8 - Mechanics of Composites - A Historical Review

Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120
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Mechanics Research Communications

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mechrescom
Review
Mechanics of composites: A historical review

Carl T. Herakovich
University of Virginia, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Available online 21 January 2012
a b s t r a c t
This review is concerned with mechanics of continuous ber composites. The earliest and most important
advancements in the eld are emphasized. No doubt the coverage is limited to some extent by the
interests and experiences of the writer as well as time and space considerations. The advancements
in mechanics of composites have been inuenced to a great extent by the development of advanced
composites through materials science. No attempt is made to discuss these developments. This review
emphasizes the use of theoretical and applied mechanics in the development of theories, conrmed by
experimentation, to predict the response of composite materials and structures. Citations have been
given for many published works, but certainly not all. Apologies to those not listed; numerous additional
references can be found in the works cited.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Since the beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The early years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Anisotropic, elastic constitutive equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Micromechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.
Micromechanics model comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lamination theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Environmental effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.
Thermal effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.
Moisture effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Interlaminar stresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Unsymmetric laminates3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11.1.
Unidirectional lamina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11.2.
Quadratic failure criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Damage mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Experimental methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.1.
Tension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.2.
Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.3.
Shear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.4.
Off-axis tensile test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nanocomposites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
University and government programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Closure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Books on mechanics of composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
E-mail address: herak@virginia.edu

This section was written by Mike Hyer, with a very few modications provided
by the author.
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0093-6413/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mechrescom.2012.01.006
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C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120
More important than any one new application is the new

materials concept itself. It marks a shift from concern with
substances to concern with structures, a shift from artisan to
scientist as mans articer, a shift from chemistry to physics as
the basic discipline, and a shift, above all, from the concrete
experience of the workshop to abstract mathematics, a shift
from starting with what nature provides to what man wants
to accomplish.
Peter F. Drucker, The Age of Discontinuity, 1969
1. Since the beginning

A historical review of the mechanics of composites must rst
consider the question what initiated the study of these heterogeneous, anisotropic materials? Composite materials have been
present since the beginning of time. Many objects such as plants
and animals are brous composite systems. This is very evident in
trees and their leaves, in the wings of birds and the ns of sh. The
human body is the most complex brous composite system. On one
level it consists of a musculoskeletal system of bones, muscles and
tendons. On a microscopic level these objects themselves are composite systems consisting of a variety of components that give rise
to heterogeneous, anisotropic materials.
The rst production and man-made use of a brous composite material appears to be the papyrus paper made by the
Fig. 1. New testament on papyrus.
Egyptianscirca4000 B.C. They laid up strips from the brous

papyrus plant in two layers with one layer at right angles to the
other. In present day mechanics terminology, such a fabric would
be called an unsymmetric, cross-ply laminate. While it is possible
that the Egyptians used a symmetric laminate to eliminate curvature, this author has found no indication that such was the case.
The development of papyrus paper was so important to the Egyptians that they guarded the secret of how it was produced, thereby
creating a monopoly. Papyrus paper revolutionized the way people saved valuable information. As a result, it was ancient Egypts
greatest export for many centuries.
Cuttings from the papyrus plant also were used in bundles by
early Egyptians to make boats, sails, baskets and ropes. Fig. 1 shows
an image of a passage from the New Testament written on papyrus
around the beginning of the 3rd century, some 1800 years ago. It
is referred to as the Bodmer Papyrus XIV-XV in the Vatican (2007).
Fig. 2 is an example of present-day Egyptian artwork on papyrus
paper.
Another early, but totally different, application of a man-made
brous composite was the use of straw to strengthen bricks made
from mud. According to the Book of Exodus (do not give them
straw for their bricks, make them nd their own straw), this practice was used as early as1300 B.C.; it is still in use today. Fig. 3 is a
picture of such a brick that was taken in the Middle East in the mid20th century. Present-day mechanics would classify these bricks as
randomly reinforced, short ber composites.
According to Hartman et al. (1996), ancient Egyptians also made
containers of coarse bers drawn from heat softened glass, and the
French scientist Reaumur considered the potential of forming ne
glass bers as early as the 18th century. It was not until 1939 that
continuous glass bers were produced commercially (Knox, 1982).
These glass bers were produced mainly for high temperature
electrical applications. Two more decades passed before the socalled advanced bers were produced, boron (Talley, 1959) carbon
Fig. 2. Artwork on papyrus.
Table 1
Early activities, contributions and accomplishments in mechanics of composites.
Year
Activity
People
Country
4000 BC
1660
1780s
1821
1822
1837
1887/1889
1892
1929
1935
1938
1941
1941
1946
1947
1950
1954
1954
1961
1965
1967
1967
1968
1969
1969
1970
1970
1972
1975
1979
Papyrus paper developed

Hookes Law
Youngs modulus dened
Formulation of general equations of elasticity
Anisotropic equations of elasticity
Strain energy density dened 21 elastic constants
Uniform strain modulus prediction
Treatise on the Mathematical Theory of Elasticity
Uniform stress modulus prediction
Papers on anisotropic bodies
Owens-Corning developed berglass
Air Force Materials Lab initiated composites activity
Fiberglass fabrics available to market
Mathematical Theory of Elasticity
Anisotropic Plates
Theory of Elasticity of an Anisotropic Elastic Body
Japan Society of Reinforced Plastics formed
Fabricated glass reinforced plastic glider
Theory of Anisotropic Shells
Strength of Unidirectional Lamina
Modern Composite Materials
Journal of Composite Materials Vol. 1 No. 1
Composite Materials Workshop
The Analysis of Laminated Composite Structures
Primer on Composite Materials: Analysis
Theory of Laminated Plates
Theory of Anisotropic Plates
Theory of Fiber Reinforced Materials
Mechanics of Composite Materials
Mechanics of Composite Materials
Egyptians
Robert Hooke
Thomas Young
Claude-Louis Navier
Augustin-Louis Cauchy
George Green
W. Voigt
A.E.H. Love
A. Reuss
S.G. Lekhnitshkii
Owens-Corning
Robert T. Schwartz
Owns-Corning and H. Goldsmith
I.S. Sokolnikoff
S.G. Lekhnitshkii
S.G. Lekhnitshkii
Tsuyoshi Hayashi
Tsuyoshi Hayashi
S.A. Ambartsumyan
A. Kelly and G.J. Davies
L.J. Broutman and R.H. Krock
Stephen W. Tsai
Tsai, Halpin and Pagano
Lee Calcote
Ashton, Halpin and Petit
J.E. Ashton and J.M. Whitney
S.A. Ambartsumyan
Zvi Hashin
R.M. Jones
R.M. Christensen
Egypt
Great Britain
Great Britain
France
France
Great Britain
Germany
Great Britain
Germany
Russia
USA
USA
USA
USA
Russia
Russia
Japan
Japan
Russia
Great Britain
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
Russia
USA
USA
USA
(Soltes, 1961) and aramid (Kwolek, 1964). The development of the

advanced bers in the late 1950s and early 1960s spurred great
interest in the development of theoretical and applied mechanics
for applications to brous composite materials and structures.
From the earliest applications of brous composites by the Egyptians to the introduction of advanced composites in the second half
of the 20th Century, roughly 6000 years have passed. The progress
in the use of brous composites in the most recent fty years
was much greater than that during the preceding nearly six thousand years. The Egyptians were artisans in that they undoubtedly
developed their products through trial and error. During the past
fty years, theoretical and applied mechanics has been employed
in order to exploit the vast potential of man-made brous composites. These advancements are exemplied dramatically by the
application of advanced brous composites in SpaceShipOne and its
launch vehicle White Knight, (Fig. 4, see http://www.scaled.com/).
SpaceShipOne is an all-composite, suborbital spaceplane launched
in 2003 by Scaled Composites.
Fig. 3. Brick with straw bers.
2. The early years

Table 1 summarizes the early activities, contributions and
accomplishments related to advances in the mechanics of brous
composites. The remainder of this paper is organized according
to subject matter. Topics covered include constitutive equations,
micromechanics, laminates, thermal and moisture effects, damage
and failure, experimental methods, interlaminar stresses, tubes,
plates, nanocomposites, and university and government programs.
This leaves many related subjects still to be reviewed.
3. Anisotropic, elastic constitutive equations
Discussions on the advances in the development of constitutive equations for elastic materials can be found in Loves work
(18921927), Sokolnikoff (1946/1956) and Timoshenkos History of
Strength of Materials (1953). The development of constitutive equations for homogeneous, elastic materials began with the work of
Hooke (1678) who stated that for an elastic body there is proportionality between stress and strain. Navier (1821) generalized this
Fig. 4. White knight and SpaceShipOne.
idea to arrive at differential equations describing elastic response;

however, his equations included only one elastic constant. Cauchy
(1822), building on the work of Navier, developed equations of
elasticity for isotropic materials with two elastic constants.1
Cauchy (1828) generalized his results for anisotropic (or
aeolotropic) materials and found that there are, at most, twentyone independent constants. However, he believed that only fteen
of these constants were elastics constants. Like Cauchy, Poisson
(1829) believed that there were only fteen elastic constants.
These beliefs were based upon a molecular structure of solids and
intermolecular forces. During this period, there were two competing theories as to the number of elastic constants, either 21
or 15. The question was resolved when Green (1839) introduced
the concept of strain energy and arrived at equations of elasticity from the principal of virtual work. The equations developed
using Greens approach have 21 independent, elastic constants.
Lord Kelvin (Thomson, 1855) used the First and Second Laws
of Thermodynamics to argue for the existence of Greens strain
energy function. The existence of the strain energy function and the
presence of 21 independent elastic constants in the most general
anisotropic case is now the accepted theory.
The most general form of the anisotropic constitutive equations
for homogeneous, elastic, composite materials can be written2 :

