Estimating the Elastic Modulus through the

Thickness Direction of a Uni-direction Lamina

which Possesses Transverse Isotropic Property

YAN-MIN KUO,1,* HUEI-JENG LIN,1,2 CHAO-NAN WANG1 AND CHIN-I LIAO1

1
Department of Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering
National Taiwan University, 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Panghu University
300, Liu-Ho Road, Makung city, Penghu Hsien, Taiwan, ROC

ABSTRACT: This investigation presents three formulae of the material constants. A simple
method is applied to determine the material properties of a unidirectional lamina (UD) in the
through-thickness direction. The mechanical characteristics of an orthotropic composite material
generally require nine parameters: three Young’s moduli; three shear moduli; and three Poisson’s
ratios. Most studies concentrate on two orthogonal axial moduli, a shear modulus and a Poisson’s
ratio in the plane of the lamina. Four material parameters were adopted in those works instead
of nine. Some cases in many studies are based on three-dimension modeling, making the nine
material constants necessary, as the four material parameters cannot satisfy such cases. However, the
material constants through the thickness direction cannot easily be measured experimentally. In this
work, the relationships between the nine mechanical properties are revealed by the wave equations of
an orthotropic material. Two restrictions in the study are considered: first, the suitable cases are
limited to UD possessing the transverse isotropic property; second, the distribution of the fibers in
the cross-section of UD laminate must be uniform. On the base, the shear modulus and the Poisson
ratio through the thickness direction of the UD material can be computed from the simple
relationships.

KEY WORDS: composite material, material properties, unidirectional, orthotropic.

INTRODUCTION

IBER REINFORCED PLASTIC (FRP) is a conventionally adopted material with high

F strength, light mass and moderate cost, making it appropriate for designing structures
and machines. The material properties of FRP are orthotropic. Many works have focused
on the material properties of orthotropic materials. An orthotropic material possesses nine
parameters, namely three Young’s moduli, three shear moduli and three Poisson ratios.
Most investigations have discussed in-plane material constants, reducing the nine
independent material constants to four. However, for some studies with 3-D modeling,

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: d92525003@ntu.edu.tw

Journal of REINFORCED PLASTICS AND COMPOSITES, Vol. 26, No. 16/2007 1671
0731-6844/07/16 1671–9 $10.00/0 DOI: 10.1177/0731684407081450
ß SAGE Publications 2007
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore

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1672 Y.-M. KUO ET AL.

the material constants in the through-thickness direction are also very important. The
in-plane material constants can be obtained experimentally, but the through-thickness
material constants are difficult to measure. This work provides three formulae of the nine
material constants. With the other material conditions such as transverse isotropy, the
formulae can easily be used to derive the through-thickness material constants of a
unidirectional lamina from the in-plane material constants. The measurement of in-plane
material constants refers to [1] and [2]. Unidirectional (UD) materials are the samples in
this study for estimating the shear modulus and the Poisson’s ratio in the through-
thickness direction.

WAVE EQUATIONS AND THE CRITERIA FOR ORTHOTROPIC MATERIAL

This work considers a composite lamina with orthotropic material properties. The
stress-strain relationship of an orthotropic and homogeneous lamina can be described in
the following equations:
2 3 2 32 3

11 Q11 Q12 Q13 0 0 0 "11
6
22 7 6 Q22 Q23 0 0 0 76 "22 7
6 7 6 76 7
6 7 6 76 7
6
33 7 6 Q33 0 0 0 76 "33 7
6
½

¼ 6 7¼6 76 7 ð1Þ
7 6 0 0 7 6 7
6
23 7 6 Q44 76 23 7
6 7 6 76 7
4
31 5 4 sym Q55 0 54 31 5

