Journal of Composite Materials

http://jcm.sagepub.com/ Mechanical Properties of Fiber Reinforced Composites

C.H. Chen and Shun Cheng Journal of Composite Materials 1967 1: 30 DOI: 10.1177/002199836700100104 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jcm.sagepub.com/content/1/1/30

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What is This?

Properties of Fiber Reinforced Composites

Mechanical
Theoretical expressions are obtained by means of classical of elasticity for determining the composite elastic constants for fiber reinforced plastics in terms of the elastic moduli and the geometric parameters of the constituents. Infinite series are used for the solution of the differential equations and a combination of least square method and Fourier method is employed. Although the investigation is made for hexagonal array, the principles are also valid for other fiber arrangements. Numerical examples have been worked out for hexagonal array and compared with an existing analysis.

theory

C. H. CHEN
The B F Goodrich . .

, Akron Ohio
AND

Company

SHUN CHENG
The

University of Wisconsin , Madison Wisconsin

INTRODUCTION

fiber reinforced materials have been paid considerable due to the search for materials of lightweight, great strength attentions and stiffness. Consequently the determination of their mechanical properties becomes important, especially that of unidirectional composite. The problem in general may be stated as follows. Given the elastic constants of constituents, the proportion of each and a particular geometrical arrangement, find the composite elastic constants on the macroscopic level. Although in reality the fibers are arranged at random, for the purpose of analysis some idealized arrangements of fibers are assumed. The works of Cutler [1] and Bodine [2] are based on the idealized model in which both the fiber and resin are in the form of rectangular bands which fill out the full layer. Shaffer [3] also used the same model and a strength of material approach in his study. Hashin and Shtrikman [4] developed a method for obtaining bounds on the effective moduli of composite elastic materials by variational approach. Later, again using variational method, Hashin and Rosen [5] derived bounds and expressions for the effective elastic moduli of fiber-reinforced material arranged in both hexagonal
N RECENT YEARS
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array and what-they-called random array. This paper is concerned with the hexagonal array. Classical linear theory of elasticity is employed and infinite series solutions are used. The analysis is made on the assumptions: (1) that fibers are circular and have equal and uniform size, (2) that the composites are homogeneous in macroscopic sense, (3) that both resin and fibers are homogeneous and isotropic on the microscopic level, and (4) that there is perfect bonding between fiber and resin. The microscopic elements which are geometrically similar and experience the same mechanical behavior will be called the repeating element. The present method is to impose to a repeating element arbitrary composite strains. By using stress functions or displacement functions and by requiring the continuities of stresses and displacements at the boundaries between fiber and resin and between repeating elements, the composite stresses can be related to

those imposed composite strains. Thus composite elastic constants can be obtained from these relationships. Due to the actual physical limitations of the electronic computers available, it is impossible to meet all of the requirements of the mathematical theory of elasticity rigorously, especially if infinite series solutions are used. In this paper approximations are made only in the boundary conditions between resin and fibers and between repeating elements. There are no approximations in the equations of equilibrium or compatibility other than those in the linear theory of elasticity. In making the approximations in the boundary conditions, two different techniques related to &dquo;Least Square Method&dquo; are used. One is the Fourier method whereby the square of a particular error over a particular segment of the boundary is minimized with respect to a particular parameter in a given series. Another technique is to minimize the sum of the squares of weighted errors by variation of the parameters. Combination of the two methods, which is named as the combined least square method is used in this paper.
ANALYSIS OF HEXAGONAL ARRAY REINFORCEMENT
A portion of a cross-section perpendicular to the reinforcement is shown in Figure 1. The rhombus such as ABCD represents a repeating element. A coordinate system will be set for each fiber area and resin area with origin at the center of the area. Since the geometry is unaltered each rotation of ~r/3 about the z-axis passing through the center of a by fiber, the body is said to have an axis of elastic symmetry of the sixth order [6]. Accordingly it has a type of anisotropy called transversely isotropic, for which there are five independent elastic constants and the stress-strain relations become: 31
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1. the

Determination

constant values given to under consideration. Under these composite strains the composite strain and stress distributions for each resin and each fiber will be symmetrical with respect to two geometrically symmetrical axes at 0 = 0 ~r/2 of each area. Hence it is sufficient to consider only a quarter and 0 portion of the rhombus such as CID. Since the macroscopic strains are the same everywhere and with the assumption of ui = 0, v, = 0 the rigid body displacements of the various areas will be as follows:
=

Let there be

of Constants Cil, C12, CI3W33 normal strains ex, ey and ez of

where the subscripts I, c, d, o refer to the area under consideration. Due to the symmetry the Airy stress functions for each fiber may be written
as:

and for each resin as:

The fiber stresses which

are

the

same

for all fibers are:

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Under the assumption of

ments
are:

plane strain ( yxz

Yy.