1
2

xx
C11
yy
C12

3
zz
C13
=
4 yz C14

C15
5
zx

6
xy
C16
C12
C22
C23
C24
C25
C26
C13
C23
C33
C34
C35
C36
C14
C24
C34
C44
C45
C46
C15
C25
C35
C45
C55
C56
S11
S12
S13
zz
=
yz S14
S15
zx
xy
S16
S12
S22
S23
S24
S25
S26
S13
S23
S33
S34
S35
S36
S14
S24
S34
S44
S45
S46
S15
S25
S35
S45
S55
S56
1
E1
2
12 E1
13 E1
3
=
4
0
0
5
21 E
31 E
1E
2
23 E
32 E
1E
S16 xx

S26
yy
S36
zz
S46 yz
S56
zx
xy
S66
(2)
The constitutive Eq. (2) can be written in terms of the engineering constants, elastic moduli Ei , Poisson ratios ij and shear
moduli Gij . As an example, for an orthotropic material with principal
1
Dates given for Navier and Cauchy correspond to when they read their paper to
the Paris Academy. Publication, if any, was at a later date.
2
Commonly used notations for composite mechanics and developments of many
of the results presented in this article are described in detail in the authors text
(Herakovich, 1998).
1G
23
1 G
31
0
1G
12
1
23
4
5
6
(3)
The symmetry of the compliance matrix provides additional

relationships between the moduli and Poisson ratios.
The earliest publications employing anisotropic constitutive
equations for the solution of real problems appear to be those of
Lekhnitskii. During the years 19351942, he published papers on
plane problems, cylindrical anisotropy, torsion and bending. Wood
was the primary material considered in his work. See the bibliography in Lekhnitskiis Theory of Elasticity of an Anisotropic Body
(1950) for additional references. It is possible that Navier and coworkers used the equations that they had developed in their work
on wood structures, but no references have been found by this
author.
C16 xx 1

2

C26
yy

C36 zz
3
C46 yz 4

5

C56
zx

C66
xy
6
where ij and ij are normal and shear components of stress,

respectively, ij and ij are the normal and shear components of
strain, respectively, and Cij is the symmetric stiffness matrix with
21independent, elastic constants (or stiffness coefcients).(The single subscript notation of stress and strain in (1) is common practice
for analysis of composite materials.) These constitutive equations
appear in the same form in Lekhnitskii (1947) Anisotropic Plates
book (p. 10, Eq. (2.1)). It is noted that the preface to the 1947 edition
actually was written in May 1944.
Lekhnitskii also shows that a monoclinic material (one plane of
symmetry) has 13 independent constants, an orthotropic material
(three planes of symmetry) has 9 independent constants, a transversely isotropic material (isotropic properties in one of the planes
of symmetry) has ve independent constants, and an isotropic
material (properties independent of direction) has two independent constants. He also discussed the case of a material with
cylindrical anisotropy.
Inversion of (1) gives expressions for the strains in terms of
stresses and compliance coefcients Sij :

xx
yy
directions 1, 2, 3, Eq. (2) takes the form (3) when written in terms
of engineering constants and reduced notation:
(1)
4. Micromechanics
The study of composite materials at the ber and matrix level
is referred to as micromechanics. It is desired to predict the overall
effective (or average) elastic properties and inelastic response of
the composite based upon the known properties, arrangement and
volume fraction of the constituent phases. Examples of composites at the ber and matrix level are shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5a shows
carbon bers in an epoxy matrix and Fig. 5b is a photomicrograph
of ceramic ber (silicon carbide) in a titanium matrix. The silicon
carbide ber has a tungsten core that is clearly visible in the gure.
The carbon bers are actually a collection (called tows) of numerous carbon laments (200030,000 or more). As indicated in these
gures, ceramic bers typically have a much larger diameter than
carbon bers. The distribution of bers is quite uniform in metal
matrix composites, but is variable in resin matrix composites. This
signicant difference in the distribution of bers requires that a
larger region (number of bers) be considered as the representative
volume element (RVE) for micromechanics studies when the ber
distribution is nonuniform. When the bers are uniformly spaced as
in Fig. 5b, it is reasonable to consider a single ber and surrounding
matrix material as the RVE. In this latter case, symmetry arguments
often can be used to reduce the region under consideration even
further.
A wide variety of methods for predicting the effective thermoelastic properties of composites have been offered (Table 2). The
earliest works are those of Voigt (1889) and Reuss (1929). While
these early studies were concerned primarily with polycrystals, the
theories can be applied to brous composites. Voigt assumed that
the strains were constant throughout the material under load. In
contrast, Reuss assumed that the stresses were constant throughout the material. Hill (1952) showed that the Voigt assumption
results in upper bounds on effective elastic properties and the Reuss
assumption results in lower bounds.
Table 2
Developments in micromechanics.
Year
Development
Author(s)
Country
1837
1887/1889
1929
1957
1960
1962
1963
1963
1964
1964
1964
1965
1967
1968
1972
1972
1975
1979
1991
1993
Strain energy density dened 21 elastic constants

Uniform strain modulus prediction
Uniform stress modulus prediction
Determination of the elastic eld of an ellipsoidal inclusion and related problems
Prediction of Elastic Constants of Multiphase Materials
The Elastic Moduli of Heterogeneous Materials
Elastic Properties of Reinforced solids: some theoretical principles
Variational Approach to the Theory of The Elastic Behavior of Multiphase Materials
Theory of Mechanical Behavior of Heterogeneous Media
Theory of Mechanical Properties of Fiber-Strengthened Materials I. Elastic Behaviour
The Elastic Moduli of Fiber-Reinforced Materials
The Principle of the Fiber Reinforcement of Metals
Modern Composite Materials
Composite Materials Workshop
Theory of Fiber Reinforced Materials
On the Effective Moduli of Composite Materials: Slender Rigid Inclusions at Dilute Concentrations
A Theory of Elasticity with Microstructure for Directionally Reinforced Composites
Analysis of Properties of Fiber Composites with Anisotropic Constituents
Mechanics of Composite Materials: A Unied Micromechanical Approach
Micromechanics: overall properties of heterogeneous materials
George Green
W. Voigt
A. Reuss
Eshelby
Paul
Hashin
Hill
Hashin and Shtrikman
Hashin
Hill
Hashin and Rosen
Kelly and Davies
Broutman and Krock
Tsai, Halpin and Pagano
Hashin
Russel and Acrivos
Achenbach
Hashin
Aboudi
Nemat-Nasser and Hori
Great Britain
Germany
Germany
Great Britain
USA
USA
Great Britain
USA and Israel
USA
USA
USA
Great Britain
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
Israel
Israel
USA
The development of micromechanics models for predicting the

effective properties of composites experienced a urry of activity
beginning in the late 1950s and extending through the 1960s and
into the 1970s. The earlier works were concerned with the prediction of effective properties for materials (both solids and uids)
consisting of inclusions in a carrier material (see Hashin, 1964).
Paul (1960) and Hill (1963) used energy approaches to obtain
upper and lower bounds on elastic moduli of heterogeneous materials consisting of inclusions in a matrix. In general, the inclusions
were of arbitrary shape, but both authors did make reference to
ber-like inclusions. It is noteworthy that they both showed that
the Voigt and Reuss approximations are upper and lower bounds
on moduli. Hashin and Shtrikman (1963) presented a variational
approach to derive upper and lower bounds for the effective elastic moduli of quasi-isotropic and quasi-homogeneous multiphase
materials of arbitrary phase geometry. Hill (1964) addressed the
elastic mechanical properties of ber-strengthened materials. In
(1972) Russel and Acrivos considered the effective modulus of composites with slender rigid inclusions at dilute concentrations.
Hashin and Rosen (1964) employed a concentric cylinder assemblage (CCA) model to develop upper and lower bounds as well
as specic expressions for (some of) the effective elastic moduli of transversely isotropic composites. Their model consists of
an assemblage of concentric cylinders, each cylinder consisting
of a ber core surrounded by a matrix annulus, such that the

size of the cylinders varies as needed to ll the entire volume of
material. The ratio of ber radius to cylinder radius is held constant
throughout, thereby maintaining a constant ber volume fraction
in each cylinder. Four of the necessary ve effective properties for a
transversely isotropic composite can be determined using the CCA
model.
In the following from Christensen (1979), with subscripts f and
m indicating ber and matrix respectively, V ber volume fraction,
E axial modulus, Poissons ratio, shear modulus, k bulk modulus,
and the ber and matrix are taken to be transversely isotropic, the
CCA model provides expressions for four of the effective properties
in terms of the phase properties and ber volume fraction.
Effective axial modulus:
E1 = Vf Ef + (1 Vf )Em +
4Vf (1 Vf )(vf vm )2 m
((1 Vf )m )/(kf + f /3) + Vf m
(4)
Effective axial Poissons ratio:

