Composites- systematic design

1. In order to maximise the stored energy in a light spring the performance

index is
i)

ii)

2
E

Find the performance indices for the materials in the following table
and hence see which of these materials is best in principle to make
a light spring with maximum energy storage.
Suggest 3 more materials you think might make good springs. Using
the internet find appropriate data for these materials and compare
them with the ones in the table. You should work individually for
this so there should be 39 suggestions between the group!

Material
Spring steel
Copper- 2%
beryllium
CFRP woven cloth
laminate
Glass

Modulus GPa
206
130

Strength MPa
1100
980

Density Mg/M3
7.85
8.25

68

840

1.58

70

33

2.53

2. Which of the materials given to you in question 1 is best for making a

strong light tie? Which one is best for making a column?
3. Aluminium, steel and polystyrene are all used in cutlery for aircraft.
Assuming that the cutlery can be modelled as a single cantilever beam as
a crude approximation find the lightest solution assuming that the
dimensions using each material are the same, but the thickness can be
varied, you will need to consider whether the cutlery is stiff enough and
also whether it is strong enough for the application. Calculate the cost of
the cutlery using average costs for the materials from the internet and
the constraint that it has to have sufficient strength.. If it costs 20p per
item to wash the metal items before reuse, but the plastic cutlery is
thrown away each flight find the cost of the cutlery use over 15 flights.
Some hints- Start by finding an equation for the mass of a single piece of
cutlery then eliminate the thickness which is not given... There are two
factors here- whether there is sufficient stiffness and whether there is
sufficient strength a beam will fail in bending at a load

F=

2 I
tL

where t

is the thickness. L is the length, is the failure stress, I is the second

moment of area

I=

b t3
12

where b is the breath. For your calculation

assume F = 50 N. The stiffness is given by

S=

2 EI
3
. You should also
L

assume that 1000 items of cutlery are needed each flight and the length is
15 cm and the breath is 25 cm.
4. A crossing over a river is to be designed in composite and is a simple
beam. This has to span a gap of 10m but to be comfortable the deflection
cannot be more than 10 mm when a 75 kg person walks over it. Assuming
the bridge is 1.5 m wide and 50 mm thick find the material stiffness
required. Is this achievable in composites and if so suggest a suitable
material. The deflection is given by

F L3
48 EI

where the symbols have

the same meaning as above and I is the same as in question 3. How would
you change the design to make the bridge better?