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The Elastic and Thermo-elastic Properties of Composite Media

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1956 Proc. Phys. Soc. B 69 808

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808

The Elastic and Thermo-elastic Properties of Composite Media

BY E. H. KERNER
Department of Physics, University of Buffalo, New York

MS.received 30th Scptenzber 1955 and in recised,firm 20th February 1056

Abstract. I n a continuation of a previous paper, it is shown here how the gross

bulk and shear moduli of a composite material consisting of a suspension of
grains or a compact of grains may be deduced. T h e grains are assumed to be
perfectly bonded to the suspending medium or to each other, and are taken to
be spheres in the mean. By using an averaging procedure due to Bruggeman,
and analysing the effect of a uniform hydrostatic compression and of a uniform
tension on an average grain, a pair of de-coupled equations for the gross moduli
is found for suspensions. When the suspending medium vanishes and tht
grains are packed, these equations become coupled and there is exhibited a
discontinuity in the gross moduli. T h e bulk coefficients of linear expansion
of the two kinds of composites are found from i n analysis of the dilatation and
bulk stress for average spherical grains when the composite as a whole is subjected
to some small temperature change. All results are free of any limitation on the
number of components.

3 1. INTRODUCTIOK
I\’ an accompanying paper (Kerner 1956) is described a method for deducing

I gross conductive properties-like electrical conductivity-of certain kinds

of composites, namely, of compacts of grains and suspensions of grains
The present report aims to cover the elastic and thermo-elastic properties.
T h e two elastic constants, shear modulus and bulk modulus, of a macro-
scopically isotropic and homogeneous composite will be found in terms of thr
moduli and concentrations of its components. These components will be assumed
to be in the form of grains suspended in and bonded to some uniform suspending
medium. It is assumed also that the grains are distributed spatially at random
and that in the mean they are spherical. The latter does not imply for man!
applications too stringent a restriction on the sizes and shapes of individual grains
I t appears to be the simplest assumption compatible with gross isotropy. Thr
case of tightly packed grains is then treated by allowing the suspending fld
to vanish. Finally a computation of the gross thermal expansion coefficient of
a composite is undertaken along lines similar to those developed for the elastic
moduli.
As was mentioned in the analysis of the conductive properties, we ma!
construct an average grain surrounded by an average shell of suspending medium
sufficiently far beyond this we have the average medium. But in between theft
is some intermediate zone having properties shading continuously, in
unknown way, from those of the suspending medium to those of the aver@
 The Elastic and Thermo-elastic Properties of Composite Media 809

Fortunately, in very much the same way as in the conduction problem

this intermediate zone need not be analysed. By averaging both the dilatation
and bulk stress in a uniform hydrostatic compression, the intermediate zone
may be by-passed, SO to speak ; and similarly, in a simple tension, by averaging
both the elongation and the normal stress across a plane orthogonal to the applied
tension, the properties of the intermediate zone are climinated. T h e result is
a pair of de-coupled equations for the desired gross moduli. I n taking the limit
that the grains become packed these equations become coupled.
Though there are many data on the elastic properties of various composites,
it appears that hardly any of them are useful for comparing with theoretical results
-the data are very scattered, and most often too rough and incomplete.
1 systematic experimental study to test the theoretical conclusions would be
highly desirable.
The most important previous paper in this field seems to be that of Bruggeman
(1937) where references to earlier literature may be found. Bruggeman, among
other things, analysed binary compacts and suspensions using, as he did also
for flow properties (Bruggeman 1935), an averaging procedure substantially
equivalent to the one we employ. One of our pair of equations describing compacts
of grains includes and generalizes one of Bruggeman’s. For the rest, although
our approach to the problem is within the spirit of the averaging procedure
advanced by Bruggeman, the analysis and results are quite different. I n both
the conduction and elasticity problems, Bruggeman’s results for suspensions
fail to include as a special case t h e results for packed grains. I n addition, the
method used by Bruggeman for both elastic and conduction properties of
suspensions fails-in the analysis of conduction properties-to give the correct
result, the Lorentz-Lorenz law ; it is doubtful, because of this, that the corre-
sponding analysis of elastic properties is valid other than as an approximation.
More recently, Mackenzie (1950), using a ‘ self-consistent ’ method due to
Prohlich and Sack (1946), has analysed the elastic properties of a material having
a suspension of air bubbles in it. This method ignores the intermediate zone
mentioned above, and is valid only in the limit of small total pore volume in
cpite of the fact that it gives the correct result in the limit that the whole volume
pore volume.

