Material and structural assessment of thermal spray composites

Experimental and computational assessment of random, discontinuous, long fi ber reinforced composites manufactured with the thermal spray-structural re action injection molding (TS-SRIM) process is undertaken to determine their material and mechanical characteristics as design allowables. The glass co ntent, the reinforcement architecture, and the geometry of the specimens ar e treated as the primary variables. The glass fiber reinforcement was eithe r discontinuous long fiber (TS) or in combination with unidirectional conti nuous fiber (TS-UNI). In addition to classical flat coupons, hat beams are tested to assess structural response. The finite element models of the hat beams use the material data generated from the coupon tests. The coupon tes t data revealed that tensile, flexural, and compressive properties increase d as a function of weight percent glass content for the coupons and beams w ith the isotropic reinforcement. For the orthotropic architectures with inc reasing glass content, performance improved in the longitudinal direction a nd declined in the transverse direction. However, the loading capacity of t he hat beams with a constant total glass content remained indifferent to th e variation of UNI glass additions. The computational simulation results co mpared favorably to beam test results. Analytical studies of beams with sti ffeners (ribs) subjected to bending loads showed that longitudinal ribs ori ented along the beam axis offered little improvement in structural response , whereas transversely oriented ribs significantly increased the load capac ity.