MODULE – 2

Method of Analysis: Micro mechanics ‐ Mechanics of materials approach,

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elasticity approach to determine material properties.

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Macro Mechanics: Stress‐strain relations with respect to natural axis,

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arbitrary axis.
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❖ Micro-Mechanics: The study of composite material behavior wherein the
interaction of the constituent materials is examined in detail as part of the
definition of the behavior of the heterogeneous composite material.

❖ Macro-Mechanics: The study of composite material behavior wherein the

material is assumed homogeneous and the effects of the constituent materials

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are detected only as averaged apparent properties of the composite material.

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❖ The two basic approaches to the micromechanics of composite materials

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are:

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(1) Mechanics of Materials (2) Elasticity

➢ The objective of all micromechanics approaches is to determine elastic

moduli or stiffnesses or compliances of a composite material in terms of the
elastic moduli of the constituent materials.
➢ Each layer of a unidirectional composite may be referred to as simply a layer, ply, or
lamina.
➢ The direction parallel to fibers generally is called the longitudinal direction (axis 1).
➢ The direction perpendicular to the fibers is called the transverse direction (any direction in
the 2-3 plane).
➢ These axes are also referred to as the material axes of the ply.

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❖ VOLUME and WEIGHT FRACTIONS:
➢ One of the most important factors determining the properties of composites is the relative
proportions of the matrix and reinforcing materials.
➢ The relative proportions can be given as the weight fractions or the volume fractions.
➢ The weight fractions are easier to obtain during fabrication or by one of the experimental
methods after fabrication.
➢ However, the volume fractions are used exclusively in the theoretical analysis of composite

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materials.

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➢ Consider a volume vc of a composite material that consists of volume vf of the fibers and
volume vm of the matrix material.

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➢ Let wc, wf and wm represent the corresponding weights of the composite material, fibers,

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and the matrix material, respectively.
➢ (Throughout this book, the subscripts c, f, and m are used consistently to represent the
composite material. fibers, and the matrix material, respectively.)
➢ Let the volume fraction and weight fraction be denoted by the capital letters V and W,
respectively.
The volume fractions and weight fractions are defined as follow

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➢ To establish conversion relations between the weight fractions and the volume fractions, the
density ρc of the composite material must be obtained.

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➢ The density of the composite material can be obtained easily in the terms of the densities of
the constituents and their volume fractions or weight fractions.
➢ To that end, the weights in equations, can be replaced by the products of corresponding
density and volume and the equation rewritten as:
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❖ Derivation of Density in terms of Volume Fractions:

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Problem 01

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1. LONGITUDINAL YOUNG’S MODULUS (E1):

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2. TRANSVERSE YOUNG’S MODULUS (E2):

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3. MAJOR POISSON’S RATIO:

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4. IN-PLANE SHEAR MODULUS (G12):

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❖ Elasticity Approach to determine material properties:
➢ Elasticity accounts for equilibrium of forces, compatibility, and Hooke’s law relationships
in three dimensions; the strength of materials approach may not satisfy compatibility and/or
account for Hooke’s law in three dimensions, and semi-empirical approaches are just as the
name implies — partly empirical.
➢ The elasticity models described here are called composite cylinder assemblage (CCA)

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models.

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➢ In a CCA model, one assumes the fibers are circular in cross-section, spread in a periodic

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arrangement, and continuous, as shown in Figure.
➢ Then the composite can be considered to be made of repeating elements called the

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representative volume elements (RVEs). The RVE is considered to represent the composite

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and respond the same as the whole composite does.
➢ The RVE consists of a composite cylinder made of a single inner solid cylinder (fiber)
bonded to an outer hollow cylinder (matrix) as shown in Figure. The radius of the fiber, ‘a’,
and the outer radius of the matrix, ‘b’, are related to the fiber volume fraction, Vf , as
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1. Longitudinal Young’s Modulus:

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➢ To find E1 in terms of elastic moduli of the fiber and the matrix, and the geometrical
parameters such as fiber volume fraction, we need to relate the axial load, P, and the axial
strain, ∈1 , in these terms.
➢ Assuming the response of a cylinder is axisymmetric, the equilibrium equation in the
radial direction is given by

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2. Major Poisson’s Ratio:
➢ The definition of major Poisson’s ratio as,

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➢ The radial displacement, uf and um , in the fiber and matrix cylinders, respectively.
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3. TRANSVERSE YOUNG’S MODULUS (E2):

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4. Axial Shear Modulus (G12):
➢ To find the axial shear modulus, G12, of a unidirectional composite, we consider the same
concentric cylinder model as shown in the fig.
➢ Consider a long fiber of radius, a, and shear modulus, Gf , surrounded by a long concentric
cylinder of matrix of outer radius, b, and shear modulus, Gm.
➢ The composite cylinder is subjected to a shear strain, γ012, in the 1–2 plane.

