Bridging Micromechanics Model

Abstract

The conventional approach to the mechanical properties of a material is based on a pragmatic philosophy that demands an experimental determination of material response characteristics. This approach certainly offers the best advantage for isotropic materials. However, the mechanical properties of anisotropic composite materials are of a highly directional dependence. The introduction of this dependence together with the variation of the properties according to composition, orientation and packing geometry of the components greatly magnifies the labor and expense involved in the experimental determination of the overall material response characteristics for composite materials. These complications provide a strong motivation for the development of a constitutive relationship in terms of (1) composition, (2) the properties of the components and (3) the internal micro-structure as reflected by the relative orientation, size, shape and packing geometry of each of the components of a composite material. Such a constitutive relationship can be incorporated into, e.g., a FEM technique (Huang, 2007), to predict and design the structural performance. In developing the constitutive relationship, the macroscopic view underlying the experimental investigation must be complemented with a microscopic view that takes into account recognition of the multiphase nature of composite materials.KeywordsFiber Volume FractionConstitutive RelationshipIndependent ElementEffective Elastic ModulusFibrous CompositeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.