Department of Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing

Course Outline

 

 

MFGT 247- Composites  – 3.0 Units

 

 

Prerequisite:           MFGT 141, Chemistry 51, Chemistry 52, ME 45

 

Course Times:       Lecture        T,R    2:00 PM – 2:50 PM  LANG 122

                             Lab             M      2:00 PM – 4:50 PM  LANG 118

 

Instructor:             Professor Joe Greene (jpgreene@csuchico.edu)

                             Web page: http://www.csuchico.edu/~jpgreene

 

Office:                   Location-     O’Connell 425 – Phone: 898-4977

                             Hours          W      8:30 AM – 10 AM

                                               

 

 

Course Objective: Provide students an introduction to composite materials and processing by investigating thermoplastic composites, thermoset resins, glass and carbon reinforcements, core materials, tooling, and thermoset processing equipment.

 

Laboratory Objectives: Provide students a basic knowledge of molding thermoplastic and thermoset composites, including epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester, and polyurethane.  Processing methods include hand-layup, vacuum assisted molding, injection molding, RTM, and compression molding.

 

Textbook

·        Fundamentals of Composites Manufacturing, Strong, SME, Dearborn, MI 1994

 

Reference Book:

·        Manufacturing of Polymer Composites, Astrom, Chapman and Hall, London, 1997

·        Composite Materials Handbook, McGraw Hill, (1984)

 

Safety: Safety glasses with side shields must be purchased by the student and worn at all times in the lab.  Failure to do so will result in the student being removed from the lab and being dropped from the class.  The student must read, understand and follow all safety procedures at all times.  If there are any questions about the process, operation, or safe handling of materials, the student must talk to the instructor.

 


Grading      

            1 Midterm exam                                                                       10%

1 Final exam                                                                             20%

Unannounced quizzes (2 quizzes)                                              10%

Homework                                                                               10%

            Lab Report       (2 Lab Reports + notebook)                             20%

            Polymer Composite Material  (1 paper)                                    20%

Literature Review         (2 papers)                                            10%                                                                                                                                                                 100%

Reports (All reports will be typed and double spaced.)

1.     Lab Work (Teams of  4 students)–

·        Each student works in a team to conduct experiments to identify process parameters for molding of composite materials.  Each student records data in a lab notebook to record material and manufacturing information during the lab experiments. The format of the notebook is provided at the end of the syllabus.

·        Each student group will complete two papers identifying the results of a lab assignment to produce parts from a composite material. The format of the paper is provided at the end of this letter.

·        Hand layup or RTM of a skateboard – Due  Sep 28, 2004

·        Compression molding of SMC or GMT – Due  Nov 2, 2004

·        (Optional or replacement) Method of producing a composite mold- Due above

 

2.     Polymer Composite Papers: Paper 1: Due Nov 29, 2004

Each student will be responsible for one paper on composite materials. The material will be chosen by the professor and can be any thermoplastic or thermoset resin with appropriate reinforcements.  The paper must include the processing method, e.g., hand-layup, vacuum assisted molding, resin transfer molding, or compression molding.  The paper would be 6 to 8 pages typed and double spaced. It should include

·        Chemistry and properties of matrix resin and reinforcements

·        Manufacturing methods, including equipment, molds, molding procedures

·        Applications and commercial uses

·        Reference work and published papers

 

3.     Literature Review–

·        Report on any current article (2003 or 2004) concerning thermoset composites. Available resources include Composites Magazine, Journal of Composites (library), web sources. (4 to 5 pages typed and double-spaced). 

·        Paper 1 – Due  Sep 7, 2004

·        Paper 2 – Due  Oct 5, 2004


MFGT 247  Format for Lab Reports

 

Lab Report Title

 

 

Names and signatures

MFGT 247

Date

 

 

(new page)

Introduction

·        Give purpose of the lab experiment.

·        Background if necessary of the experiment.

 

Materials

·        Materials used to run experiment.  Include product name, chemistry, supplier, etc…

 

Equipment

·        Equipment used for Experiment.  Identify name, size, manufacturer, etc…

 

Procedure

·        List the procedure to run equipment.

 

Results

·        Describe your results.  List the data in table form and then summarize the data in graph form with Excel

·        Describe the data from Taguchi results.  Show the results as graphs as well.

 

Conclusions and Recommendations

·        Give conclusions and recommendation that you can draw from your experiment. Answer the questions from the lab assignment.

 


 

MFGT 247  Format for Lab Notebook

(page 1)

Table Of Contents

 

Page Number   Experiment Title

1.                                 5 ‘S’ Training

6.                                 Extrusion of LDPE with film Die on 9-15-99

13.                               Injection Molding of HDPE with Frisbee on 10-22-99

 

(Page 3 and others)

Other formatting notes:

·        Write on one side of the page.

·        Number the page in the bottom right corner

·        Include the following

·        Purpose

·        Methodology

·        Experimental Equipment

·        Materials

·        Experimental Procedure

·        Results in table form

·        Graphs showing the results and measured items

·        Discussion describing the results

·        Conclusions and recommendations