Micromechanical behavior of unidirectional composites under a transverse shear loading

Abstract

Effects of fiber-matrix interphases on the micro-and macro-mechanical behaviors of unidirectionally fiber-reinforced composites subjected to transverse shear loading at remote distance have been studied. The interphases between fibers and matrix have been modeled by the spring-layer which accounts for continuity of tractions, but allows radial and circumferential displacement jumps across the interphase that are linearly related to the normal and tangential tractions. Numerical calculations for basic cells of the composites have been carried out using the boundary element method. For an undamaged composite the micro-level stresses at the matrix side of the interphase and effective shear stiffness have been computed as functions of fiber volume ratio and interphase stiffness k. Results are presented for various interphase stiffnesses from the perfect bonding to the case of total debonding. For a square array composite the results show that for a high interphase stiffness k>10, an increase of increases the effective transverse shear modulus G over bar of the composite. For a relatively low interphase stiffness k slightly decreases the effective transverse shear modulus. For the perfect bonding case, G over bar for a hexagonal array composite is slightly larger than that for a square array composite. Also for a damaged composite partially debonded at the interphase, local stress fields and effective shear modulus are calculated and a decrease in G over bar has been observed.