanding, and no knowledge or less
knowledge of process and market as well. However, since last 10 years things have
changed drastically and the result is slowly exposed to the world that ‘advanced
composite is growing in India’. There is an excellent opportunity for India,
specially sectors like wind energy, solar energy, mobility solutions, light weight
technology, ship and boats, automotive, aeronautical, defence and industrial
products and projects.

To achieve extraordinary advances, the transportation industry requires materials

that are lighter, stronger, safer and more affordable than conventional materials.
Engineers are pursuing these ideal parameters through increased precision in both
design and manufacture to achieve greater uniformity and concomitant
predictability in materials performance. Advanced composites are ideal
replacement of steel and metal. Therefore, right from infra areas, aeronautical,
defence, automotive, marine, industrial and other critical areas it can be used for
enhancing the life of the final products.

Advanced composite are mainly used in the high end applications such as
aeronautical, defence, marine and railway sectors. For instance oil and gas
industry, marine, and railways are very critical segments of industries for fire
retardant composites due to various reasons. The latest introduction of fire
retardant advanced composite material is the most ideal solution for critical
applications in the oil and gas sector for chopper landing platforms, and for
railways the entire coach or wagon can be made out of the same in order to get
best safety and security for men and machine.

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Advanced Composites in Brief :

Advanced composites exhibit desirable physical and chemical properties that

include light weight coupled with high stiffness (elasticity), and strength along the
direction of the reinforcing fiber, dimensional stability, temperature and chemical
resistance, flex performance, and relatively easy processing.

Non-crimp fabric (NCF) are one of the most promising next generation composite
materials. They offer large potential for application in structures as they give
excellent performance at low production costs. In comparison with crimped fibres,
as found in woven textiles for instance, straight lay-up (non-crimp) fibres have the
greatest possible load-bearing capacity. They can be "tailor-made", in other words
they are individually configured for customers and optimised to meet the
requirements of their components and overall process i.e. Depending on the fibre
type, weight per unit area and angle-ply layer combination, a range of different
mechanical strengths can be produced.

Glass NCF - They are stronger and lighter compared to metal/concrete.

They are also non-conductive. They are used in applications
where there is a premium for increased strength and lower
weight.
Carbon NCF - They are used where low weight, high stiffness, high
conductivity is required. High modulus of carbon fiber make
it suitable structurally to replace alloys such as aluminum and
titanium. The weight savings that carbon NCF provides is the
primary reason it has been adopted by the aerospace industry.

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 Aramid NCF - They possess very strong and have a high specific modulus.
Used in application that requires high tensile strength. (Armour
vehicle, where Aramid reinforced composite can stop high
powered rifle rounds).

Advantages of NCF :

Description Woven Roving NCF Advantages of NCF

• 5 – 20% more
More due to Non
Mechanical Less due to Crimp mechanical strength in
Crimp and definable
strength fabric NCF with same
fiber direction
thickness
• Fiber angle adaptable
Directions 0 0
0°/90° 22.5 – 90 to specific load cases
possible
• Reduction in plies
• Increased impact
resistance
No. of layers Up to7 plies in one
Only 2 • Greater strength
in fabric step
• Saves lay up time
• Faster Infusion
Resin flow in Facilitates resin
No facilitation of • Faster wet out
Automated flow due to NCF
resin flow • Higher fibre volume
processes structure
Typical Fiber Typical Fiber
Fiber Volume • Better fiber to resin
Volume Content : volume Content :
fraction ratio
35-50% 45-60%

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 Multiple layers
Time Multiple layers
will be laid one- • Time Savings
Consumption present in one NCF
by-one
Fibre bundles are • Lower weight
Resin Interstices at the
closer, No • Cost reduction
Consumption fibre bending
interstices • More strength

Advanced Composites for Light Weight Mobility Applications :

Automotive Industry : The Automotive industry faces many challenges; from

improving energy efficiency, to reducing vehicle emissions, to increasing durability
at reduced programme cost etc. But the primary objective of the engineers always
remains the same: Making the vehicles even better. Advanced Composites have
already been helping to achieve this objective for many years. They have been
incorporated into the outer skin as “Class A surfaces” and used for making
structural components in the bodywork, doors, rear bulkheads and B-pillars. In
passenger cars and commercial vehicles – such as rail vehicles, trucks, buses and
functional vehicles (caravans, trailers, fire service vehicles etc) advanced
composites are used in manufacture of wheel rims, wind deflectors, driver’s cabs
and bodywork. Latest development of all composite chassis less buses with fast-
charge, 100% electric so zero tailpipe emissions. For bus measuring 40 ft weight
saving is of 3 Ton & of 30 ft is 2.25 Ton (approx.). These buses are built from
durable hybrid advanced composites.

Marine Industry : The application of advanced composites to maritime crafts was

initially driven by a need for lightweight, strong, corrosion resistant durable naval
boats. Most of these early applications were driven by the need to overcome
corrosion problems experienced with steel or Aluminium alloys or environmental
degradation suffered by wood. Another reason for using composite was to reduce
weight, particularly the topside weight of ships. The high acoustic transparency of
composites also resulted in their use in radomes on ships and sonar domes on
submarines in boatbuilding applications. For applications like hull and deck
planking, superstructures and interior mouldings of vessels advanced composites
provide complete material solutions for the sandwich construction system. When

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draping the fabric over vertical areas and large curvatures of the component – for
instance the hull – self-adhesive fabrics are used, making work easier. The
comprehensive Fire retardant material with core material represents a real
milestone in the manufacture of components for use in boat and shipbuilding. It
combines a high level of fire protection with a high degree of mechanical strength
and is furthermore non-toxic fulfilling the most stringent fire-protection
requirements.

