Program Overview

Composites Engineering Program

The Composites Engineering program is a core module available to students on the BEng/MEng (honours) Mechanical Engineering or BEng/MEng (honours) Marine Technology courses. This module integrates learning from the Composites Design and Manufacture and Quality Management II modules in a practical assignment to specify, design, manufacture, test, and report on a prototype composite component.

Module Components

The specific components of the pathway include:

• MATS 347
• MATS 348
• MFRG 311

Assessment

Assessment for this module is 0% examination and 100% coursework.

Design

The design aspect of the program covers:

• How to write a Product Design Specification
  • Manufacturing 1.5: Product design specification
  • Manufacturing 1.6: PDS checklist
  • Writing a Product Design Specification
• BS 7373-1:2001 Guide to the preparation of specifications
• BS 7373-2:2001 Product specifications
• BS 7373-3:2005 Product specifications
• Safety factors
• Recommended reading for design
  • DM Anderson, Design for manufacturability
  • AT Mengistu, M Dieste, R Panizzolo, and S Biazzo, Sustainable product design factors

Costs

The program also considers costs, including:

• Cost comparisons in the literature
• Indicative costs for the laboratory coursework assignment
• Life Cycle Costing factsheet
• Life cycle costing review papers

Component Considerations

Components considered in this module include:

• Mountain bike suspension arm
• Bicycle front forks
• Yacht winch handle
• Skaters trolley
• Launching trolley for a dinghy
• Man-portable bridge
• In-situ repair of a welded T-joint in an oil tank
• Yacht mast spreader
• A crutch for a disabled table-tennis player
• Car spoiler
• Crossbow limb
• Legs for a bipedal robot
• Kite-surf board
• Bicycle crank
• Luge board
• Gas turbine blade
• Ice-axe handle
• Recreational helmet
• Bridge span
• Torsion rod or torsion tube
• Bicycle sprocket
• In-wheel bicycle suspension
• Coil over-spring
• Composite car jack for motorsport
• Wheel bracket for the Project Nevada hand-cycle
• Motor cycle front foot rest
• Ice axe shaft
• BMX brake calliper
• Arctic tow hook
• Cycle brake lever
• Long board truck bar
• Subsea locking mechanism
• Mountain bike handlebars
• Bicycle wheel
• Motorcycle swing arm
• Blade (short ski)
• Carabiner
• Truck lift crane arm
• Bicycle saddle
• Welders head protection
• D-link winch hooking mechanism
• Emergency services sledgehammer
• Shin brace
• Aircraft footstep
• Pulaski axe
• Domestic hydro-turbine blade
• Tennis racket
• Helicopter blade attachment
• Lifeboat steering wheel
• Stakeboard truck
• Carabiner
• Wire strike
• Drone blade
• Cyclic control stick
• Ice axe
• Nunchucks
• Wind turbine blade
• Dinghy rudder
• Yacht pad eye
• In-line load cell
• Marine propeller blade
• Surf fin
• Lifting bar
• Bicycle crank arm
• Golf driver
• Gear change paddle
• Hydrofoil
• Bell crank
• Tail rotor blade
• Landing gear torque arm
• J80 tiller
• Cranehook
• Winch handle
• Intake manifold
• Upper wishbone
• Paddle racket
• Carabiner concept

Factlets

• Alain Giocosa suggested that each 100 kg saved in a passenger car translates to a fuel saving of 4 litres/1000 km.
• Costas Soutis stated that 1 kg weight reduction saves over 2900L fuel per year in the context of the Airbus A320.
• Each kilogramme cut means a saving of roughly $1m (Ł603,000) in costs over the lifetime of an aircraft.

Health and Safety

It is essential that all students are aware of the Health and Safety considerations for this module. Students will be required to attend the Health and Safety presentation and sign to confirm that they have done so before using the facilities in the ACMC laboratory.

Safety Factors

The program considers various safety factors, including:

• Static short-term loads
• Static long-term loads
• Variable/changing loads
• Repeated loads
• Fatigue or load-reversal
• Impact loads repeated
• Composite manufacture by handwork
• Composite manufacture by machine controlled spray application
• Composite manufacture by hand-held spray application
• Composite chemical pressure vessel with a thermoplastic liner
• Composite chemical pressure vessel without a thermoplastic liner
• Composite operating temperature
• Composite post-cure to manufacturers specification

References

• SM Halliwell, Polymer composites in construction
• BS 4994:1987 Design and construction of vessels and tanks in reinforced plastics
• S Pugh, Total design: integrated methods for successful product engineering

Recommended Reading

• MF Ashby, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design
• D Gay, Composite Materials: Design and Applications
• RF Gibson, Principles of Composite Material Mechanics
• DC Smoot and AB Strong, Product and Process Innovation
• A Brent Strong, Composites in Manufacturing - Case Studies
• JFV Vincent, OA Bogatyreva, NR Bogatyrev, A Bowyer, and A-K Pahl, Biomimetics: its practice and theory

Environmental Assessments

• BA Ahmed Ali, SM Sapuan, ES Zainudin, and M Othman, Implementation of the expert decision system for environmental assessment in composite materials selection for automotive components
• M Akhshik, S Panthapulakkal, J Tjong, and M Sain, The effect of lightweighting on greenhouse gas emissions and life cycle energy for automotive composite parts
• M Raugei, D Morrey, A Hutchinson, and P Winfield, A coherent life cycle assessment of a range of lightweighting strategies for compact vehicles