Serendipitous relationship between discrete distribution models representing random orientations of fillers in composite materials and the golden ratio

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to establish simple discrete distribution models capable of expressing the two and three-dimensional random orientation states of fillers in composite materials. Initially, a new method is proposed to divide the elastic constants into isotropic and anisotropic parts. Employing this method, for the composite material containing ellipsoidal fillers with various orientations in the material, the macroscopic elastic constants and thermal expansion coefficients of the material are derived based on the Mori–Tanaka method. Subsequently, the analysis of the macroscopic properties is performed for fillers oriented two and three-dimensional discrete distributions. As a result, it is found that when both angular pitches of the azimuth angle and the rotational angle of the fillers in a plane are at most 72°, the macroscopic elastic constants and the thermal expansion coefficients of the material exhibit in-plane isotropy, leading to the realization of a two-dimensional random state. Furthermore, if the angular distribution of the zenith angle and azimuth angle corresponds to the vertices of the regular dodecahedron and icosahedron, and the angular pitch of the rotational angle of the fillers is at most 72°, the macroscopic properties of the material become isotropic, resulting in a three-dimensional random state. Notably, the angle of 72° and the orientation angles of the vertices of the regular dodecahedron and icosahedron are associated with the golden ratio. Therefore, this analysis suggests a serendipitous relationship between the golden ratio and the angular pitch that simplifies the random orientation distribution of fillers.