12 = (1 Vf )m + Vf f
+
Vf (1 Vf )(f m ) m /(km + m /3) m /(kf + f /3)

((1 Vf )m )/(kf + f /3) + Vf m /(km + m /3) + 1
Fig. 5. Fiber and matrix photomicrographs.
(5)
Effective plane strain bulk modulus:
K23
= km +
m
3
Vf
1/[kf km + (f m )/3] + (1 Vf )/(km + 4m /3)
(6)
Effective axial shear modulus:

12
m
f (1 + Vf ) + m (1 Vf )
f (1 Vf ) + m (1 + Vf )
(7)
It is evident from Eqs. (4) and (5) that the rst two terms correspond to a rule of mixtures. The last term is typically very small
for most composites in use today. Thus, the rule of mixtures (i.e.
Voigt upper bound) is a very good predictor for the effective axial
modulus and effective axial Poissons ratio. This cannot be said for
the other two properties.
Chamis and Sendeckyj (1968) presented an extensive critique
of the theories known at the time for predicting the thermoelastic
properties of brous composites. The theories reviewed were classied as: netting analysis, mechanics of materials, self-consistent
model, variational, exact, statistical, discrete element, semi empirical methods, and theories accounting for microstructure. They
included comparisons of predictions by different theories for unidirectional glass-epoxy, boron-epoxy and graphite-epoxy.
Hashin (1972) gave an extensive theoretical treatment of
micromechanics. He considered effective elastic, viscoelastic and
thermoelastic properties, thermal and electrical conduction, and
electrostatics and magnetostatics behavior.
Achenbach (1974) and Achenbach (1975) considered wave
propagation in ber-reinforced composites with microstructure.
The composite with microstructure is distinguished from a composite that is modeled as a homogeneous, anisotropic continuum
using effective properties. The point is made that for dynamic
response such as wave propagation, the characteristic lengths of
the deformations may be small and the effective modulus theory
may not sufce. The proposed theory showed good comparison
with ultrasonic data for brous composites and nite element predictions. Lectures on this subject were given at the International
Centre for Mechanical Sciences (CISM) in Udine, Italy, in July 1973
with publication of the (expanded) monograph in 1975.
Aboudi (1991) presented micromechanical analysis methods
for composite materials and provided an in-depth analysis of the
Method of Cells for thermo-elastic, viscoelastic, nonlinear behavior of resin matrix composites, initial yield surfaces and inelastic
behavior of metal matrix composites, and composites with imperfect bonding. The method of cells consists of a periodic square
array of rectangular subcells, one representing the ber and three
similar subcells representing the matrix. This model provides a
computationally efcient method for predicting inelastic response
of composites.
The effects of different types of ber orthotropy on the effective
properties of composites were considered by Knott and Herakovich
(1991a). Nemat-Nasser and Hori (1993) presented a treatise on the
mechanics of solids with microdefects such as cavities, cracks, and
inclusions, including elastic composites.
Discrete element methods such as the nite element method
have been used to predict effective properties of unidirectional
composites. The earliest work using nite elements appears to
be that of Foye who studied effective elastic properties, inelastic
response, and stress distributions in unidirectional boron/epoxy.
Finite element studies can be valuable when the ber distribution
is very regular as shown for the ceramic ber in a titanium matrix
of Fig. 5b, but less so for random ber distributions such as the
carbon/epoxy of Fig. 5a.
Fig. 6. Axial modulus predictions for carbon/epoxy.
4.1. Micromechanics model comparisons

Figs. 69 show comparisons of micromechanics predictions for
the effective properties E1 , E2 , 12 , and G12 of unidirectional carbon/epoxy (Lissenden and Herakovich, 1992) as a function of the
ber volume fraction. The methods compared include: Voigt, Reuss,
concentric cylinder assemblage, self-consistent, method of cells,
Mori-Tanaka and strength of materials.
Several important features are evident from these comparisons.
For the effective axial modulus, E1 (Fig. 6) essentially all models give
the same prediction, with the lower bound Reuse model being the
exception. Thus, a simple rule of mixtures (the Voigt upper bound),
provides excellent predictions for the effective axial modulus.
Schapery (1967) has shown that the results for linear elastic
materials can be extended to linear viscoelastic materials in a simple and accurate manner.
5. Lamination theory
Possibly the most fundamental result for the application of
brous composites in structural and devices is Classical Lamination
Theory. The theory follows the original works of Pister and Dong
(1959), Reissner and Stavsky (1961) and Dong et al. (1962)
The theory considers an assemblage of layers bonded together
to form a laminate. The individual layers are taken to be homogeneous with properties that can range from isotropic to anisotropic.
Typically, the layers are unidirectional brous composites with the
Fig. 7. Transverse modulus predictions for carbon/epoxy.
Fig. 10. Composite laminate.
Poisson ratio:
xy =
Fig. 8. Shear modulus predictions for carbon/epoxy.
bers in the kth layer oriented at an angle k from a global x-axis

as depicted in Fig. 10.
Analysis results in the fundamental equation relating the
inplane forces {N} and moments {M} acting on the laminate to
the midplane strains { } and curvatures { } through coefcients
[A], [B] and [D] that are functions of the material properties, layers
thickness and stacking sequence of the layers.
N
M
A
B
B
D

(8)
The effective engineering properties of symmetric laminates can

be predicted from Eq. (8) through a series of thought experiments
where the laminate is subjected to a series of specied loadings.
With the laminate compliance dened:
[a ] 2H[A]1
(9)
The results of these thought experiments provide expressions

for the engineering properties of the laminate. Examples are:
Axial modulus:
Ex =
x
1
=
x
a11
Fig. 9. Poissons ratio predictions for carbon/epoxy.
(10)
y
x
a12
a11
(11)
Shear modulus:
Gxy =
xy
1
= a
xy
66
(12)
Coefcient of mutual inuence:
xy,x =
xy
a16
a11
(13)
The coefcient of mutual inuence (13) quanties the shear

strain associated with normal strain; it is non-zero when the laminate compliance term a16 is non-zero.
Specic examples of the range of engineering properties that can
be affected through the choice of material and stacking sequence
are presented in Figs. 1113. These gures show the variation in
axial modulus, Poisson ratio and shear modulus for T300/5208 carbon/epoxy.
These three gures show that the effective engineering properties of angle-ply laminates are higher than those of the
corresponding laminae. Further, Poissons ratio of angle-play laminates can exhibit values greater than 1.0, and the shear modulus
of angle-ply laminates is largest at 45 .
Another most interesting result for laminated composites
(Fig. 14) is the fact that the through-the-thickness Poissons ratio
Fig. 11. Axial modulus unidirectional and angle-ply laminates.
Fig. 12. Poissons ratio unidirectional and angle-ply laminates.
xz is negative over a signicant range of ber orientations for some

angle-ply laminates (Herakovich, 1984).
Another interesting feature of laminates is that, depending
on the stacking sequence of the layers, they can exhibit coupling between inplane and bending effects. Laminates that are
unsymmetric about the laminate midplane have a non-zero [B]
matrix resulting in coupling between inplane and out-of-plane
responses (see Eq. (8)). Unsymmetric laminates exhibit curvature
when subjected to pure inplane loading. Likewise, unsymmetric
laminates exhibit inplane strains when subjected to pure bending
moments. More on unsymmetric laminates is provided in a later
section.
6. Environmental effects
6.1. Thermal effects
Environmental effects often play a critical role in the choice
of material for many applications in devices and structures.
Fig. 13. Shear modulus unidirectional and angle-ply laminates.
Fig. 14. Through-the-thickness Poissons ratio.
Composites often are the material of choice where thermal stresses

or thermal expansion are important. The coefcient of thermal
expansion in the ber direction of unidirectional composites is
often near zero and can be slightly negative. This has huge
consequences when designing laminates for low, or matching, coefcients of thermal expansion. Thermal stresses can be extremely
important for the application of brous composite materials as
essentially all composite materials are fabricated at an elevated
temperature. The constituent phases become bonded at an elevated
temperature resulting in residual thermal stresses in the composite
after it has cooled to room temperature.
Fundamental problems at the micromechanics level are prediction of the residual stresses and the effective thermal properties of
unidirectional composites. At the laminate level, it is necessary to
predict the residual stresses and the laminate effective coefcient
of thermal expansion (CTE). This latter property is very important
as it is one of the unique aspects of laminated composite materials: composite laminates can exhibit CTE values over a wide range
including zero, positive and negative.
The earliest papers dealing with thermal effects in anisotropic
materials appear to be those by Ambartsumyan (1952) who considered thermal stresses in anisotropic, laminated plates, and Hayashi
(1956) who considered thermal stresses in orthotropic plates.
The earliest works at the micromechanics level appears to be
that of Van Fo Fy (1965) who considered thermal effects in composites consisting of periodic arrays of continuous, circular glass
bers. He used stress analysis to determine exact thermal coefcients for specic phase geometries. Levin (1967) presented an
approach for determining the effective coefcients of thermal
expansion for two phase composites with isotropic phases. The
work used an extension Hills approach and included bounds on
the expansion coefcients of transversely isotropic, unidirectional,
ber-reinforced composites. Rosen (1968) investigated thermal
expansion coefcients for composite materials. Much of this work
is incorporated in the later paper by Rosen and Hashin (1970) on
expansion coefcients.
Schapery (1968) derived upper and lower bounds as well as
specic approximations for thermal expansion coefcients of linear elastic and viscoelastic composite materials. He extended the
previous work of Levin and Van Fo Fy for an arbitrary number
of constituents and phase geometries, for isotropic phases. The
approach provided upper and lower bounds using the principles
of complementary and potential energy. Approximate expressions
Fig. 16. Finite width coupon under axial load.

