Basic concepts and characteristics: Definition and characteristics of composite materials, overview of advantages and limitations of
composite materials, significance and objectives, sciences and technology, types and classification of typical composite materials,
current status and future prospects;
Macromechanical behaviours of lamina: Stress-strain relations for anisotropic materials, engineering constants for orthotropic materials,
stress-strain relations for a lamina of arbitrary orientation, biaxial strength theories.
Micromechanical behaviour of a lamina: Mechanics of materials approach to stiffness, elasticity approach to stiffness, comparison of
approaches to stiffnes, mechanics of materials approach to strength. Hygrothermal effects: Hygrothermal effects on mechanical
behaviours, hygrothermal stress-strain relations, coefficients of thermal and moisture expansion of unidirectional lamina
Macromechanical behaviours of a laminate: Classical lamination theory, lamina stress-strain behaviour, strain and stress variation in a
laminate, laminate forces and moments, special cases of laminate, interlaminar stresses, design of laminates.
Manufacture and testing of composite materials: Manufacturing: Stamp moulding, diaphragm forming, thermoforming, filament
winding, pultrution, compression moulding, injection moulding.
Testing: Determination of physical properties such as density, fibre volume ratio, void volume ratio, co-efficient of thermal expansion,
determination of tensile, compressive and shear properties of unidirectional lamina, determination of interlaminar and intralaminar
strength, biaxial testing, characterisation of composites with stress concentration.