Locomotive Industry : The use of advanced composite materials has become an

increasingly important factor in engineering design. They meet stringent
requirement such as satisfactory performance even at high temperature, pressure,
corrosive environment or high stress. High stiffness from structural
materials reduces (even eliminates) supporting framework, increases passenger
room, carries fittings readily. A modular construction (interchangeable panels) of
advanced composites is easy to handle & install and offers rapid fitting. Lighter
bodied coaches are instrumental for achieving higher speed. In addition to the
factors of weight and mechanical systems, fire protection plays a major role in
the production of rail vehicles. In Europe, the qualification of components is
prescribed according to fire safety standard EN ISO 45545. New generation of
advanced composite system with IMO-FTP approved fire properties. Different core
materials, optimized NCFs , resins and the protection layer create a unique system
of materials meeting the highest fire protection requirements, reducing smoke
formation in case of fire and suppressing any toxic substances. At the same time,
negative effects on mechanical core values are avoided during a fire, which are
commonly observed in conventional fire protection systems.

Aeronautical Industry : Aeronautical industry is one of the pioneers of introducing

advanced carbon composites for both structural and non-structural parts.
Advanced composite materials are fast gaining ground as preferred materials for
construction of aircrafts and space crafts. In particular, their use as primary
structural materials in recent years in several technology demonstrator front-line
aerospace projects world-wide has provided confidence leading to their
acceptance as prime materials for aerospace vehicles. Emergence of strong and
stiff reinforcements & polymer research to produce high performance resins as
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matrix materials have helped meet the challenges posed by the complex designs of
modern aircraft. The large scale use of advanced composites in current
programmes of development of military fighter aircraft, small and big civil
transport aircraft, helicopters, satellites, launch vehicles and missiles all around
the world is perhaps the most glowing example of the utilization of potential of
such composite materials.

Lightweight components made from advanced composites help reduce the

consumption of fossil fuels and extend the range of aircraft. They also have
positive effects in terms of costs and the environment. Primary and secondary
structural components such as stringers, ribs, fairing parts and pressure bulkheads
are manufactured from carbon fabrics, as are complete wing structures. Further,
the structure has to meet the requirements of fuel sealing and provide access for
easy maintenance of equipments. Passenger carriage requires safety standards to
be followed and these put special demands of fire-retardance and crashworthiness
on the materials and design used. For spacecraft the space environment–vacuum,
radiation and thermal cycling-has to be considered and specially developed
materials are required for durability. Advanced composites is theidle solution for
meeting all above requirements. Another advantage of composite materials is that,
generally speaking, they can be formed into more complex shapes than their
metallic counterparts. This not only reduces the number of parts making up a given
component, but also reduces the need for fasteners and joints, the advantages of
which are twofold: fasteners and joints may be the weak points of a component ' a
bolt needs a hole which is a stress concentration and therefore a potential crack-
initiation site, and fewer fasteners and joints can mean a shorter assembly time.

Advanced Composites for Light Weight Mobility Advantages :

Automobile Marine Locomotive Aeronautical

Properties
Industry Industry Industry Industry
Fuel Efficiency √ √ √ √
Low Carbon Emission √ NA NA NA
Increase in payload √ √ √ √
No rust and corrosion √ √ √ √

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Chemically Inert √ √ √ √
Enhanced engine life √ √ √ √
Reduced Noise pollution √ NA √ NA
Increase in passenger
√ √ √ √
safety
No special Insulation for
√ √ √ √
Air Conditioning
Aesthetically pleasing √ √ √ √
Easy to repair √ √ √ √
Low maintenance cost √ √ √ √
Easy to recycle √ √ √ √
No special painting
required as it can be √ √ √ √
made from pigmenting
Cost effective and added
value to end users as √ √ √ √
CAPEX cost is less
Part Consolidation √ √ √ √
Stealth NA √ NA √
Reduces magnetic
NA √ NA √
signature
Radar Transparent NA √ NA √
Stable and infrared
NA √ NA √
emission is less
Good acoustic isolation
NA √ NA √
properties
Non-magnetic properties
of composites results in NA √ NA √
low magnetic signature
High thermal insulation -
NA √ NA √
Reduced heat signature
Design Flexibility √ √ √ √
Non Conductive /
√ √ √ √
Insulator
Instrumental for achieving
√ √ √ √
higher speed
Out of Autoclave
NA NA NA √
processing
All weather operation NA NA NA √

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 Ships require ballast for
stability. If superstructure
is constructed from
NA √ NA NA
lightweight materials,
there is less need for
ballast

Note : NA – Not Applicable, √ - Applicable Advantage

Conclusion : Light weight mobility solutions are going to change the outlook of the
world in the coming years. Advanced composite is the most ideal solution to make
light weight mobility solutions possible because of its various inherent advantages.

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