Composite Materials Overview for Engineers

*Note - This is an Archived course*

This is a past/archived course. At this time, you can only explore this course in a self-paced fashion. Certain features of this course may not be active, but many people enjoy watching the videos and working with the materials. Make sure to check for reruns of this course.

Composites are used in many industries today to enable high-performance products at economic advantage. These industries range from space to sports and include manufactured products for aircraft, transportation, energy, construction, sports, marine, and medical use. There are many material, economic and aesthetic advantages to using composites, but a solid knowledge of the physical properties, including the mechanics, tooling, design, inspection & repair, and manufacturing options is required for working in this medium as they are intrinsically linked.

This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of composite materials for high performance structures from the point of view of Aerospace engineering design, manufacturing, and repair. It is designed to address critical areas of composite technologies that focus on materials, manufacturing, mechanics, design, inspection, and repair.  In this course students will learn how composite materials achieve properties of strength, weight ratios and durability that surpass aluminum in aircraft design.  For these high performance applications engineers typically rely on laminated structures, which are built up from many varying layers of ply-materials. Using this process the mechanical properties of the composite part can be tailored to specific applications resulting in significant weight and cost savings. Tailoring specific properties and designing innovative laminate structures highlights the multidisciplinary nature of this industry and how it touches the expertise of many disciplines including engineers, mechanics, and inspection specialists.

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to identify the unique characteristics of composites and understand how advanced composite structures are designed, manufactured and maintained.

 

Who Can Take This Course?

Unfortunately, learners from Iran, Sudan, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine will not be able to register for this course at the present time. While edX has received a license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer courses to learners from Iran, Sudan and Cuba, our license does not cover this course. Separately, EdX has applied for a license to offer courses to learners in the Crimea region of Ukraine, but we are awaiting a determination from OFAC on that application. We are deeply sorry the U.S. government has determined that we have to block these learners, and we are working diligently to rectify this situation as soon as possible.