Fig. 15. CTE unidirectional and angle-ply laminates.
6.2. Moisture effects

for the axial and transverse thermal coefcients of expansion for
unidirectional, ber-reinforced composites were presented. Hashin
(1979) extended Schaperys elastic results for composites with
transversely isotropic phases. The nal forms of the predictions for
the axial and transverse thermo-elastic coefcients of expansion
(as presented by Daniel and Ishai, 1994) are:
1 =
Ef f Vf + Em m Vm
Ef Vf + Em Vm
(E)1
E1
(14)
The analysis of moisture effects in organic matrix composites is

analogous to that for thermal effects at both the micromechanics
and laminate levels. Much of this work is detailed in three volumes
edited by Springer (1981), Springer (1984), and Springer (1988a).
Volume 3, Chapter 1 (Springer, 1988b) provides a broad review of
the effects of temperature and moisture on organic matrix composites. In general, moisture effects are not nearly as signicant as
thermal effects.
7. Interlaminar stresses
for the coefcient in the ber direction, and

2 = 2f Vf
1 + 12f
1f
2f
(12f Vf + 12m Vm )
+ 2m Vm
(E)1
E1
1m
1 + 12m
2m
(15)
for the coefcient in the transverse direction. In the above, f and

m refer to ber and matrix, respectively, V is volume fraction, E
is modulus, is coefcient of thermal expansion and is Poissons ratio, (E)1 = Ef f Vf + Em m Vm and E1 is the rule of mixture
composite modulus in the ber direction.
Additional works on thermal effects in composites include the
review article by Tauchert (1986) and that by Herakovich and
Aboudi (1999).
The rst presentation of the thermal-elastic formulation for
composite laminates was by Tsai (1968). An early textbook presentation of the formulation is that by Calcote (1969). A most important
result of the formulation is an expression for the effective coefcient of thermal expansion {}
for a symmetric N-layered laminate,
namely:
{}
= [A]1
N

[Q ] {}k tk
(16)
k=1
Ashton et al., 1969 presented results for the variation of thermal strains as a function of ber orientation
for unidirectional and angle play laminates. Fig. 15
shows that rather large, negative coefcients of thermal expansion are possible for a typical carbon/epoxy
material (T300/5208 in Fig. 15) over a range of ber orientations
for angel-ply laminates.
The rst publication concerned with interlaminar stresses in

laminated composites appears to be that of Hayashi (1967) who
investigated interlaminar shear stresses in an idealized laminate
consisting of orthotropic layers separated by isotropic shear layers. Other important early works include those by Bogy (1968)
who investigated the singular behavior of stresses at the intersection of a boundary and bonded dissimilar isotropic materials,
and the rst three-dimensional (numerical) analysis of interlaminar stresses in laminated composites by Pipes and Pagano
(1970).
Pipes and Pagano provided the rst complete analysis of the
problem of an axially loaded, laminated coupon with free edges
(Fig. 16). They formulated a reduced system of elasticity equations governing the laminate behavior by assuming independence
of the stress and strain state on the axial coordinate and then
solved the system of equations using the nite difference method.
Their results showed the existence of all three interlaminar stress
components in the boundary layer regions along the free edges
of nite width laminated coupons under inplane tensile loading. They presented results for a variety of ber orientations and
laminate stacking sequences and showed that the width of the
boundary layer is approximately equal to the thickness of the laminate, that the interlaminar normal stress z and the interlaminar
shear stress zx can exhibit singular behavior as the free edge is
approached, and that the sign and magnitude of the interlaminar stresses are functions of the laminate conguration including
material type, ber orientations, layer thicknesses and stacking
sequence.
The free edge problem has been studied on a continuing basis
ever since the original work in the late 1960s. The nite difference solution of Pipes and Pagano was followed quickly by a
three-dimensional nite element solution by Rybicki (1971). Later,
it was recognized that the tensile coupon problem also could be
10
Fig. 17. Free edge deformations quasi-isotropic laminates.
formulated as a two-dimensional nite element problem because

of the independence of the stress and strain states on the axial coordinate. The nite element formulation for cross-ply laminates as a
two-dimensional problem was presented by Foye and Baker (1971),
and the two-dimensional nite element formulation for laminates
including off-axis layers, thermal stresses and non-linear response
was presented by Herakovich et al. (1976).
Noteworthy approximate analytical solutions include a perturbation solution by Tang (1975), a variational approach by Pagano
(1978), a solution employing complex stress potentials and eigenfunction series by Wang and Choi (1982), and solutions based upon
statically admissible stress states (Kassapoglou and Lagace, 1986;
Rose and Herakovich, 1993). The free edge problem has also been
investigated experimentally, e.g., Pipes and Daniel (1971), Oplinger
et al. (1974), and Herakovich et al. (1984). The experimental investigations provided physical evidence of a boundary layer with large
strain gradients near free edges. All of the above studies have clearly
shown interlaminar stresses are the result of the mismatch in Poissons ratios and coefcients of mutual inuence and the presence
of a stress free boundary. The laminate stacking sequence plays
an important role in the magnitude and sign of the interlaminar
stresses.
Fig. 17 shows examples of the deformations of two-dimensional
nite element grids of the generic cross-section near the free edge
of carbon/epoxy laminates under axial loading (Buczek et al., 1983).
Results are presented for two different stacking sequences of quasiisotropic laminates with the 45 always adjacent to one another.
It is evident from this gure that the displacements (and related
stresses and strains) are a strong function of the stacking sequence
with the interlaminar normal stresses being positive or negative
depending upon the stacking sequence. Figs. 17 and 18 combined
provide a complete picture of the possible edge effects on the three
generic planes (top face, free edge and transverse cross-section) of
a nite width coupon under axial load.
Fig. 18 (Herakovich et al., 1984) shows Moir fringe patterns for
the axial displacements on the face and free edge of angle-ply, carbon/epoxy laminates subjected to axial loading. On the coupon face
it is evident that the width of the edge effect is approximately equal
to the thickness of the laminate. On the edge, the shear strains zx
are proportional to the gradient of the fringe lines and are maxima at the interfaces between the layers; the 10 and 30 laminates
exhibit much higher shear strain (and stress) than the 45 laminate. Analytical studies are in agreement with the ber orientation
dependence which is directly related to the mismatch in layer properties. It is also evident from the gure that the displacements on
the face and on the edge are uniform along the length
Fig. 18. Moir fringe patterns angle-ply laminates.
8. Unsymmetric laminates3
As noted previously in the section on lamination theory,
unsymmetric laminates exhibit coupling between inplane and
out-of-plane responses. Hyer (1988) reviewed many features of
3
This section was written by Mike Hyer, with a very few modications provided
by the author.
Fig. 19. Possible shapes of anti-symmetric cross-ply laminates.
unsymmetric laminates including curing and out-of-plane shapes,

