Strength & Life of Composites

Stephen W. Tsai (Editor), Stanford University, JEC Composites, 2008, hardcover, 672 p., EUR 113.74, ISBN 978-0-9819143-0-5

The textbook Strength & Life of Composites originates from the Composites Design Tutorial, an online, on demand training course offered by Stanford University. The book is subdivided into three parts: The first section consists of seven reprinted papers (with some modification and use of colour figures), of which the first six papers were previously published in a 40th anniversary volume of Journal of Composites Materials.

The papers are on strength and life of composites based principally on micromechanics of failure. The first paper explains the micromechanics of unidirectional composite plies. The second covers random fibre arrays based on a computer simulation of inserting fibres in a given domain. The third describes the micromechanics of failure (MMF).

The fourth is on progressive damage and includes a survey of relevant papers on the subject as well as the application of the Element Failure Method (EFM) to model progressive damage in practical design problems. This is followed by a paper on the time-temperature superposition principle (TTSP) applied to strength. The next paper discusses an integrated tool that covers MMF, TTSP and progressive damage.

The last paper describes the detail in the generation of master curves and a standard material derived from comparing several epoxies. The second section includes two prerequisite references on composite materials and processing as well as a theory on the mechanics of composites and its application to design.

The third section describes tools for design calculations and lists the available software. The book is recommended for students and engineers interested in composites competitive for aerospace, transportation and wind energy.