This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Huang, Z. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

A Unified Micromechanical Model for the Mechanical Properties of Two Constituent Composite Materials. Part III: Strength Behavior

Department of Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People’s Republic of China, mpehzm{at}nus.edu.sg

This series of papers reports a new, general, and unified micromechanical model for estimating the three-dimensional mechanical properties of a composite made from two constituent materials, i.e., continuous fiber and matrix. The linear elastic and elasto-plastic behaviors have been studied in Parts I and II respectively. The present paper investigates the tensile strength and failure mode of the composite. The tensile strength of the composite is predicted based on the ultimate stresses in the constituent phases, as the states of stresses in both phases are explicitly represented as the function of the applied overall stress field. The maximum normal stress theory for isotropic materials is incorporated with this prediction. As long as the maximum normal stress in either the fibers or the matrix attains its ultimate value, the composite is considered to fail, and the corresponding strength and failure mode are thus automatically defined. This makes determination of the composite strength as well as the failure mode extremely general, yet particularly easy. The composite can be subjected to any kind of load combination, whereas the corresponding strength behavior is determined through the same simple procedure. Comparisons between predicted and measured tensile strengths for several unidirectional composites under off-axial loads and for a plain weft-knitted fabric-reinforced composite under different uniaxial loads confirm that the present micromechanical strength theory is very efficient.

Key Words: fiber composite materials • failure theories • unified micromechanical model • tensile strengths • failure modes

Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials, Vol. 14, No. 1, 54-69 (2001)
DOI: 10.1106/GPG4-DGV4-QHP0-J6C4


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?