stability considerations, and effects of materials properties, laminate thickness, laminate aspect ratio, and stacking sequence.
When a at, unsymmetric, ber-reinforced laminate layup is
cured in a press or autoclave at an elevated temperature, it will
develop curvature when cooled to room temperature and released
from all constraints of the curing process. The laminates will often
have two shapes at room temperature, and the laminate can be
changed from one shape to the other by a simple snap-through
action in the form of a moment applied to the edges of the laminate.
The developed curvatures are due to a mismatch in the thermal
expansion behavior of the layers within the laminate. The exact
shape of the cooled laminate, and whether it has multiple shapes
or just a single shape, depends on layer material properties, the
geometry of the laminate, and the temperature change from the
cure temperature to room temperature.
Considering a square unsymmetrical cross-ply laminate, for
example, and considering a simplied description, when two
shapes occur, one shape is near-cylindrical with the cylinder generator parallel to one set of opposite edges of the laminate. The second
shape is also near-cylindrical, but with a curvature of opposite sign
and with the cylinder generator direction perpendicular to that of
the rst shape, namely, parallel to the other set of opposite edges.
In terms of principal curvatures, the principle curvatures of the two
shapes are of opposite sign and the major principal curvature direction of one shape is perpendicular to the major principal direction of
the other shape. Furthermore, the major principal curvature direction in each case is parallel to an edge of the laminate. When a
single shape occurs, that shape is a saddle with its principal curvatures aligned with the laminate edges. When this behavior was rst
observed it was nothing more than a curiosity. However, the behavior has attracted continuing attention since the initial work by Hyer
(1981a) to empirically study the phenomenon. Representations of
these different shapes are shown in Fig. 19.
Continuing with a cross-ply laminate as an example, classical
lamination theory, with its linear strain-displacement relations,
predicts the shape of all unsymmetric laminates to be a saddle,
and since classical lamination theory is a linear theory, that is
the only shape predicted. However, when cooling a thin laminate of any reasonable size, e.g., 4-, 8-, or 16-layers, 0.5 m square,
from its cure temperature to room temperature, the out-of-plane
deformations are many times the laminate thickness. Deformations of this magnitude bring into question the validity of using
the linear strain-displacement relations. Therefore, considering
cross-ply laminates, Hyer (1981b) and Hyer (1982) and Hamamoto
11
and Hyer (1987) employed the geometrically nonlinear von Krmn strain-displacement relations, an energy approach, and the
RayleighRitz technique wherein approximate displacement functions were used to develop a semi-closed form solution to the
problem that explained how the existence of two cylindrical shapes
or a single saddle shape depended on the laminate geometry and
the temperature change relative to the cure temperature. Obviously, the thermo-elastic properties of the laminate material were
important too.
Interestingly, the developed theory predicted a saddle shape
for all laminate geometries, but for laminates with large sidelengths, the saddle shape was predicted to be statically unstable,
and therefore never to be observed, while the two cylindrical shapes predicted were predicted to be stable. For laminates
with small side-lengths, the saddle shape was predicted to be
stable and the only shape predicted to exist, i.e., the same as
the prediction of classical lamination theory based on the linear strain-displacement relations. Data from a limited number of
laminates correlated reasonably well with the predictions of the
theory.
In later work Jun and Hong (1990) questioned the assumption
made by Hyer (1981a) of ignoring any in-plane residual shear strain
caused by cooling the laminate. As was shown in their extension
of the semi-closed solution form developed by Hyer, the shape
predictions and the dependence on laminate geometry are inuenced by the assumption and the inuence was quantied. Jun and
Hong (1992) were also the rst to consider laminates with ber
angles other than 0 or 90 . A further extension of their semi-closed
form earlier work (1990) was developed to include the possibility
of twist curvature, while taking into consideration the need to have
a tractable set of equations.
Using the RayleighRitz approach, Peeters et al. (1996) also
investigated laminates with ber orientations other than 0 and
90 . They erroneously assumed that for all unsymmetric laminates the principal curvature direction was oriented at 45 relative
to the laminate edge and they treated the laminate as if it was
square in the principal curvature coordinate system. Experimental
results from only a single + 30 angle-ply laminate were presented
to compare with the theoretical model. The comparison between
experiment and predictions was reasonable, but the authors went
on to explain how manufacturing problems, material property
uncertainties, and material inhomogeneity could have inuenced
their experimental results.
To explore the predictive capabilities of the RayleighRitz
approach beyond shape predictions, Dano and Hyer (1996) investigated the snap-through event of a cross-ply laminate. Using a
force-control set-up, based on dead weights, the magnitude of
a concentrated force necessary to cause the laminate to snap
from one cylindrical conguration to the other was measured.
The motivation for this experiment was as follows: With unsymmetric laminates having multiple shapes, there was the potential
for developing morphing structures, in this case, structures that
changed shape on command. This required knowledge of the level
of actuation necessary to achieve the snap through. So, the originally developed energy-based RayleighRitz analysis was modied
to include an applied concentrated force, the simplest form of an
actuation force. The deformations of the laminate as the force was
applied resulted in complex expressions for the work done by the
force, but the snapping force magnitude measured in the experiments correlated well with the predicted level. Later, as will be
discussed, considerable work was done by a number of investigators in the area of morphing.
While the initial work based on developing semi-closed
form solutions was very helpful in explaining the fundamental
mechanics of the multiple-shape phenomenon, the application of
nite-element approaches opened new opportunities to study the
12
problem, particularly for very general unsymmetric laminates. One

of the difculties of using nite-element analysis was the existence
of multiple solutions at room temperature. Finite-element analysis
had to be coaxed into converging to the various solutions by knowing something about each of the multiple shapes the laminate could
attain, using a small force or moment to move the convergence
of the nite element solution toward a particular shape, and then
removing the small force or moment so only thermal effects were
causing the computed deformations.
Some nite-element codes would provide information about the
stability of various solutions computed. Schlecht et al. (1995) used a
nite element approach to compare with the earlier RayleighRitz
results of Hyer (1981a) for cross-ply laminates. The comparisons
between the results for the cross-ply laminates from the two different approaches were good. Laminates with 45 ply orientation
were also considered, but there was no comparison with results
from other approaches. Schlecht and Schulte (1999) considered
the effect of temperature-dependent properties and the nite element approach to study the cooled shape and snap-through forces
and displacements for square cross-ply and [02 /2 ]T laminates.
The principal curvature directions of the latter laminates were also
computed as a function of , as was the response of circular unsymmetric laminates.
Dano and Hyer (1998) extended the RayleighRitz approach
to study much more general laminates by using more complex
approximate displacement functions. Shape predictions for more
general laminates using this extended RayleighRitz approach
were compared with predictions from nite element analyses and
experiments. The correlations among the two predicted shapes and
the experimentally measured ones were quite good. Going one step
further, Dano and Hyer (2002) used the extended RayleighRitz
approach to predict the forces required for snap through of general
unsymmetric laminates and conducted force-control experiments
to measure these forces. The measured and predicted snap-through
forces were in good agreement.
Hufenbach and Gude (2002) used a genetic algorithm and a
RayleighRitz solution to nd families of laminates with desired
curvature characteristics. Cross-ply and angle-ply laminates were
considered, though details of the approximate in-plane displacement response assumed in the analysis were not given. Hufenbach
et al. (2002) repeated some of the work discussed in (2002) and
presented additional empirical results. A concept for producing
snap through on command was also outlined. Ren et al. (2003) presented an interesting alternative to the concept of multiple cooled
shapes by presenting predicted results for unsymmetric laminates
following the original approach by Hyer (1981b), but assuming
the laminate was cured on a cylindrical tool rather than in a at
state before it was cooled. The initial cylindrical shape had a signicant effect on the role of laminate dimensions on the stability
characteristics.
A number of investigators continued to study unsymmetric laminates. The inuence of laminate aspect ratio, dened as the ratio
of laminate length to laminate width, on the stability characteristics of cross-ply laminates, and therefore the existence or lack
thereof of cylindrical shapes, was investigated by Gigliotti et al.
(2004) using the original formulation of Hyer (1981a) and nite
element analysis. The conclusion was that long, narrow cross-ply
laminates did not exhibit multiple shapes, rather they cooled to
a unique shape with a dominate curvature in the long direction.
The lack of multiple shapes was associated with the loss of bifurcation behavior, i.e., the solution for laminate shape did not yield
two solutions, rather just one. It was also concluded that the original formulation of Hyer (1981a) was incapable of predicting the
behavior of long, narrow laminates. Potter et al. (2007) measured
the load vs. displacement relations for a two-layer cross-ply laminate and observed the deformation behavior. The load was applied
at the center of the plate and normal to the surface of the curved
laminate. The laminate exhibited complex local snap-through
behavior that was not predicted.
Tawk et al. (2007) used nite element analysis to study square
cross-ply laminates. The shape predictions were compared with
results using the original theory of Hyer (1981a) and the nite element analysis was extended to compute the force, applied at the
center of the laminate and normal to the curved surface, to produce
snap through. Also, calculations were made to determine the critical laminate aspect ratio and it was concluded that snap through
will not occur if the laminate is too narrow. Pirrera et al. (2010)
used more sophisticated approximate displacement functions and
the RayleighRitz approach, considered cross-ply laminates, and
provided detailed predictions of shapes and the forces to cause
snap through, where again, the force was applied in the center
of the laminate and normal to the curved surface. Mattioni et al.
(2008) considered unsymmetric laminates with piecewise variations of the ber angle within a layer and concluded that multiple
shapes were still possible. Betts et al. (2010) used the approach
developed by Dano and Hyer (1998), relabeling the nomenclature,
and a three-camera system with markers on the laminate to measure laminate shape. This measurement arrangement was unique
and provided high-resolution data. The comparison between the
predicted and measured shapes was good.
A potential advantage of using the multiple shapes of unsymmetric laminates for morphing structures was that actuators would
only have to provide the forces to snap the laminate from one shape
to the other. Actuator energy would not be required to hold the laminate in a particular shape. Actuator energy would only be required
for transforming the shape. This could be a signicant advantage,
assuming the shapes developed by the unsymmetric laminate were
desirable shapes, and environmental or other inuences did not
impact the shape, or the transforming of the shape. Dano and Hyer
(2003) investigated use of shape memory alloy wires, stretched
between short struts, or posts, that were mounted normal to the
surface of an unsymmetric laminate. When electric current was
passed through the shape memory alloy wires, their temperature
would increase and through the martensitic-austenitic transformation, the wires would contract and produce a tensile force between
the struts. The tensile force acting through the length of the strut
produced a moment on the laminate that, if sufcient, would cause
the laminate to snap through. A similar shape memory alloy wire
and strut arrangement on the opposite side of the laminate would
reverse snap the laminate. The laminate, strut, and shape memory alloy wire arrangement was modeled using the RayleighRitz
approach, and the wire temperature to produced snapping was
predicted. Of course, strut length and the number and diameter
of shape memory alloy wires were design variables. Experiments
were developed, with care taken to electrically insulate all components, and snap through measurements made. The correlation
between the predicted and measured snap-though temperature
was good.
Using an alternative concept, Schultz and Hyer (2003) used
piezoelectric actuators, bonded to the surface of an unsymmetric
laminate, to produce snap through. The design variables were the
area of the actuator, the strain-voltage capabilities of the actuator,
the maximum voltage that could be applied to the actuator, and the
method of bonding the actuator to the laminate. Interestingly, for
thin laminates the stiffness of the actuator could alter the cooled
shape of the unsymmetric laminate, if not globally, then certainly
in the neighborhood of the actuator. A model was developed to
consider all these issues, the model being based on a multi-step
RayleighRitz approach, where the steps were (1) laminate curing, (2) bonding the actuator to the laminate, and (3) application of
voltage to the actuator. Reasonably good correlation between the
predicted and measured voltage to produce snapping was achieved.
13
Fig. 20. Laminated tube axial independent loading.
Other investigators considered the same basic approach of using

