A Method to Calculate Effective Modulus

of Hybrid Composite Materials

N. OSHIMA
College of Industrial Technology
Nihon University
Narashino, Chiba 275 Japan

S. NOMURA
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington, Texas 76019
(Received May 25, 1984)
(Revised November 9, 1984)

ABSTRACT
A theoretical model for estimating the effective elastic modulus of particulate hybrid
composites is proposed. A concept of "equivalent virtual volume fraction" is in-
troduced in order to take interaction among a matrix and inclusions into account. The
model is illustrated by the effective shear modulus of particulate hybrid composites
based upon a modified self-consistent method for two-phase composites. The obtained
results reflect the influence of the matrix phase geometry more adequately than simple
"self-consistent" models.

INTRODUCTION

HIS PAPER PRESENTS A METHOD TO ESTIMATE EFFECTIVE ELASTIC MODULI

Tofhybrid composite materials. Here, the term &dquo;hybrid composite&dquo; is
used to denote a material that contains more than one kind of inclusions in a
homogeneous matrix phase.
The motivation of this work stems from the well-known criticism of &dquo;self-
consistent mechanics&dquo; of Hill [1]. Although the self-consistent model is
simple and still can take some interactions among components into account,
it overestimates effective moduli of composites at higher inclusion volume
fractions due to the assumption that the immediate surrounding of a single in-
clusion has the properties of the composite, not the matrix. Furthermore, the
obtained expression of effective moduli by the self-consistent method is sym-
metrical with the component phases, that is, the value of the effective
modulus remains unchanged by the interchange of the matrix phase and the
Journal Of COMPOSITE MATERIALS, Vol. 19-May 1985 287
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inclusion phases keeping the same volume fractions one another [2]. This is
not a realistic model for actual matrix-to-inclusion type composites, since if
one interchanges the geometry of the matrix phase with that of inclusion
phases, the overall properties of the composite are expected to change
drastically (e.g. a hard matrix composite and a soft matrix composite).
Kerner [3] considered a three-phase model where the immediate surrounding
of the inclusion is the matrix phase and Christensen and Lo [4] made the
analysis complete.
Meanwhile, theoretical works on the elastic behavior exclusively for hybrid
composites are few. This is because most available formulas for two-phase
composites are symmetrical with the interchange of phases, once the expres-
sion of the effective modulus for two-phase composites is obtained, there is
no difficulty in extending the formula from two-phases to multi-phases.
In this paper, we present a simple and realistic model to predict the effec-
tive elastic modulus for hybrid composites that takes the matrix phase
geometry as well as the interaction among different phases into account. We
introduce a concept of &dquo;equivalent virtual volume fraction&dquo; which originates
in statistical homogeneity of inclusion distribution in the matrix phase that
the overall property of composites is invariant under the translation of the
coordinate origin. The model is demonstrated by comparing the effective
shear modulus of &dquo;hard&dquo; matrix hybrid composites with that of &dquo;soft&dquo;
matrix hybrid composites of the same composition.

EFFECTIVE MODULUS FOR HYBRID COMPOSITES

The effective elastic modulus for composite materials is defined through
the constitutive relation as

where < > denotes the spatial average over the whole material, a,, and &euro;~ are
stress and strain tensors, respectively, and the summation convention is
adopted.
Assume now that the expression of the effective modulus C,,,,* for two-
phase composites (one inclusion phase and one matrix phase) is already
available. Let the formula of the effective modulus be expressed, whether ex-
plicitly or implicitly, as a function of the matrix modulus, C,,k,^‘, the inclusion
modulus C,,,,,, and the inclusion volume fraction, V, as

Now consider the following situation (Figure 1). If we set our coordinate
origin at the center of one of the first kind inclusions (il), and see our sur-
roundings from the coordinate origin, we shall first see a matrix phase as the
immediate surrounding of the inclusion (i 1 ), and beyond the matrix phase, we

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Figure 1. Equivalent VIrtual volume fractions.

shall see a &dquo;sea&dquo; of the effective medium. For this situation, the effective
modulus in Equation (2) should be expressed as

Here, Ct denotes the elastic modulus of the first kind inclusion. V,, is related
with the extent of the matrix phase in the above mentioned model and is
named as an &dquo;equivalent virtual volume fraction.&dquo; The relation between
virtual and real volume fractions will be discussed shortly. Likewise, if we set
our coordinate origin at the center of one of the second kind inclusions, the
effective modulus expression should be

where the quantities with (i2) denote the second kind inclusion and V’2 is an
&dquo;equivalent virtual volume fraction&dquo; of the second kind inclusion.
If the distribution of inclusions in the matrix is uniform, the effective
modulus of the composite must be invariant under the translation of the coor-
dinate origin (assumption of &dquo;statistical homogeneity&dquo;). Therefore, under
this assumption, Equations (3) and (4) should be equal to each other as

It should be noted that the two &dquo;equivalent volume fractions,&dquo; Ki, V’2 are
rather artificial and not necessarily equal to the real volume fractions.
However, there are several restrictions between the virtual volume fractions

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and the real volume fractions and if we assume the linear relation between
them, it can be shown that the relation is uniquely determined.
Assume now that a linear relation exists between the virtual volume frac-
tions, V1t, Y,2 and the real volume fractions denoted by Zit and Z,2 as

Four coefficients, C,, C2, C3 and C4 can be determined by considering the

following extreme cases. First, if we set Z,, (real volume fraction of the first
kind inclusions) =
0 (reduces to a two-phase composite), V,2 must be equal to
Z,2 . Therefore, from this condition, we obtain C4 1 and C2 Y~, l Y,2 . = =

Similarly, setting Z,2 0 yields C, 1 and C3 = Y,2 / V,, . Therefore, we have

= =

Equations (8) and (9) can be combined to yield

By knowing the real volume fractions Z,, , Z’2’ we can obtain Ki and Y,Z by
solving a set of simultaneous equations of Equation (5) and Equation (10),
and again, by substituting those values into either Equation (3) or (4), we can
compute the effective modulus C* for the hybrid composite.
As seen from the above derivation, the obtained expression should reflect
the interactions among different kinds of inclusions as well as the interaction
between inclusions and the matrix.