$ 2 . SUSPENDEDGRAINS
We label quantities referring to any grain species i with the subscript i,
reserving the subscript 0 for the composite as a whole; the index 1 refers to
the suspending fluid.
Let a large mass of the composite be subjected to a simple hydrostatic com-
Pression. T h e mass behaves elastically in the large like some uniform material
having a shear modulus po and bulk modulus k, which we wish to find. Though
the state of stress and strain at any point within the composite be exceedingly
to find, we assume that as we go from grain to grain of any species i
there is some average state of stress and strain in and near the average i-grain
that has a simple character : one calculable by examining the average spherical
‘Train, characterized by p,, k,,bounded b y a layer p,, k,, then the intermediate
sone, and finally the average medium po,k,. We construct, in short, an ‘ average
‘ l a s h problem ’ similar to the average problem descrihed in the conductivity
Paper.
810 E. H . Kerner
I n any case we must have that the total change in volume in the composite
must be the sum of the volume changes in its different parts. Denoting the
dilatation by I this means
Jl,dr,= z S l j d r i ......(1)
or
......(2)
where vi= T J T , = fraction of total volume occupied by material of species i, and
cvi= 1.
Let us denote by 0 the bulk stress, giving the mean pressure at a point. For
any plane surface drawn in the composite we must have that the mean normal
force across it is the sum of the mean normal forces across its parts which lie
in the different grains and the suspending fluid. That is, analogously to
equation (1) we must have
J0,dS0= Z J O i d S i ...... (3)
or, like equation (2),
-
3, = eiv, (vi = SJS, = T+/T,). ......(4)
Now, in the average elastic problem, for a simple compression the radial
displacements are of the form
U,= Air (in i) ; U, = A,r + B,r-2 (in 1) ; U, = A,r + (in 0).
T h e dilatation is 3Ai = in each medium, and the bulk stress is 3kiAi = in each.
When these are introduced into equations (2) and (4)we may eliminate A, between
them and express k , in terms of A,, or better, AJA,. T h e latter ratio is fixed
by the continuity conditions on displacements and tractions at the interface of
the average i-grain sphere and the layer of suspending fluid 1, and has the value
(3k1 + 4p1)/(3ki + 4p1). T h e calculation of k, then gives
.....(5)
T o find the gross shear modulus po we analyse the average effect of a uniform
tension applied to the composite. T h e average elastic problem then consists of
a spherical inclusion pd,ki, with its l-layer and intermediate zone, embedded
in p,, k, in which there is a uniform tension, say in the z direction, at infinity.
A problem of this sort, one having the inclusion embedded directly in a second
medium, has been discussed by Goodier (1933).
T h e use of a dilatation equation, like equation (l), or a bulk stress equation,
like equation (3), will provide no new information here. For, by the super.
position principle any uniform state of stress may be derived from a system of
uniform tensions applied in suitable directions ; in particular a uniform (negative)
hydrostatic compression can be obtained by superposing uniform tensions in
three mutually orthogonal directions, and a calculation of dilatations for
equation (1) from any one of these tknsions is the same as a calculation for all
three simultaneously, as may be verified directly. We could have, indeed,
dispensed with a separate derivation of equation (5) via the uniform hydrostatIC
compression, and relied only on a dilatation calculation from the uniform tensio",
T h e superposition principle tells us, in short, that the result in equation (5) Is
 The Elastic and Thermo-elastic Properties of Composite Media 81 1
independentof what uniform stress we apply to the composite; invoking the
hydrostaticcompression was a matter of convenience, not necessity.
Consider a long line segment Loparallel to the z axis in the composite under
tension. The elongation I,, measures the change in length per unit length in
the direction, and bears a relationship to the state of tension similar to that
,,hi& the dilatation bears to the state of hydrostatic compression. Analogously
to (1) we may write
1
1220 dzo = f
l,,, dz,,
and by the mean value theorem again,
-
1220 = c Lzvz 9 ...... ( 6 )
(iL is LJL0 as well as S,/So and r2/~,-,, L,/& denoting the fraction of Lo lying
,,ithin material i ) .
If T,, denotes the normal stress across an x, y plane in the composite, we may,
In a parallel with equation ( 3 ) , equate the normal force across this plane to the sum
the forces across its parts lying in the different components:
J Tz,odSo= f T,,,dS,
and thence -
Txxo = T,,,v,* ...... (7)
If me extend Goodier’s analysis now to the average elastic problem, the
displacements are, in spherical coordinates ( U denoting Poisson’s ratio and To
the uniform tension)
In i U ,= F,Y+ D,Y+ 2u,E,r3+ (3D,r + 6qE,r3)cos28,
ue= -(3D,r+(7-4u,)E,,r3)sin28.
5 - 4a1 c,
----
1-20, r2
’zl) +
COS 28 + F1r D,r + ~ u , E ~ Y ~

U,,= - r2 + 9)
+ (3D1Y+ 60,E,r3)cos 28,
sin 28 - ( 3 D g + (7 - 40,)E,r3)sin 28.