piezoceramic actuators. Gude and Hufenbach (2006) used a nite
element approach to model the actuators and laminate. Bowen et al.
(2007) considered using mechanical loads to augment the effect of
the actuators. Portela et al. (2008) concluded that the actuator properties must be matched to the laminate. Failure to do this matching
results in either the multiple shape characteristics of the laminate
being eliminated, or the actuator not being powerful enough to
snap the laminate.
9. Tubes
The laminated circular tube (Fig. 20) is one of a very few composite structural congurations for which an exact elasticity solution
is available. The analytical solution for axisymmetric, mechanical
loading is based upon the works of Lekhnitskii (1950a), Scherrer
(1967), Reissner (1970), Pagano (1971), and Reissner and Tsai
(1974). Thermal stresses were included by Hyer and Cooper (1986)
and several follow-on works by Hyer and co-workers Wilson and
Orgill (1986) included material and geometric nonlinearities. The
availability of an analytical solution permits direct and efcient
in-depth study of the problem parameters. For an N-layer composite tube under x-independent, axisymmetric, thermo-mechanical
loading, the displacements in the kth layer can be written:
u(k) (x, r) = x x
(17)
(k)
v (x, r) = xr
w(k) (r) =
(k)
A1 r
exhibit coupling between axial and shear response. This is due

to the fact that the individual layers are not at the same radius
from the axis. In addition, the response of tubes is a function of
the tube aspect ratio RI /h where RI is the inner radius and h is
the laminate thickness. Fig. 21 demonstrates the effect of aspect
ratio for the radial coefcient of thermal expansion (CTE) of a carbon/epoxy. Results are presented for unidirectional and angle-ply
laminates. The unidirectional laminae exhibit negative CTE only
over a very small range of ber orientation near 90 . In contrast,
the angle-ply laminates exhibit negative CTE over a large range of
ber orientation; the range of negative values and magnitude are
very dependent on the tube aspect ratio. For angle-ply tubes, the
inner radius of the tube actually shrinks when subjected to heating; this effect is more pronounced as the aspect ratio decreases
(i.e., the tube is thicker).
The solution for layered tubes can be extended to the case of
a layered, solid cylinder by using the fact that singular displacements are not permissible at r = 0. This condition is used to eliminate
(18)
(k)
+ A2 r
+ (k) x r + (k) r 2 + (k) r T
(19)
In the above, x and are the axial strain and angle of twist per
unit length, (k) , (k) and (k) are known functions of the layer
(k)
material properties, T is the uniform temperature change, A1

(k)
and A2 are unknown layer constants to be determined from interfacial displacement and stress continuity equations and external
boundary conditions.
There are two interesting facets for the response of laminated,
composites tubes. Axisymmetric tubes of a [ ] conguration
Fig. 21. Radial CTE for tubes.
14
Fig. 22. Plate in cylindrical bending.
one of the unknowns in the solution. Hashin and Rosen used the
solid cylinder approach in their (1964) paper on the concentric
cylinder assemblage model for micromechanics of composites with
isotropic ber and matrix. Avery and Herakovich (1986) used the
solid cylinder approach to study the effect of ber anisotropy on
thermal stresses, and Knott and Herakovich (1991b) used it to study
the effects of various ber morphologies on effective composite
properties.
10. Plates
The rst publication concerned with anisotropic plates appears
to be that of Huber (in Polish) in (1921). The English translation of
the title to his work is The theory of anisotropic rectangular plates,
with special consideration of reinforced concrete slabs, iron, etc.
Another early publication on anisotropic plates is that by Hayashi
(1941). See the Anniversary Volume of collected Papers of Tsuyoshi
Hayashi (1973) for this publication and other related works by
Hayashi, including his 1947 doctoral thesis that contains his work
dating from pre-World War II. Lekhnitskiis Anisotropic Plates rst
appeared in 1944 with a second edition in (1957). Ambartsumyans
Theory of Anisotropic Plates appeared in (1967) and the translation from Russian in 1970. Whitneys book on Structural Analysis
of Laminated Anisotropic Plates was published in (1987). Reddys
book entitled Mechanics of laminated composite plates: theory and
analysis was published in (1997) with a second edition in (2004).
Most solutions for laminated plate problems involve some level
of approximation. Finite element and other approximate solutions
are common. However, there is one problem for which an analytic,
elasticity solution is available. It is the cylindrical bending problem
(Fig. 22) presented in a series of papers by Pagano (1969), Pagano
(1970), and Pagano and Wang (1971). The plate is composed of N
orthotropic or angle-ply layers, simply supported along its edges
x = 0 and x = L, and subjected to transverse loading q(x) over the
entire the top surface, z = H. For cylindrical bending, all displacements, stresses and strains are independent of axial coordinate y.
Thus the solution to the problem corresponds to the solution for
a generic x-z plane; it shows that, in contrast to classical plate
theory, the results are a function of the plate length to thickness
aspect ratio. The classical plate theory predictions converge to the
elasticity solution for large aspect ratios.
11. Failure
11.1. Unidirectional lamina
The axial tensile strength of a unidirectional lamina is typically
controlled by the ber ultimate strain (or stress). Kelly and Davies
(1965) provided a method for predicting axial tensile strength as a
function of ber and matrix strengths, and the constituent volume
fractions. For a composite that fails when the bers attains the ber
Fig. 23. Off-axis tensile coupon failure comparisons.
ultimate stress fult , the composite failure stress cult can be written
and the
in terms of the stress in the matrix at this strain level m
ber and matrix volume fractions as:

cult = fult Vf + m
(1 Vf )
(20)
They also presented a relationship specifying the critical ber

volume fraction required for the composite strength to be greater
than the bulk matrix strength.
11.2. Quadratic failure criteria
Several quadratic failure criteria have been presented to predict
failure of a unidirectional composite in a state of combined loading. They represent attempts to provide better correlation between
theory and experiment by inclusion of all components of stress in
an equation representing the failure criterion. The quadratic criteria are based upon the mathematical premise that a second order
curve has more parameters with which to t experimental data
than does a straight line. These criteria generally are not based upon
the physics of the failure mechanisms. While they may provide better correlation between theory and experiment in some situations
they are limited in that the sign of the normal stress components
must be known a priori if the positive and negative strengths are
different (which is often the case with composites).
Failure criteria based upon polynomials of strength tensors
represent an attempt to mathematically overcome one of the
shortcomings of the quadratic criteria, namely, to account for the
differences in tensile and compressive strengths. They have the
additional advantage of being scalar equations of tensor quantities.
Hence they are invariant and transformations between coordinate
systems can be affected using the tensor transformation laws.
Tensor polynomial failure criteria were rst considered by
Goldenblat and Kopnov (1965) and Ashkenazi (1965). The criterion
most often employed over the years is the second order tensor polynomial criterion proposed by Tsai and Wu (1971). It is a complete
quadratic, tensor polynomial with linear terms included. The criterion assumes that there exists a scalar function f( i ) that describes
the failure surface in stress space. For failure to occur, f( i ) must
satisfy the condition:
f (i ) = Fi i + Fij i j 1
(21)
In (21), Fi and Fij are tensor quantities of strength parameters

that can, at least in theory, be determined from a series of tests on
the composite.
Fig. 24. Failed angle-ply laminates.
Fig. 23 shows a comparison of strength predictions using the

tensor polynomial criterion and three maximum stress criteria with
experimental results for two resin matrix, unidirectional, off-axis
tensile tests. The tensor polynomial gives the best predictions over
the full range of ber orientations.
The ber orientation and stacking sequence of a laminated composite has a strong inuence on the strength and mode of failure.
This is particularly true if free edges are present. Fig. 24 shows the
signicant effects of stacking sequence for tensile tests on angleply laminates with different stacking sequences. When the + and
layers are stacked in an alternating fashion, the mode of failure is primarily due to ber breakage. In contrast, when the +
and layers are grouped together, edge effects and interlaminar
shear stresses dominate; the specimen fails due to delamination
at a much lower axial stress. Alternating the layers of the [ 30]S
specimen resulted in a 48% increase in strength.
A damage theory for composites that has received considerable

