On effective properties of composites with coated cylindrically orthotropic fibers

Abstract

Composite systems consisting of a matrix phase and coated inclusions with curvilinear anisotropy are considered, and a concise framework is established for analysis of their effective thermomechanical behavior. An exact relation between the effective thermal stress tensor and the purely mechanical influence functions of such media is derived. The presented analysis includes as a special case some previous work by the authors on composites with coated and cylindrically orthotropic fibers, e.g., carbon fibers. Furthermore, it allows to prove analytically certain symmetry and consistency properties of the effective thermomechanical tensors of such systems as approximated by the Mori—Tanaka micromechanical model.