12 Q66 12

where
ij represents the stress in various directions, [Q] denotes the stiffness matrix,
and " and g are normal and shear strain, respectively. Subscripts 1 and 2 denote the
two principal directions of the composite lamina, and subscript 3 is the thickness direction.
For an orthotropic material, the nine terms Qij depend on nine material parameters
including three Young’s moduli (E11, E22 and E33), three shear moduli (G12, G13 and G23)
and three Poisson’s ratios (12, 13 and 23). In Dimitrov [3], Qij is shown as:
8
> 1  23 32 21 þ 31 23 31 þ 21 32
>
> Q11 ¼ E11 , Q12 ¼ E11 , Q13 ¼ E11 ,
>
>



>
< 1  13 31 32 þ 12 31 1  12 21
Q22 ¼ E22 , Q23 ¼ E22 , Q33 ¼ E33 , ð2Þ
>
>



>
>
>
> Q ¼ G23 , Q55 ¼ G13 , Q66 ¼ G12 ,
: 44

¼ 1  12 21  23 32  13 31  221 32 13 ,

and:
8
> 12 E22 ¼ 21 E11
>
<
13 E33 ¼ 31 E11 ð3Þ
>
>
:
23 E33 ¼ 32 E22

where, E11, E22 and E33 are the Young’s moduli in the principal direction (x1, x2 and x3),
G12, G13 and G23 are shear modulus, and 12, 13 and 23 are Poisson’s ratios.

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Elastic Modulus from Direction of Uni-direction Lamina 1673

Additionally, considering the dynamic inertial force, the equation of motion of the
material can be expressed as:

@
1i @
2i @
3i @ 2 ui

þ þ ¼ 2 i ¼ 1, 2, 3 ð4Þ
@x1 @x2 @x3 @t

where , ui and t represent the density, displacement and time of the material.
In Lekhnitski’s study [4], the displacement is:

* * *
u ¼ u1 x1 þ u2 x2 þ u3 x3 ð5Þ

Replacing u in (4) with (5) yields the following equations:

8

>
> @ 2 u1 @ 2 u1 @ 2 u1 @ @u1
>
> Q44 2 þ Q66 2 Q55 2 þ ðQ11  Q44 Þ
>
> @x1 @x2 @x3 @x1 @x1
>
> 
>
> 2
>
> @u2 @u3 @ u1
>
> þ ðQ12 þ Q66 Þ þ ðQ13 þ Q55 Þ ¼ 2
>
> @x 2 @x 3 @t
>
>

>
> 2
@ u2 2
@ u2 2
@ u2 @ @u1
>
>
>
< Q66 @x2 þ Q55 @x2 Q44 @x2 þ @x ðQ12 þ Q66 Þ @x
1 2 3 2 1
 ð6Þ
>
> @u2 @u3 2
@ u2
>
> þ ðQ22  Q55 Þ þ ðQ23 þ Q44 Þ ¼ 2
>
> @x @x @t
>
> 2 3
>
>

>
>
2
@ u3 2
@ u3 2
@ u3 @ @u1
>
> Q55 2 þ Q44 2 Q66 2 þ ðQ13 þ Q55 Þ
>
> @x1 @x2 @x3 @x3 @x1
>
>
>
> 
>
> @u2 @u3 2
@ u3
>
: þ ðQ23 þ Q44 Þ þ ðQ33  Q66 Þ ¼ 2
@x2 @x3 @t

In the present work, the scalar and vector displacement potentials are adopted rather than
displacement components (5). A solid body can undergo normal stress and shear stress,
both of which determine the displacement. Let  and denote the scalar and vector
displacement potentials, which respectively express the compression and shear waves. The
displacement field of material is the sum of the two potentials, i.e.:

u ¼ r þ r  ð7Þ

where , 1, 2 and 3 are assumed to uncouple each other. In the work, the scalar and
vector displacement potentials (7) are instead of the displacement components (5).
Replacing u in (6) with (7). Thus, in Equation (6), the following equations are observed:

@3 1
ðQ12  Q13 þ Q66  Q55 Þ ¼0 ð8Þ
@x1 @x2 @x3
@3 2
ðQ23  Q12 þ Q44  Q66 Þ ¼0 ð9Þ
@x1 @x2 @x3

@3 3
ðQ13  Q23 þ Q55  Q44 Þ ¼0 ð10Þ
@x1 @x2 @x3

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1674 Y.-M. KUO ET AL.