attention is the mesoscale composite damage theory proposed by
Ladeveze (1983, 1986). This theory has been shown to be robust
for predicting the damaged response of composite materials and
structures under a wide variety of conditions. It is based upon
the method of local state expressed in terms of state variables
and the associated thermodynamic forces. The theory is called the
mesoscale composite damage theory because it is based upon the
assumption that the damage is uniform through the thickness of
individual layers of the composite. Mesoscale is a term indicating
that the scale of the analysis is between micromechanics (i.e., the
level of the ber and the matrix) and laminate analysis. The theory
is based upon the mean value of the stress in each layer and allows
the damage state to vary from layer to layer in a laminate. When
delamination is of interest, damage between layers is introduced
through consideration of damage to the idealized interfacial layer
(Ladeveze et al., 1990; Allix and Ladeveze, 1992).
Additional developments of the model were concerned with the
computation of the intensities of the different damage mechanisms
up to ultimate fracture (Ladeveze, 1992) and bridging the model to
the micromechanics scale, Ladeveze and Lubineau (2002). Application of the model to the development of damage in a stiffened
composite panel was given by Flesher and Herakovich (2006).
The foundation of the model is the expression for the strain
energy density of a damaged layer written in terms of the
mean, effective layer stresses.
ED =
Failure is often an ill-dened term when referring to composite materials and composite structures. These heterogeneous,
laminated materials typically exhibit many local failures prior to
rupture into two or more distinct pieces. Local damage in the form
of matrix cracks, ber breakage or ber buckling, and ber/matrix
debonding may initiate and grow (accumulate) throughout the
structure prior to rupture. The local failures are referred to as
damage and the development of additional local failures with
increasing load or time is called damage evolution or damage
accumulation. The term damage mechanics has been coined to
describe the study of the initiation and evolution of damage up to
and including rupture.
The earliest published works on damage mechanics appear
to be those by Kachanov (1958) and Robotnov (1968) on the
application of a continuous damage variable for creep failure of
metals. The concept was generalized, within the framework of
irreversible thermodynamics, for isotropic materials under multiaxial loads by Lemaitre and Chaboche (1974), Hult (1974), Leckie
(1978) and Murakami (1983). Books on damage mechanics include
those by Lemaitre and Chaboche (1985), Bazant and Cedolin (1991),
Krajcinovic (1996) and Voyiadjis and Kattan (1999).
1
2
11 2
+
E (1d1 )
1
11 2
2
12
2
12
11 22
E
(1 d )
G12
6
22 2
+
E (1d2 )
2
22 2
E
2
(22)
The di in (22) are damage variables and the notation indicates a non-zero contribution depending upon the sign of the stress.
The associated thermodynamic forces are then:
Y1 =
Y2 =
Y6 =
12. Damage mechanics
15
2
11
+
2E1 (1 d1 )
2
22
+
2E2 1 d2
2
12
(1 d )
2G12
6
(23)
The model has demonstrated good comparison between theory

and experiment for a variety of materials and loading conditions.
13. Experimental methods
Testing composite materials has proven to be much more difcult than testing homogeneous, isotropic materials. The difculties
are associated primarily with load introduction, development of a
specied, uniform state of stress in a desired region of the test specimen, obtaining stressstrain results into the nonlinear range, and
controlling the type and location of failure. In addition, the fundamental tests of tension, compression and shear must be extended to
include consideration of material anisotropy. Unidirectional, continuous bers in a polymeric matrix present the most difcult
case.
An early discussion of test methods for brous composites was
given by Waddoups (1968). His work was largely based on two Air
Force Contractor Reports by Rogers (1965, 1966). The experimental
work reported on had been conducted at three organizations, General Dynamics Fort Worth Division, Illinois Institute of Technology
Research Institute (IITRI), and Texaco Experiment Inc. Waddoups
discussed the advantages and disadvantages of methods for
16
Fig. 25. IITRI style tensile coupon.
tension, compression and shear testing of unidirectional and laminated boron/epoxy. Three tensile specimens were considered:
dogbone, straight sided coupon and sandwich beam. Two compression specimens were considered: short column coupon and
sandwich beam. For shear tests, a sandwich cross beam conguration was used. Linear and nonlinear response, failure, and cyclic
loading and unloading were considered.
The American Society for Testing and Materials played a key role
in the development and acceptance of suitable test methods. ASTM
Subcommittee on Composites, D-30, formed in 1964, led this work.
Between 1966 and 2005 ASTM published sixty-six Special technical Publications (STPs) related to testing and design of composite
materials. More recently, e.g., Adams (2011) has reviewed tests
methods for composites in a series of articles in high Performance
Composites.
13.1. Tension
As a result of the above noted work and many later investigations, the standard specimen for tensile testing of unidirectional
and laminated brous composites is the IITRI tensile coupon. An
example is shown in Fig. 25.
The specimen is a straight-side coupon with ber-glass tabs
bonded at the ends for load introduction.
13.2. Compression
Compression testing proved to be more difcult than tensile
testing because of issues associated with specimen alignment, ber
kinking, and local splitting and crushing of the specimen at the
ends where load is introduced. The standard compression specimen is a short coupon under combined axial and shear loading.
While a short gage length is required in order to negate the possibility of ber kinking, the specimen must be sufciently long to
eliminate load introduction end effects. The IITRI Compression Fixture was introduced in 1977. A sketch from Adams (2011) is shown
in Fig. 26. Numerous versions of this xture have been introduced
over the years. In (1988), Lin and Pindera presented an IITRI-like
xture that can be used for cyclic, tension-compression loading of
at specimens.
Fig. 26. IITRI compression xture.
stress x , and the axial and transverse strains, x and y , respectively, as:
G12 =
x
2(x y )
The Iosipescu specimen (1967) was originally designed as a

round specimen with a V-notch groove for shear tests on metals. It
was proposed for at composites by Herakovich and Bergner et al.
(1977). Advantages of the Iosipescu specimen are that it is not limited to linear elastic response (as is the [ 45]S tensile coupon) and
can be used for out-of-plane response (i.e., G23 ) as well as inplane
response. The specimen can provide shear response well into the
nonlinear range for some laminate congurations. Fig. 27 shows
a typical test xture arrangement used for Iosipescu tests of at
laminates.
13.3. Shear
A wide variety of specimens have been employed to obtain
the shear stress-strain response of brous composites. Early work
included sandwich cross beam, picture frame and rail shear. Three
specimens that are now accepted as providing good results for
shear properties are: the [ 45]S tensile coupon, the Iosipescu Vnotched specimen and the off-axis tensile specimen.
The [ 45]S tensile coupon was proposed by Rosen (1972) as a
simple test for determining the in-plane shear modulus G12 of unidirectional lamina. He showed that for linear elastic response, the
shear modulus can be expresses simply in terms of the average axial
(24)
Fig. 27. Iosipescu shear specimen and xture.
13.4. Off-axis tensile test

Tensile tests on unidirectional off-axis lamina have been used
to measure the shear modulus G12 . The results are dependent on
the ber orientation angle and the specimen length/width aspect
ratio. It has been shown that for polymeric matric composites, an
angle of 45 and aspect ratio of 1020 are recommended (Pindera
and Herakovich, 1986).
14. Nanocomposites
The term nanotechnology rst appeared in (1974) in a paper
presented by Taniguchi in Tokyo, Japan. Nano denotes a scale of
109 and nanotechnology refers to the properties of atoms and
molecules measuring roughly 0.11000 nanometers. The rst article on materials at the nano scale was by Kroto et al. (1985) who
published the results of their work on the development of a stable, cage-like molecule of 60 carbon atoms arranged in the shape
of a soccer-ball or geodesic dome. They called the molecules buckerminsterfullerenes or buckyballsafter Richard Buckminster Fuller
of the geodesic dome fame. Richard Smalleyat Rice University was
actually the one who discovered the arrangement of atoms that
provided the correct stable shape (see Smalley, 1991). The development of buckyballs was followed by the development of carbon
nanotubes by Iijima (1991). Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are cage-like,
cylindrical fullerenes, roughly 1.5 nanometers in diameter and a
few hundred nanometers to microns long. They exhibit exceptional
specic stiffness and strength and are highly elastic. They can be
formed coaxially, one nanotube inside another, to form multiwall
CNTs.
Because of their high specic modulus and strength combined
with their exceptional elasticity, carbon nanotubes are of great
interest to the composites community. The goal is to disperse carbon nanotubes in the matrix of a brous composite with the hope
of improving the mechanical properties of the composite. The work
to date has been largely associated with fabrication issues. Much
of this work is reviewed in four articles published by Chou and
co-authors with the most recent by Chou et al. (2010). Sun and coworkers reported improved compressive properties of glass and
carbon ber composites using nanoparticle infused matrix materials. These works are summarized by Uddin and Sun (2009).
All things considered, it may be said that, as of this writing,
additional research is required before major advancements in the
mechanical properties of brous composites are realized through
the use of nanoparticle enhanced materials.
15. University and government programs
The rst signicant government research activity on brous
composites in the United States appears to be that at the Air Force
Materials Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the early
1960s. The history of the activity at AFML was detailed by Tsai
in (2005). Soon after the initiation of work at AFML, NASA Langley Research Center joined the activity in composites promoting
their use in commercial aircraft. Virtually all government laboratories now have very active programs in mechanics of composites.
And, of course, the National Science Foundation has played a very
strong role in the funding of research in mechanics of composites.
Educational and research activities in mechanics of composites rst appeared at universities in the United States in the late
1960s. The rst course in composites was taught by Jack Vinson
at the University of Delaware in 1969. That same year, a Department of Defense research grant was funded at Virginia Tech under
the leadership of Dan Frederick. Formal programs were established
17
at both of these universities in 1974. At Delaware, a Center for

