Common composite lay-up rules of thumb

 Also refer to MIL-HDBK-17-3F, Volume 3, Chapter 12, Lessons Learned.

 Symmetry: avoid twisting under temperature change or axial loads
 Balanced: equal number of + and – angled plies
 Unavoidable unsymmetric and unbalanced plies should be placed near the laminate midplane
 One pair of ±45 plies (2 plies) on the outer side for damage tolerance and minimizes splintering
when drilling.
 Place 45 plies (angle to primary load direction) adjacent to the bondline. 0 plies are acceptable. 90
plies should never be placed adjacent to the bondline.
 Joint overlap length:
o Double shear overlap length: 30 x thickness
o single-lap overlap length: 80 x thickness
o 1-in-50 slope for scarf joint.
 Core edge chamfers should not exceed 20°. In practice, 45° is used without issue.
 Do not use honeycomb cell size greater than 3/16” when cocuring sandwich assemblies, to prevent
dimpling of facesheets. 1/8” is preferred.
 Do not group more than 4 plies of the same orientation together, to prevent delamination.
 Parts are rarely loaded in a single mode (tension, shear or bending). Even if it is a single loading
mode, the layup still needs to account for uncertainties in load direction and install tolerance angles.
Thus, never have 0, ±45, or 90 in a family to be less than 10% of the total plies.
 Part thickness tolerance varies directly with part thickness. Thickness tolerance is a function of the
number of plies and associated per-ply-thickness variation.
 Carbon layers must be isolated from aluminum or steel, by using an adhesive layer (with serim)
and/or a thin glass-fiber or Kevlar ply (min. 0.005” thick) at faying surfaces.
 Core density:
o 3.1 PCF (50 g/m3) is minimum for non-walking surfaces, to prevent crushing of the core.
o 6.1 PCF (98 g/m3) is recommended for walking surfaces, to prevent crushing of the core.
 Bolt diameter is usually governed by the allowable bearing stress in the laminate.
 Countersink depths ≤ 70% of laminate thickness
 Best family percentages for bearing strength: 0° = 30%-50%; ±45° = 40%-60%; 90° = min. 10%.
 Fastener edge spacing: 3D in major load; 2.5D+0.06” for pitch.
 Ply drop-offs: A taper ratio of at least 20:1 is necessary for laminate thicknesses normal to
loading directions. For secondary loading directions, the thickness changes will occur at a
taper ratio of at least 10:1. This guideline is stated often in terms of ply numbers that may
drop over a given horizontal distance. https://www.amtcomposites.co.za/sites/default/files/
media/howto/AMTS-Composite%20design_2.pdf
 Ply drop-offs: do not exceed 0.01” = 0.25 mm thick per drop with a minimum space of 0.2”=5.1 mm.