Design and Testing

Mechanical testing of ceramic matrix composites

Today’s CMC materials, robust and resistant to high temperatures, provide their own set of challenges when determining their performance through mechanical testing.

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Using multidisciplinary simulation, real-time process monitoring to improve composite pressure vessels

Multi-pronged approach closes the loop between design and production of Type 3, 4 and 5 pressure vessels, enabling simulation of as-built composite tanks to improve performance and storage capacity while reducing weight and cost.

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Crashworthiness testing of composites: A building block approach, Part 3

Third in a series on crashworthiness testing analyzes the upper levels of the building block approach and the importance of numerical analyses.

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Crashworthiness testing of composites: A building block approach, Part 2

Following the previously discussed coupon-level testing element, subcomponent and component testing are the next steps in designing crashworthy composite structures.  

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Crashworthiness testing of composites: A building block approach, Part 1

Determining the crashworthiness of composite structures requires several levels of testing and analysis, starting with coupon-level crush testing.

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Testing to support composite bolted joint analysis

An overview of ASTM Standard Guide D8509, and its coupon-level mechanical testing of design properties for analyzing composite bolted joints.

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Photothermal tomography for locating, quantifying defects in composites

Years of infrared testing development result in thermography technology that is no longer just qualitative, but can define defect size and depth, making additional UT scans obsolete.

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Damage tolerance testing of sandwich composites: The sandwich flexure-after-impact (FAI) test

A second new ASTM-standardized test method assesses the damage tolerance of sandwich composites under flexural loading.

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Multi-scale 3D CT imaging enables digital twinning, high-fidelity simulation of composite structures

Computed tomography (CT) provides highly accurate 3D analysis of internal microstructure, performance simulation of carbon fiber/PEEK satellite strut.

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Damage tolerance testing of sandwich composites: The sandwich CAI test

A new ASTM-standardized test method established in 2022 assesses the compression-loaded damage tolerance of sandwich composites.  

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