The direct calculation of l,, and of T,, = A1 + 2pZz,(A being the Lam6 coefficient
(/ ,z 1 - 20)) gives, when substituted into equations (6) and (7),
F, + 4 0 , + 3
28 E,a?)v,,

(3h,+ + 8p,
\\here a, is the radius of the average i-grain. However, 3F is the dilatation and
3F(3h+2p) is the bulk stress, and so, according to our discussion above of the
suPerposition principle, we have already, in equations (1) and ( 3 ) , effectively
+ +
placed F, = CF,v, and (3h0 2p0)F0= X ( 3 h , 2pz)F,. Hence
 812 E. H . Kerner

or, dividing these by D,+ z6 Elu.2

L
(which is independent of (zi) and e1iminatia;
+
between them the ratio (Dl $E,a,2)/D0, we get

T h e usual boundary conditions at Y = ai give, after a long calculation,

whence
PiVi Vl

p,,=p,
E' ( 7 - 5 ~ ~ ) p ~ + ( 8 - 1 0 ~ ~ )15(1-al)
~ _ _ _ - - -
+

-----
p;
......(8)
x' +
V19
(7 - 5u,)p1 (8 - 10o,)p1
15(1- U,)
The C.' stands for a summation excluding the index 1.
+
Vl

$ 3 . PACKED GRAINS
We examine now the limiting case of the final formulae (5) and (8) for
and po in the limit that the suspending fluid vanishes and the grains becon
packed. Placing e, = 0 in these formulae gives again the same ' paradox ' notr
in the conductivity problem, that the gross moduli depend still on the propert)
of the vanished fluid 1. However, exactly the same answer to the difficuk
prevails in the present case. This is that, upon isolating the terms in
equations (5) and (S), these equations are identically satisfied for all t i , (includr
vl = 0), provided that K,, p, are chosen to be k,, po and that the latter simultaneou:
satisfy
k,- k,
O= 2' WO vi9
....
(Po - P i h
O= E' (7 - 5uo)po+ (8 - 1Ou0)pcLi - ...
In effect, in going to v,=O the fluid 1 is to be replaced by fluid 0.
T h e packed-grain moduli are given now by the coupled equations (9) and (11
T h e discontinuity in these moduli with those given by equations ( 5 ) and (8):
any arbitrarily small v, corresponds to a real physical discontinuity which mi
in fact be accounted for by a theory of composite media. Consider, for examp'
a composite of liquid drops suspended in some very rigid material. So lor
as there is a finite amount of the latter the gross shear modulus remains hip
but as soon as it disappears the modulus drops to aero ; this is correctly describ
by the above equations.
It is of interest to note that had we considered the packed grains bound-
directly by the average medium KO, p, we would find equation (9) coml
independently from (2) and from (4)and equation (10) independently from 1
and from (7).
$ 4 . THERMO-ELASTIC PROPERTIES
I n the suspended-grain composite let a small temperature drop T placet
system in a stressed state as compared with its original state, taken to be unstresst
T h e composite over-all behaves like some uniform medium having an expans''
coefficient yo and suffering a dilatation y o T . Constructing as bcforc the averd.
 The Electric and Thermo-elastic Properties of Composite Media 813

thermo-elasticproblem, we have the displacements,

in i u , = $ y i T r + A , r ,
in 1 U, = &Tr + A,r + Blr-2,
in 0 U,= +yoT r +
'rhe first terms are the thermal, the remaining terms the mechanical parts of
the displacements.
The continuity conditions at the average i-sphere surface give

,vhile the dilatation and bulk stress equations (1) and ( 3 ) are
Y O T = Z ( Y ~ T + ~ A ~ ) UO=Xk,Ap,.
~;
From the latter equation we get, using A i above,

'rhis introduced into the former equation yields a term involving the combination
of elastic moduli defining k, according to equation (5). T h e result is, after a
reduction,

Now turning to the limit vl = 0, we find that yo still depends apparently on

the properties of the annihilated suspending fluid 1. However, as was noted
before, we must take p1 =po in this limit ; and then the coefficient of y1 is zero
by virtue of equation (9)) giving for the expansion coefficient of the packed
aggregate

It is seen that only in the case that all components have the same bulk modulus
does the simple ' rule of mixtures ' yo = X y p , , hold.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to Dr. S. Mrozowski for bringing these problems t o my notice
and for valuable critical remarks. T h e work was partially supported by t h e
C.S.Atomic Energy Commission.

REFERENCES
BRUCGEMAN, D. A. G., 1935, Ann. Phys. Lpz., 24, 635; 1937, Ibid., 29,160.
H., and SACK,R., 1946, Proc. Roy. SOC.
FR~HLICH, A, 185, 415.
J. N., 1933, Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engrs, 55, 39.
GOODIER,
E. H., 1956, Proc. Phys. Soc. B, 69, 802.
KERNER,
MACKENZIE,J . K., 1950, PYOC.
Phys. Soc. B, 63, 2.

P-iYS. SOC. LXIX, 8-i~