Concepts & theory

Learn

From zero to laminate analysis. Start anywhere — every article says what it builds on and which tool it explains.

Follow the guided path — ground zero to composites engineer →

One ordered climb: school-level basics → foundations → the theory behind the tools → real industry applications. No background needed to start.

The lattice

Mechanical engineering as a crystal lattice — every cell is a live branch. Tap one to zoom in. This site lives in the two highlighted cells, but every branch connects.

Interactive journey

From electrons to airframes — nine orders of magnitude in eight steps →

Electron shells → monomers → chains → fiber + matrix → ply → laminate → structure → product. Each level links to the tool that works there.

Start here — no background needed

Plain-language introductions for anyone from about 13 up. Read them in order and you will understand every tool on this site.

Going deeper

Builds on the foundations: how parts get made, how they fail, and where materials science touches every other field.

Anisotropy: why direction is everything in composites

A steel bar is equally strong whichever way you pull it. A carbon-fibre part can be ten times stiffer along the fibres than across them. What anisotropy is, why composites have it, and why it's a feature, not a bug.

Tool guides

The full theory behind each calculator and simulation.

Fatigue: why things break under repeated load

Most parts don't fail from one big overload — they fail from millions of small loads that each seem harmless. What fatigue is, why it's invisible until it isn't, and how the S–N curve turns cycles into a design limit.

Cure kinetics: how a thermoset hardens

A thermoset doesn't cool to solid like a plastic — it reacts to solid, and once set it can never melt again. What cure is, why it makes its own heat, and how the cure cycle races speed against a runaway exotherm.

The stress–strain curve: elastic, yield and Ramberg–Osgood

Pull a material and it stretches elastically, then yields and flows. The stress–strain curve is the fingerprint of how a material behaves — and the Ramberg–Osgood equation is how engineers turn its smooth knee into numbers.

Time, temperature and the WLF shortcut

A polymer that's rigid for a fast pull can flow like putty under a slow one — and heating it does the same thing as waiting. Time–temperature superposition is the deep idea that lets a short hot test predict decades of cold service.

Moisture in composites: the slow, hot-wet knockdown

Leave a composite in humid air and it slowly drinks water — swelling, softening, and dropping its hot-wet strength. How moisture diffuses in, why it matters most with heat, and the knockdown engineers design around.

Where it is used

The same science, in the wild: how real industries choose materials, and what their numbers look like next to ours.

How real design and certification work — the gap between a typical value and the number an engineer actually designs to.