This article reviews various tools that are evolving to help engineers work with complex composite materials. Specialized composite analysts are needed to help find the best material for a particular use and to determine if it can be manufactured with the chosen material and in a particular shape. The Falcon Heavy spaceflight system is planned to launch on a SpaceX-designed rocket engine. As composite materials are lighter than metal, SpaceX engineers realized that composites could improve the strength-to-weight ratio of its materials. In order to help engineers choose the best composite for the design, the software system contains a large library of material models that designers can use to explore a composite material and determine how it might behave under a variety of circumstances. Predicting how the cracks will affect the part long-term still cannot be done within software packages and must be prototyped.
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August 2013
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Unknown Qualities
Because Composites Don’t Behave Like Metals they can Present Particular Challenges to Designers. Tools are Evolving to Work with these Complex Materials.
Jean Thilmany is an associate editor of Mechanical Engineering magazine.
Mechanical Engineering. Aug 2013, 135(08): 44-49 (6 pages)
Published Online: August 1, 2013
Citation
Thilmany, J. (August 1, 2013). "Unknown Qualities." ASME. Mechanical Engineering. August 2013; 135(08): 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2013-AUG-2
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