Nowadays, composites are considered as one of the most important materials in a great
number of industries because of its advantage in high-performance products. These materials are
applied in many fields in life, from transportation, sports, foods, medical, construction to scientific
fields such aeronautics and cosmology. Based on the physical and chemical properties of
composite materials in term of mechanic, design and manufacturing, many breakthrough in
operation of products are figured out. Therefore, it is essential to have a wide knowledge of
composite to work as a professional engineer in my future.
Through the course of Composite Processing, the fundamental knowledge of composite
materials is introduced. By accessing to the book of Manufacturing technique for Polymer Matrix
Composite written by Suresh G. Advani and Kuang-Ting Hsiao, a general review of the various
technique using in the composite manufacturing. The crucial concepts of composite materials as
well as composite processing are defined, for example, a short evaluation of fiber and nanoparticle
in the polymer matrix composites and the related molding process including injection and
impression is introduced. Additionally, the next parts of this book also show the classification of
different processing based on thermoplastic and thermoset. Many methods related to thermoplastic
processing are investigated, such as sheet forming, fabric thermos-stamping, filament winding or
continuous fiber reinforced process. Related to thermoset processing, there are the reviews of resin
transfer molding follows consisting of vacuum assisted and compression resin transfer molding.
The definition of pultrusion process as well as the application of autoclave and out-of-autoclave
curing process in composite processing are also mentioned in this book. Corresponding to each
process, the advantages and disadvantages along with the application based on different composite
materials are discussed. Through these knowledge, we can obtain the usage awareness of
composite materials in specific case of producing.
In the other hand, another way for me to gain knowledge in this course is from the
presentations of group working. Many interesting topic linked to the composite processing were
introduced. Most of topic mentioned about the application of composite materials and composite
manufacturing in various fields. One of the impressed topics presented in class is the Composite
in Infrastructure. The presented content pointed out the benefit of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP)
comparing to other materials. For examples, the strength of FRP is equal to steel, but it has more
stiffness and less environmental impact than steel. The FRP materials are suitable to be molded by
forming processing. Because of its breakthrough in long life span as well as environment-friendly,
this material is widely used in infrastructure building such as highway, bridge, poles and etc. The
other materials mentioning in this topic is carbon fiber reinforced carbon (CFRC) which provides
a higher tensile strength and lightweight material than others. This new composite materials are
applied in many higher technical infrastructure, for instance, warehouse, dams, airport runways
and etc. These constructions have a very long life expectancy until over 100 years. In addition,
there are some remarkable topics about the application of composite materials in a number of
industries including sport, marine industry, modern architecture or aerospace. By taking full
advantage of composite materials such as high strength, reducing corrosion, light weight and
dimension stability to create a lot of breakthrough in technology so that the productivity as well as
quality of operation is enhanced. The idea of new composite materials such as bioplastic from
carbon dioxide was also stated as a very noteworthy topic. This new materials is obtained from
organic biomass source. This solution can help to reduce greenhouse emission as well as save
fossil fuel. Based on the biodegradable process, the local biomass resource can be used to produce
bioplastics.
During the course, I had chances to gain more knowledge about composite material and
the composite operation processing through the guest, Martin Nuutinen from Bang and Bonsomer
Company. Bang and Bonsomer is known as the leader in smart materials technology supplier
which offer the smart process technology solution, services and their own innovation technique.
Coming to share about these new materials and last technique in composite processing, Martin
brought me a very useful knowledge of material processing in reality. Moreover, the other guest,
Pirjo Pietikäinen, also provided a lot of knowledge of composite and composite processing.
Besides, the potential development of composite material industry in Finland were also mentioned.
These information is very necessary for a future engineer.
The objective after successfully finishing the course of Composite Processing is identify
the different composite with unique characteristics as well as understand how composite
processing operates and how a new composite structure is created and produced.
Through this course, I gain a lot of new knowledge of composite materials and the way it
works in a process. By adopting the fundamental of composite material properties, processing
design and its applications, we can apply the knowledge about these materials to innovate products
with high performance composite structure.
References
1. Manufacturing Techniques for Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs), Suresh G. Advani, and Kuang-Ting
Hsiao, Elsevier Science & Technology, 2012. (Access on 30.03.2019)
2.
Composite
Materials
Overview
for
Engineers,
UWashingtonX
on
edX,
Available
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW0y3WUd4qo (Access on 30.03.2019)
3. Lecture Note, Composite Processing, Arcada (Access on 30.01.2019)
4. Bang and Bonsomer, Available at: https://www.bangbonsomer.com (Access on 30.01.2019)
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