The wave equations could also be yielded, including one compression wave and three shear
waves. The equation of the compression wave is:

@2  @2  @2  @2 
A1 þ A 2 þ A 3 ¼ 2 ð11Þ
@x21 @x22 @x23 @t

where A1 ¼ ðQ11 þ Q12 þ Q13 þ 2Q55 þ 2Q66 Þ=3, A2 ¼ ðQ12 þ Q22 þ Q23 þ 2Q44 þ 2Q66 Þ=
3 and A3 ¼ ðQ13 þ Q23 þ Q33 þ 2Q44 þ 2Q55 Þ=3.
The three wave equations of the shear waves are:

@2 1 @2 1 @2 1 @2 1
a1 þ a 2 þ a 3 ¼ 2 ð12Þ
@x21 @x22 @x23 @t

@2 2 @2 2 @2 2 @2 2
b1 þ b 2 þ b 3 ¼ 2 ð13Þ
@x21 @x22 @x23 @t

@2 3 @2 3 @2 3 @2 3
c1 2
þ c2 2 þ c3 2 ¼ 2 ð14Þ
@x1 @x2 @x3 @t

where:

Q55 þ Q66 Q22  Q23 Q33  Q23

a1 ¼ , a2 ¼ and a3 ¼
2 2 2
Q11  Q13 Q44 þ Q66 Q33  Q13
b1 ¼ , b2 ¼ and b3 ¼
2 2 2
Q11  Q12 Q22  Q12 Q44 þ Q55
c1 ¼ , c2 ¼ and c3 ¼
2 2 2

Equations (11–14) display the wave equations of an orthotropic material. If the material
is isotropic, Equations (11–14) will be the same as the general wave equations.
Equations (8–10) are deservedly reasonable for isotropic cases, because Q12 ¼ Q13 ¼ Q23
and Q44 ¼ Q55 ¼ Q66. However, (8–10) are significant for an orthotropic material.
The solution of a wave equation generally is assumed to take the form:

i ¼ R  expðj ½!t  k1 x1  k2 x2  k3 x3
Þ ð15Þ

where R denotes the wave amplitude; ! is the angular frequency, and k1, k2 and k3 are the
wave numbers in the principal direction. In Equations (8–10), the waves could be
propagated in each direction, yielding @3 i =@x1 @x2 @x3 6¼ 0. Thus, the three simple
formulae of the material constants are given by:

ðQ12  Q13 þ Q66  Q55 Þ ¼ 0 ð16Þ

ðQ23  Q12 þ Q44  Q66 Þ ¼ 0 ð17Þ

ðQ13  Q23 þ Q55  Q44 Þ ¼ 0 ð18Þ

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Elastic Modulus from Direction of Uni-direction Lamina 1675
x3

x1

Fiber

x2

Figure 1. The configuration of the system.

In this work, the main cases are UD materials. Figure 1 shows the coordinate system of
the UD material. The material possesses transverse isotropy in x2–x3 plane. The
distribution of the fibers in x2–x3 plane is uniform. In this figure, the fibers orientation is
towards x1 axis. The values of E11, E22, G12 and 12 in a UD material can be measured
experimentally. However, the other five material parameters are difficult to measure
experimentally. In the study, the UD lamina is assumed to be transversely isotropic
material, meaning that E22 ¼ E33, G12 ¼ G13, 12 ¼ 13 and G23 could be expressed as:

E22
G23 ¼ ð19Þ
2ð1 þ 23 Þ

Thus, the unknown quantity is 23. Furthermore, Equation (16) is not significant, and
Equations (17) and (18) should be merged, since Q12 ¼ Q13 and Q55 ¼ Q66. Replacing E11,
E22 ¼ E33, G12 ¼ G13 and 12 ¼ 13 in the terms Qij and replacing Qij in (17) with (2) and (3)
yield the expression of 23:
   
E22 E11 ð12Þ  12 þ 2G12 212 þ 
23 ¼ ð20Þ
2E11 G12

where:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

 2
 
2 1 2 1 2
 ¼ E22 E11  12 þ 2G12 12  4E11 G12 E11 E22  12  G12 ðE11  2E22 12 Þ
2 2

DISCUSSION

Only UD materials which are homogeneous and transversely isotropic in x2–x3 plane
are considered in this work. Table 1 shows the material characteristics of the UD material,

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1676 Y.-M. KUO ET AL.

which is the excerpt from Searles et al. [5], where the material properties of the fibers and
the matrix were considered separately. The constituent properties of the UD material were
evaluated in the final element analysis (FEA). In the present work, G23 is determined from
(19) and (20) with the known E11, E22, G12 and 12. Table 1 demonstrates that the results of
the proposed method were very similar to those obtained by Searles et al. [5]. The eight
samples exhibited acceptable agreement in terms of the proposed method and that of [5].
The comparisons indicate that the present formulae can simulate the material properties
through the thickness of the UD material. Furthermore, the present method is simpler
than the numerical method.
Table 2 presents another unidirectional material which was used in the Jansson et al.
study [6]. In [6], the mainly material properties including E11, G12, 12, 13 and 23 were
provided from the manufacture with the experimental works. E22 was estimated from
Helpin-Tsai expressions [7] which are the semi-experimental equations. E33 and G23 were
determined from the transverse isotropy of the UD material. In Table 3, G23 and 23 are
determined from the present method with the known quantities E11, E22, G12 and 12.
In the comparison between G23, and G23 , there is almost no difference between the data
in [6] and the results of the present method.
In Al-Khalil and Soden’s study [8], the material properties of a carbon/epoxy material
were exhibited as shown as Table 3. The value of G23 of the material in the original article
[8] is 2.90 GPa. However, in [8] it is mentioned that the material possesses transverse
isotropy in x2–x3 plane, and G23 is determined from Equation (19) with 23. Therefore, as

Table 1. Material properties of UD materials provided from [5].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12 (GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) G23 (GPa)

Sample 1 169.8 9.2 4.6 0.24 3.1 3.12

Sample 2 199.6 16.6 5.9 0.28 5.8 6.06
Sample 3 170.4 10.1 7.0 0.25 3.7 3.29
Sample 4 166.6 16.0 6.4 0.29 5.8 5.50
Sample 5 160.1 9.1 4.9 0.24 3.4 3.10
Sample 6 176.4 17.3 6.8 0.24 6.1 6.49
Sample 7 187.5 18.4 7.4 0.29 6.5 6.32
Sample 8 187.2 16.2 6.5 0.29 5.8 5.56
G23 denotes the results of the present work.

Table 2. Material properties of a UD material provided from [6].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12 (GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) G23 (GPa)

28.0 4.4 1.39 0.4 1.36 1.35

G23 denotes the result of the present work.

Table 3. Material properties of a carbon/epoxy provided from [8].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12 (GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) m23 G23 (GPa) m23

147.0 8.12 5.52 0.188 2.90 (2.67) 0.52 2.65 0.53

G23 and 23 denote the results of the present work.

