AbstractsEngineering

Composite materials have been extensively used for their important role in attenuation of components design, low specific weight, high mechanical performance, and excellent corrosion resistance offer significant advantages over metallic materials. These superlative properties can be attained by tailoring different material in an appropriate combination of the reinforcing phase (carbon fiber, alumina, etc.) and matrix phase (polymer, ceramic, metals, etc.). Carbon fiber reinforced composites are mostly used on intricate stress sensitive structures like wings of aero plane or gear. Amount of fiber, fiber type, and size of the fiber and the orientation of reinforcing fibers directly influence the mechanical properties of polymer composites like elastic modulus, strength, thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity. Orientation state is varied due to the motion of fiber which is regulated by the flow of polymer matrix during processing. Injection molding is one of the most widely used manufacturing methods for the production of plastic parts. Injection molding has so many process parameters which directly influences the orientation of fiber and structural properties of molded compounds. To achieve proper power transmission in spur gears, fiber orientation can be made parallel to the flow direction in the skin layer by controlling injection molding process parameter like gate location, number of gates, injection pressure, injection temperature, cooling rate etc. Advisors/Committee Members: Zhong Hu.