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➢ Following the derivation, the normal displacements in the 1, 2, 3 direction for the fiber or

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matrix are assumed of the following form:

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➢ From the strain-displacement equations and the expressions for the displacement field:

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➢ Because all normal strains in the 1, 2, and 3 directions are zero, all the
normal stresses in 1, 2, 3 directions are also zero.
➢ Also, τ23 = 0 because γ23 = 0.
➢ The only possible nonzero stresses are:

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where G is the shear modulus of the material.
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❖ Macro Mechanics: Stress‐strain relations with respect to natural
axis, arbitrary axis:
➢ Stress‐strain relations with respect to natural axis:
• The natural axis refers to the principal material coordinate system (usually

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aligned with the fiber direction in composites):

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•1-direction → along the fiber

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•2-direction → transverse to the fiber
•3-direction → through-thickness (for 3D analysis)
➢ Laminate Code:
• A laminate is made of a group of single layers bonded to each other.
• Each layer can be identified by its location in the laminate, its material, and its
angle of orientation with a reference axis as shown in the fig.
• Each lamina is represented by the angle of ply and separated from other plies
by a slash sign.

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• The first ply is the top ply of the laminate.

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• Special notations are used for symmetric laminates, laminates with adjacent
lamina of the same orientation or of opposite angles, and hybrid laminates.

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• The following examples illustrate the laminate code.

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❖ Stress–Strain Relations for a Laminate:
➢ One–Dimensional Isotropic Beam Stress–Strain Relation:

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❖ STRESS-STRAIN RELATIONS FOR PLANE STRESS IN AN
ORTHOTROPIC MATERIAL:
• For a unidirectionally reinforced lamina in the 1-2 plane as shown in Fig. a
plane stress state is defined by setting,

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➢ Three-dimensional stress-strain relations
given:
• Explain about Anisotropic, Monoclinic,
Orthotropic, Transversely Isotropic or Isotropic
materials.
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• Where the Qij are the so-called reduced stiffnesses for a plane stress state in
the 1-2 plane which are determined either (1) as the components of the
inverted compliance matrix or (2) from the Cij directly by applying the
condition σ3 = 0 to the strain-stress relations to get an expression for ε3 and
simplifying the results to get,
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• The preceding isotropic relations can be obtained either from the orthotropic
relations by equating E1 to E2 and G12 to G or by the same manner as the
orthotropic relations were obtained.
❖ Stress‐strain relations with respect to arbitrary axis:

• When the material is loaded in a direction that is not aligned with

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the principal axes, we must transform the stress-strain relations

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using transformation matrices.

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• Consider the helically wound fiber-reinforced circular cylindrical
shell in Fig.
• There, the coordinates natural to the solution of the shell problem
are the shell coordinates x, y, z, whereas the principal material
coordinates are x', y', z’.

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• The filament-winding angle is defined by cos(y', y) = cosα; also, z'

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= z.

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• Other examples include laminated plates with different laminae at

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different orientations.
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• Thus, a relation is needed between the stresses and strains in the
principal material coordinates and those in the body coordinates.
• Then, a method of transforming stress-strain relations from one
coordinate system to another is also needed.
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• At this point, we recall from elementary mechanics of materials the

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transformation equations for expressing stresses in an x-y coordinate system

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in terms of stresses in a 1-2 coordinate system,

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Similarly, the strain-transformation equations are,

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• Where we observe
that strains do
transform with the
same transformation
as stresses if the
tensor definition of

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shear strain is used

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(which is equivalent
to dividing the

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engineering shear

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strain by two).
• The transformations
are commonly written
as,
 • Can be used instead of the tensor strain vectors in
the strain transformations as well as in stress-strain
law transformations.
• The beauty of Reuter's transformation is that
concise matrix notation can then be used.
• As a result, the ordinary expressions for stiffness

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and compliance matrices with awkward factors of

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1/2 and 2 in various rows and columns are avoided.

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• A so-called specially orthotropic

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lamina is an orthotropic lamina
whose principal material axes are
aligned with the natural body
axes:
• We are just looking at an
orthotropic material in an
unnatural manner, i.e., in a
coordinate system that is
oriented at some angle to
the principal material

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coordinate system.

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• Accordingly, we use the
stress and strain

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transformations

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• As a matter of fact, there is no difference between solutions for generally

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orthotropic laminae and those for anisotropic laminae whose stress-strain

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relations, under conditions of plane stress, can be written as

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• Note that some new engineering constants have been used. The new
constants are called coefficients of mutual influence by Lekhnitskii.
• In summary, the engineering constants for anisotropic materials and
orthotropic materials loaded in non-principal material coordinates can be
most effectively thought of in strictly functional terms:

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