EXAMPLES AND DISCUSSIONS

It was shown that the effective modulus for hybrid composites can be ob-
tained if the effective modulus expression for two-phase composites (one type
of inclusion and a matrix) is available. The actual calculation to determine the
virtual volume fractions, Ki and V;2 will need numerical treatment unless the
form of the effective modulus (Equation (2)) is simple. For example, if the ef-
fective modulus for two-phase composites is expressed as the &dquo;rule of mix-
tures,&dquo; it can be easily shown that the effective modulus for hybrid com-
posites also obeys the &dquo;rule of mixtures.&dquo;
The lack of appropriate experimental data hinders our theory from com-
paring with experimental results. As an illustration of the present theory, we
show the effective shear modulus for particulate hybrid composites (two
types of spherical inclusions and a matrix) by utilizing the effective shear

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 291

modulus expression for two-phase particulate composites derived by

Christensen and Lo [4].
A theoretical model in Reference [4] deals with double spherical shells, of
which the innermost shell has the properties of the inclusions and the second
innermost shell has the properties of the matrix. Outside the outer shell is
filled with an infinite medium which has the properties of the composite that
need to be determined.
The effective shear modulus expression of two-phase composites in
Reference [4] is given by solving algebraic equations (See [4] for detail). By
the procedure described in the previous section, the virtual volume fractions
are uniquely determined from the real volume fractions by solving Equations
(5) and (10) and they are fed back into either Equation (3) or Equation (4) to
yield the effective modulus for hybrid composites. Figure 2 and Figure 3 are
numerical examples of non-dimensionalized effective shear modulus, ~*. In
Figure 2, the volume fraction of the matrix phase is kept at 60% and the
volume fractions of the first and the second kind inclusions are changed each
other. In Figure 3, the phase geometry of the second kind inclusion in Figure
2 is interchanged with that of the matrix phase. The material properties and
their volume fractions for each phase are kept same as in Figure 2. Therefore,
Figure 2 represents a composite with a &dquo;soft&dquo; matrix and Figure 3 represents
a composite with a &dquo;hard&dquo; matrix. Table 1 summarizes the (non-dimen-
sionalized) material properties and their volume fractions used in those
figures. In Figures 2 and 3, the prediction of the effective shear modulus
based upon the present theory is indicated by the solid curves. The dotted
curves in Figures 2 and 3 are predictions based upon the &dquo;conventional&dquo; self-

Figure 2. Effective shear modulus versus the volume fractions of the first and the second
inclusions.

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292

Figure 3. Effective shear modulus versus the volume fractions of the matrix phase and the first
inclusion phase.

consistent model for the same data where the immediate surrounding of a
single inclusion has the properties of the composite ([2],[5]). The &dquo;conven-
tional&dquo; self-consistent model gives the same value for the different phase
geometries in those Figures and cannot distinguish the matrix phase from the
inclusion phases. As seen from those figures, the present theory clearly shows
that the effective shear modulus of the &dquo;hard&dquo; matrix composite is higher
than that of the &dquo;soft&dquo; matrix composite for the same composition. More-
over, the effective shear modulus by the &dquo;conventional&dquo; self-consistent
model lies between those of the &dquo;hard&dquo; matrix composite and the &dquo;soft&dquo;
matrix composite. This is reasonable because the self-consistent model of Hill
is more appropriate for grain-to-grain types of composites rather than
matrix-to-inclusion types of composites as discussed in the Introduction. The

Table 1. (Nondimensional) material properties used in figures.

~~ ~

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 293

phase geometry for the self-consistent model is taken as &dquo;averaged&dquo;

geometry.
A limitation of the present theory is for a hybrid composite which consists
of a hard inclusion, an intermediate matrix and a soft inclusion. For such a
composite, either Ki or V,, may become negative or greater than unity, which
violates physical interpretation of virtual volume fractions.
For a composite in which there are more than two kinds of inclusions, the
calculation can be made similarly.

CONCLUSION
A simple model was proposed to calculate effective properties of hybrid
composite materials. This model takes the matrix effect properly and gives
more reliable values than the conventional self-consistent model.

REFERENCES

1. Hill, R., "A Self-Consistent Mechanics of Composite Materials," Journal of Mechanics and
, Vol. 13, p. 213 (1965).
Physics of Solids
2. Budiansky, B., "On the Elastic Moduli of Some Heterogeneous Materials," Journal of
Mechanics and Physics of Solids
, Vol. 13, p. 223 (1965).
3. Kerner, E. H., "The Elastic and Thermoelastic Properties of Composite Media," Proceedings
, Vol. B69, p. 808 (1956).
of Physical Society
4. Christensen, R. M. and Lo, K. H., "Solutions for Effective Shear Properties in Three-Phase
, Vol. 27, p. 315
Sphere and Cylinder Models," Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids
(1979).
5. Chou, T.-W., Nomura, S. and Taya, M., "A Self-Consistent Approach to the Elastic Stiff-
, Vol. 14, p. 178 (1980).
ness of Short-Fiber Composites," Journal of Composite Materials

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