Influence of reinforcement arrangement on the local reinforcement stresses in composite materials

Abstract

The state of stress in and around reinforcements governs a number of physical processes in composite (multi-phase) materials, including the initiation of damage by either reinforcement cracking or interfacial decohesion. The stresses in the reinforcements have been observed to depend on the spatial distribution of the reinforcements, although the exact correlation is unclear. The present work determines the reinforcement stress for different reinforcement arrangements, ranging from a linear array of three uniformly spaced particles, to random and clustered microstructures. The stress calculations for elastic matrices were undertaken using a computationally efficient iterative technique. The technique was validated by comparing the results to finite element models, and the range of validity was determined. For the three-particle arrangements, the maximum reinforcement stress was observed when the particles were close to each other along the line of loading (a vertical arrangement). On the other hand, when the particle arrangement made a large angle with the loading direction, the reinforcement stress was low. Similar observations were recorded for the random and clustered arrangements where the location of the maximum reinforcement stress coincided with a vertical arrangement. The present work also develops a scheme for determining ‘representative volume elements’ for composite micromechanical models, based on the length scales of stress field interactions. These observations can be used to rationalize damage evolution mechanisms in commercial composites, and aid the development of physically based failure models for such materials.