Well, this course has come to an end.
I hope you have enjoyed it, as well as I did.
I have also enjoyed transferring as much as possible and, in the best way, all the knowledge my professional life has given to me.
I hope you have learned what you were looking for and that, from now on, you can apply this knowledge in creating new projects in composite materials.
To briefly review the main subjects seen during the course, we have started with the simplest, explaining the principles and definition of composite materials. Now we know it’s more than just a mix of products we can buy in a store. We understand that this chemical composition has a purpose, where a matrix contains a reinforcement, and together they create a composition with fabulous properties.
We learned the definition of polymer matrix composite and subdivisions such as thermosets and thermoplastics. We learned their chemical compositions and how they interconnect with each other.
We also learned about the different types of reinforcements that can be combined with the matrix and the roles each fulfills.
We explored other materials like alloys and compared their pros and cons against composites. We reviewed the industries in which the composite materials have the greatest influence, especially the naval industry. This also led us to know what isotropic and orthotropic materials mean.
Then we navigated through the most popular materials used in the naval industry: fiberglass, carbon fiber, and Kevlar. We learned more deeply what they are, their typical mechanical properties, their advantages and disadvantages, and their different structures.
We also ran through the type of matrices, or resins, mostly used in the naval industry. How they are composed, and what other materials need to be added to the mixture to obtain the desired results.
We learned how the resin reacts during the curing time or cycle and the different states it goes through. We dive into detail through many production processes, focused on the naval and other industries. We provided details and knowledge that are difficult to find in books and that only the experience will give us.
We learned fundamental definitions to understand the resistance level of these materials. We learned how to control and choose processes and materials, read the graphs properly, and understand what they tell us. We have learned a variety of types of laminates, nomenclatures and how to express or write them correctly.
The fundaments to recreate and understand how a system of loads and planes works in composite materials were presented, as well as the principles of failure criteria and how to detect these failures with different techniques. We learned the correct way of reading material data sheets and how different they are.
Getting closer to the end, we explained and reviewed formulas based on the laminate plate theory. This introduced us to creating our own composite ply calculator spreadsheet, a fully automated spreadsheet to calculate the point of failure in any laminate we want to create.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this video, I hope you enjoy the journey. And also hope that this does not end here and that there is more to come regarding learning composite materials.