0)

the fiber

displace-

Similar
tained
nates

expression for

stresses and

displacements

in the resin

can

be ob-

by replacing Am, 8~,, R fm, Sfm, Vf, G by Cm, Dm, R2m, Sjm, vj, Gi respectively in the foregoing and using the appropriate pair of coordifor each resin
area.

ments

The normal and tangential components of the for fibers C and D at the boundaries are

stresses

and

displace-

where Un rro, u and v are given by Equations (3) and (4) with r = 1 and appropriate subscripts. The normal and tangential components of the stresses and displacements for resin area can be obtained by following

where a gives the direction of the outer normal to the boundary. It should be noted here that for resin 0, there are displacements due to rigid body motion, which are ex -B13b cos ao + eyb sin ao for ( un ) o and - ~x V-3 b sin ao + -ey b cos a~ for (u,),,. The conditions of continuity of stresses and displacements in the normal and tangential directions across the boundaries Ll, L2 and L3 between areas enables us to find the arbitrary constants Am, Bm, Cm and Dm in the series. To be specific it is required that
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The above requirements can be satisfied approximately if only a finite number of terms are used in the series but the errors can be minimized in the sense of least square. The necessary equations for solving arbitrary coefficients will be set up as following. Using the orthogonal properties of the circular function two equations are obtained by Fourier method along the boundaries L, and L,.

The rest of equations are obtained by least square method. If let V~ _ f lids, where ds is a differential element of length along the appropriate boundary segment, and let U = 4GiG(V3 + V4 + V11 + VIZ ) -f- V5 + V6 -f- (2Gi )2 2 ( V~ + V8 ) , these equations are then obtained by

Hence there are four equations for four unknowns An, Bn, Cn and DnSince U contains the rigid body displacements expressed in terms of ex, ey and ez, Equations (9) will also have terms of ex, ey and ez. Thus when the set of Equations (8) and (9) are solved, the unknowns coefficients Bo, Do, An, Bn, Cn, Dn will be expressed in terms of these composite 34
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strains ex, ey and ez. The total

ing

composite forces are obtained by integradthe normal stresses an and az along the lines IC, ID and over the area ICD respectively. Thus the average composite stresses are given as:

where rib
are now

all

when An,

is the radius of resin I at the boundary. Since An, Bn, Cn, Dun expressed in terms of ex, -ey, and ~, so will be Sx, Sy and S, Bn, Cn, Dn are substituted into Equations (10). After terms of

ex, ey, ez are collected, we get

A sufficient number of terms in the series should be taken to make the differences between gl2 and gzl as well as that between g13, gz3~ g3I~ g32 within certain limit.

2.

Determination

of Constant C44

Under the various conditions assumed the displacements w for both resin and fiber due to shear distortion will be functions of r and 6 but not of z. If let u = 0, v = 0 then the equation of elasticity for both fiber and resin reduce to: 172w = 0. Given the composite shear strains of ~yxz and yyz the rigid body displacements can be written as follows:

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By
as:

nature

of the deformation the

displacement

can

be written for fiber

and for resin

as:

each with

subscript

of

particular

area

in

concern.

Notice that A~, and

Cm depend on firz and Bm and Dm depend on yyz.

The shear stresses
are

obtained by

The shear

stress

of the fiber at the boundary will be:

and that of resin will be:

areas

The conditions of require that

continuity

of w and

~ynz

across

the

boundary

between

Using the
set

combined least square method the

following equations

are

up for Yxz

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where U - Gj2 (V1 + V5 + ferential elements along the

stresses
are:

V3 ) + V4, Vj == f I/ds, and ds is the difappropriate line segment. The composite

tween

A suf$cient number of terms should be taken to make the difference beC44 and C55 within certain limits.

Figure 1. Hexagonal array.

NUMERICAL EXAMPLES

Typical numerical results are shown for two homogeneous material where the properties of equal. The input and output are:

The first case is a the fibers and resin are

cases.

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Note that for the present

case:

These relations are necessary for isotropic materials. Thus the results show that the program produces accurate results for this limiting case. The second case is a nonhomogeneous material, with the following input and output:

The input corresponds to E-glass fiber and epoxy resin as the constituent material. The fiber volume content is approximately 63%. Similarly results for other fiber volume contents were run. The results in terms of engineering constants are shown as solid lines in Figure 2. Typical relations between engineering constant and the components of

Cz, matrix are:

-

- ..

, .

the inverse of Cij. In the present paper the transverse is the 1-2 plane. Also shown in Figure 2 as dashed lines are the results of Reference 5 and its subsequent correction presented by Dow and Rosen [7].

where

Gij -1 is isotropic plane

) MM is the

largest number of

into which the boundaries

Ll

and

L2 in Figure

in the series; Ll and L2 are the number of divisions 1 are divided for the numerical integration.