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Elastic Modulus from Direction of Uni-direction Lamina 1677

23 equals 0.52, G23 should be 2.67 GPa. G23 and 23 are the material constants determined
from the present method. Table 3 shows that the results of the present work are very close
to the G23 and 23 in [8]. Table 4 lists the material properties of a typical graphite/epoxy
material. The material properties are obtained from [9]. In Table 4, G23 and G23 are in
agreement.
Table 5 shows the material properties of AS1/3501–6 [10]. Table 6 is the material
characteristics of AS4/3501–6 in [11]. The data of material properties are measured from
experimental works. In [10] and [11], it is mentioned that both of AS1/3501–6 and AS4/
3501–6 are the unidirectional materials which have transversely isotropic properties in x2–
x3 plane. Table 7 displayed the material properties of T300/9310 from Dickinson et al’s.
work [12] in which the material properties of T300/9310 are given from the manufacture
with experiments and micro-mechanical analyses. Table 8 lists the measured data of
material properties of T650/F584 for single lamina from Ye et al. [13]. Tables 5–8 shows
that the G23 in this work seems similar to G23 in [10–13]. Although there is a little difference
between G23 and G23 in Table 5, the difference is no more than 0.6 GPa.
The material formulae in this work are very terse. No elaborate numerical methods
or hardly experimental works should be handled, only the in-plane data of the

Table 4. Material properties of a graphite/epoxy provided from [9].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12(GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) G23 (GPa)

134.0 10.2 5.52 0.3 3.43 3.23

G23 denotes the result of the present work.

Table 5. Material properties of AS1/3501–6 provided from [10].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12(GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) G23 (GPa)

141.0 10.0 5.8 0.28 3.7 3.11

G23 denotes the result of the present work.

Table 6. Material properties of AS4/3501–6 provided from [11].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12 (GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) G23 (GPa)

137.8 10.0 4.96 0.3 3  0.23 3.16

G23 denotes the result of the present work.

Table 7. Material properties of T300/9310 provided from [12].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12 (GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) G23 (GPa)

144.0 7.31 4.45 0.25 2.65 2.35

G23 denotes the result of the present work.

Table 8. Material properties of T650/F584 provided from [13].

E11 (GPa) E22 (GPa) G12 (GPa) m12 G23 (GPa) G23 (GPa)

153.67 9.49 4.26 0.295 3.44 3.13

G23 denotes the result of the present work.

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1678 Y.-M. KUO ET AL.

material properties should be measured. The material properties of a UD lamina in the

through-thickness direction can be determined from the formulae.

CONCLUSION

In the present method, the following limited assumptions should be considered.

1. There is one compression wave (the scalar displacement potential) and three shear
waves (the vector displacement potentials) in an orthotropic material.
2. The predictions of G23 and 23 are available only for unidirectional materials which
possess transverse isotropy in x2–x3 plane.
3. The cross-section (x2–x3 plane) of the UD lamina must be uniform.
This study elucidates the relationships among material constants (16–18) from wave
equations of the displacement potentials in an orthotropic material. The relationships can
easily be used to obtain the G23 and 23 of a unidirectional material. It is generally known
that G23 of an orthotropic lamina could not be derived from the in-plane experiment.
However, in this work, for the special case of the unidirectional material based on the
transverse isotropy, some interrelations between the material properties in in-plane
direction and through-thickness direction were observed. The most significant contribu-
tion of this work is the prediction of G23 and 23 of a UD lamina. The data of G23 and 23
in an FRP composite lamina could not easily be obtained from experimental works,
because the lamina was generally too thin. However, the proposed method can be adopted
to determine G23 and 23 of a UD material from only the in-plane experimental
measurements. Compared with the other publications, the results of the predictions from
the present method agree well with the data provided from [5] and [6]. The proposed
method is very convenient for estimating the material constants of the unidirectional
lamina.
In the other cases such as rovin or mat, Equations (16–18) are insufficient for
determining the material properties through the thickness direction, because the transverse
isotropy and symmetry could not be available. The nine material characteristics are
independent. The conditions of the material constants are not adequate to solve the
unknown quantities. Therefore, in these situations the other conditions or symmetries
of material constants should be considered. However, this would require further
investigation and studies.

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