Composite Materials was formed with Jack Vinson, Tsu-Wei Chou,
Roy McCullough and Byron Pipes providing the leadership. The
Delaware Center has maintained a strong relationship with industry. At Virginia Tech, the NASA-Virginia Tech Composites Program
was established under the leadership of the author and John Davis
at NASA Langley Research Center. Under this cooperative program, students completed a research residency of six to twelve
months at NASAs Langley working with NASA engineers. The rst
course in mechanics of composites at Virginia Tech was taught by
the author in 1974. Courses in mechanics of composites are now
taught in many universities in the United States and around the
world.
16. Closure
During the process of writing this invited article it became clear
that there was too much material to be discussed, at the depth
desired by the author, and in the time frame and space available,
if all aspects of composites mechanics were to be covered. Thus,
the time came when it was necessary to say thats enough for now.
Hopefully, there will be time in the future to add additional topics. Apologies to those who have made signicant contributions in
areas not covered. You are many!
17. Books on mechanics of composites
Following is a partial listing of books on mechanics of composites.
Aboudi, J., 1991. Mechanics of Composite Materials: A Unied
Micromechanical Approach. Elsevier.
Achenbach, J.D., 1975. A Theory of Elasticity with Microstructure for Directionally Reinforced Composites, CISM Courses and
Lectures No. 167. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Ambartsumyan, S.A., 1970. Theory of Anisotropic Plates. Technomic Publishing Co. Inc. Stamford, CT.
Ashton, J.E., Halpin, J.C., Petit, P.H., 1969. Primer on Composite
Materials: Analysis. Technomic.
Ashton, J.E., Whitney, J.M., 1970. Theory of Laminated Plates.
Technomic.
Agarwal, B.D., Broutman, L.J., 1990. Analysis and Performance of
Fiber Composites, second edition. John Wiley & Sons.
Broutman, L.J., Krock, R.H. (Eds.), 1974. Composite Materials, vol.
18. Academic Press.
Buryachenko, V., 2007. Micromechanics of Heterogeneous Materials. Springer.
Calcote, L.R., 1969. The Analysis of Laminated Composite Structures. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Chawla, K.K., 1987. Composite Materials Science and Engineering. Springer-Verlag.
Christensen, R.M., 1979. Mechanics of Composite Materials. J.
Wiley & Sons.
Daniel, I.M., Ishai, O., 1994. Engineering Mechanics of Composite
Materials. Oxford University Press.
Gibson, R.F., 1994. Principles of Composite Material Mechanics.
McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Halpin, J.C., 1992. Revised Primer on Composite Materials: Analysis, second edition. Technomic.
Hashin, Z., 1972. Theory of Fiber Reinforced Materials. NASA CR1974.
Hearmon, R.F.S., 1961. An Introduction of Applied Anisotropic
Elasticity. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Herakovich, C.T., 1998. Mechanics of Fibrous Composites. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
18
Holaway, L., 1993. Polymer Composites for Civil and Structural

Engineering. Blackie Academic & Professional, Glasgow.
Hyer, M.W., 1998. Stress Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Composite
Materials. McGraw-Hill, Boston.
Jones, R.M., 1975. Mechanics of Composite Materials. McGraw
Hill.
Kelly, A., 1994. Concise Encyclopedia of Composite Materials,
revised edition. Elsevier.
Kelly, A., Rabotnov, Y.N. (Eds.), 1986. Handbook of Composite,
vols. 14. North-Holland.
Lee, S.J. (Ed.), 1991. International Encyclopedia of Composites,
vols. 15. VCH Publishers, Inc., New York.
Lekhnitskii, S.G., 1963. Theory of Elasticity of an Anisotropic Body.
Holden-Day.
Lubin, G., (Ed.), 1982. Handbook of Composites. Van Nostrand
Reinhold Co.
Obraztsov, I.F., Vasilev, V.V., (Eds.), 1982. Mechanics of Composites. MIR Publishers, Moscow.
Mallick, P.K., 1988. Fiber-Reinforced Composites: Materials, Manufacturing and Design. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York.
Nemat-Nasser, S., Hori, M., 1993. Micromechanics: Overall Properties of Heterogeneous Materials. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
Ochoa, O.O., Reddy, J.N., 1992. Finite Element Analysis of Composite Laminates. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Reddy, J.N., 2004. Mechanics of Laminated Composite Plates and
Shells: Theory and Analysis, second edition. CRC Press, Boca
Raton, FL.
Qu, J., Cherkaoui, 2006. Fundamentals of Micromechanics of
Solids. Wiley.
Spencer, A.J.M., 1972. Deformations of Fibre-reinforced Materials.
Clarendon Press.
Springer, G.S., 1988. Environmental Effects in Composite Materials, vol. 3. Technomic.
Suresh, S., Mortensen, A., Needleman, A., 1993. Fundamentals of
Metal matrix Composites. Butterworth-Heinemann, Stoneham.
Taya, M., Arsenault, R.J., 1989. Metal Matrix Composites. Pergamon Press.
Tsai, S.W., Composite Design 1986, Think Composites, 1985.
Dayton, OH.
Tsai, S.W., Hahn, H.T., 1980. Introduction to Composite Materials.
Technomic.
Vinson, J.R., 1993. The Behavior of Shells Composed of Isotropic
and Composite Materials. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, The
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Acknowledgments
Fig. 2 is a picture of artwork on papyrus given to the author by
Eman Siragy, a graduate student at the University of Virginia. The
artwork was purchased in Egypt in 1996.
Fig. 3 is a picture given to the author by Zvi Hashin. The picture
was taken by a friend of Hashin.
The photomicrographs in Fig. 5 are courtesy of Joseph M. Kunze,
University of Virginia.
Special thanks to Mike Hyer for writing the section on unsymmetric laminates.
Thanks are due to Tsu-Wei Chou who provided copies of review
papers on nanocomposites and background on the Center for Composites at the University of Delaware.
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Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Mechanics Research Communications

Mechanics of composites: A historical review

Available online 21 January 2012

Since the beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

E-mail address: herak@virginia.edu

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

More important than any one new application is the new

1. Since the beginning

Fig. 1. New testament on papyrus.

Egyptianscirca4000 B.C. They laid up strips from the brous

Fig. 2. Artwork on papyrus.

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Papyrus paper developed

(Soltes, 1961) and aramid (Kwolek, 1964). The development of the

Fig. 3. Brick with straw bers.

2. The early years

Fig. 4. White knight and SpaceShipOne.

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

idea to arrive at differential equations describing elastic response;

The symmetry of the compliance matrix provides additional

where ij and ij are normal and shear components of stress,

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Strain energy density dened 21 elastic constants

The development of micromechanics models for predicting the

of a ber core surrounded by a matrix annulus, such that the

Effective axial Poissons ratio:

Vf (1 Vf )(f m ) m /(km + m /3) m /(kf + f /3)

Fig. 5. Fiber and matrix photomicrographs.

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Effective plane strain bulk modulus:

1/[kf km + (f m )/3] + (1 Vf )/(km + 4m /3)

Effective axial shear modulus:

Fig. 6. Axial modulus predictions for carbon/epoxy.

4.1. Micromechanics model comparisons

Fig. 7. Transverse modulus predictions for carbon/epoxy.

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Fig. 10. Composite laminate.

Fig. 8. Shear modulus predictions for carbon/epoxy.

bers in the kth layer oriented at an angle  k from a global x-axis

The effective engineering properties of symmetric laminates can

The results of these thought experiments provide expressions

Fig. 9. Poissons ratio predictions for carbon/epoxy.

Coefcient of mutual inuence:

The coefcient of mutual inuence (13) quanties the shear

Fig. 11. Axial modulus unidirectional and angle-ply laminates.

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Fig. 12. Poissons ratio unidirectional and angle-ply laminates.

xz is negative over a signicant range of ber orientations for some

Fig. 13. Shear modulus unidirectional and angle-ply laminates.

Fig. 14. Through-the-thickness Poissons ratio.

Composites often are the material of choice where thermal stresses

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Fig. 16. Finite width coupon under axial load.

6.2. Moisture effects

The analysis of moisture effects in organic matrix composites is

for the coefcient in the ber direction, and

for the coefcient in the transverse direction. In the above, f and

The rst publication concerned with interlaminar stresses in

C.T. Herakovich / Mechanics Research Communications 41 (2012) 120

Fig. 17. Free edge deformations quasi-isotropic laminates.

formulated as a two-dimensional nite element problem because

Vf (1 Vf )(f m ) m /(km + m /3) m /(kf + f /3)

1/[kf km + (f m )/3] + (1 Vf )/(km + 4m /3)

bers in the kth layer oriented at an angle k from a global x-axis

xz is negative over a signicant range of ber orientations for some

+ (k) x r + (k) r 2 + (k) r T

material properties, T is the uniform temperature change, A1