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Not shown

and fiber volume content.

graphically in Figure 2 are the longitudinal stiffness ( E33 ) major Poissons ratio ( v23 ) because they are linear functions of the

Figure

2. Numerical results.

DISCUSSIONS

The computational results for hexagonal array using the combined least square method are very satisfactory for the set of data used. The errors in those composite elastic constants, which are expectedly to be equal, range from .21 percents to 1.12 percents. In general, the Fourier method has the advantages that it leads to well conditioned equations because of the orthogonality of the series along the particular boundary, and that the required integration along the boundary may be obtained readily whereas with the combined least square method the values are found by numerical integration. But the Fourier method has a disadvantage that it can be used satisfactorily for only a few boundary shapes. Moreover, as many different series are required for fulfilling the multiboundary conditions at the same boundary, the number of unknowns and consequently the size of matrix will be greatly increased, thus making the method less favorable. On the contrary the combined least square method has the advantage that its application is not limited to the shape of the boundary and therefore in principle to any array of fibers. In performing the numerical integrations, trapezoidal rule is used mainly because of its simplicity in programming. This is adequate as long
39
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as

there

are no

singularities

in the

expected

if sufficient number of

integrands. Good approximations are divisions along the integration segment

method, all portions of every and all errors due to the approximations in continuity of stresses are treated equal. The errors due to the approximations in continuity of displacement was multiplied by 2Gi or 2VGiGf to obtain the equivalent weighted errors depending upon whether the boundary is between resins or between resin and fiber. The more the number of terms is used the more the solution converges to the correct solution and the manner of weighting becomes of less importance. It may be concluded that the combination of Fourier method and the least square method is probably the best approach for these problems. The results reported here were obtained in the course of research supported by the Air Force Materials Laboratory under Contract AF33

is used. In using the combined least square

boundary

( 615 ) -5070.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to Prof. G. Pickett for the helpful comments and discussions received during this work presented here. The authors would also like to extend their appreciation to Professor S. W. Tsai for his helpful suggestion and assistance concerning this problem and its presentation.

NOMENCLATURE

Composite normal stresses Syz, Sxx, Sxy - Composite shear stresses ex, ey, e; Composite normal strains Yyz~ Yxz, qzy Composite shear strains C2~ Composite elastic constants
sx, Sy, sz
=
-

=
=

~M, V, w
u, v, w ux, uy ern, u.~ rut, rnz, ut

=
=

Rigid body displacements in r, 0 and z directions displacements in r, 0 aid z directions Displacements in x, y directions Stress and displacement normal to boundary Stresses and displacement tangent to boundary
Total
Stress function

0 W
vj,
vi,

G f
Gi

._ =

Displacement function Poissons ratio and shear modulus of fiber Poissons ratio and shear modulus of resin
m - 2 + 4 vf m - ~ + 4 v;

Rfm
Rim

Sfm
Sim b

= - Rfm + 2( m + 1) = - Rim + 2 (m + 1)
- 1/z distance between fibers

1. V. C. 2. R. Y.

sertation, Mechanics Dept., The University of Wisconsin, 1960. Bodine, "Some Elasticity Problems for An Anisotropic Solid." Ph.D. Dissertation, Mechanics Dept., The University of Wisconsin, 1961. 3. B. W. Shaffer, "Stress-strain Relations of Reinforced Plastic Parallel and Normal to Their Internal Filaments." AIAA Journal Vol. 2 (1964), p. 348. ,

REFERENCES Cutler, "Bending Analysis of Directionally Reinforced Pipe." Ph.D. Dis-

40
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4. Z. Hashin

and S. Shtrikman, "Note on a Variational Approach to the Theory of Elastic Materials." J Franklin Institute Vol. 271 (1961), p. 336. . , 5. Z. Hashin and B. W. Rosen, "The Elastic Moduli of Fiber-Reinforced Materials." . J Applied Mechanics Vol. 31 (1964), p. 223. ,

Composite

6. S. G.

Lekhnitskii, Theory ofElasticity ofan Anisotropic Elastic Body (English , by P. Pern), Holden-Day, Inc., 1963. 7. N. F. Dow and B. W. Rosen, "Evaluations of Filament-reinforced Composites for Aerospace Structural Applications," NASA Report CR-207, April 1965.
translation
(received August 2, 1966)

Summer Workshop

PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

sponsored by ARPA Monsanto/Washington University Association

at

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY-ST. LOUIS, MO.

JULY 13-21, 1967

This workshop consists of two sessions: Introduction, and Advanced Topics. It is intended for technical people interested in the modern techniques in composite materials. The 3-day introductory session will include the elementary formulation of the theories of elasticity, plates and shells, and linear

viscoelasticity. The 5-day advanced session will include micromechanics, anisotropic fracture mechanics, dynamics of composite materials, viscoelastic stress analysis, plasticity, nonlinear viscoelasticity, metallic composites, structural synthesis, and problems of design and testing. Complete program will be published in the near future.
41
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