Hello everyone,

Can you suggest best sources of literature (books, articles, magazines ...) about composites, especially about carbon fibers? I'm looking for literature about mechanical properties, statics, dynamics, physics ... for composites. How to calculate mechanical properties for part we're making, before we make it, how to optimize part (mould, thickness of layers and so on).

If anyone could help, I will be more than thankful.

Hi Filip,

If you're interested in how to test composites and calculate mechanical properties then you might actually find the ASTM or ISO test standards interesting reading. If you go through the normal channels then you do need to pay for each test standard but they are well written documents with a good level of explanation in. If you have a local university with a technical library then they're likely to have copies of the standards you could look at or read if you don't want to invest in them.

In terms of calculating the properties for the components you're making, I suppose the place to start would be to decide whether you're doing traditional calculations (suitable for simple structures like flat sheets or basic geometry) or whether you're going to CAD model the components and the conduct finite element analysis (FEA) on the models. With today's technology, this is going to be your most likely route. In which case, you should spend your time choosing and getting a CAD package that can do this (my suggestion would be Fusion360 which if you tick the right boxes you can get for free), learning how to use it (if you don't know already) and then getting the right material properties to put into it. 

I hope this helps.

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales